I picked up a '37 Flattie today,...price was right. It has a rebuild tag on the bell housing,...says the bore has been taken out to 60 over. I'm wondering what the concesus is on running such a large bore? Too much? Just fine? I have to take the heads off tomorrow and take a peek inside,....then we'll see if thee's any scoring, etc. on the cylinder walls. Supposedly, it ran great, kept good oil pressure and never did smoke a puff even once! Several good friends vouched for the fellow that I bought it from so I have no reason to doubt him. Thanks in advance guys, much appreciated!
If it runs good and doesn't smoke, why take it apart? .060 is OK on a flatty. The cooling is more on how clean the water jackets are, how good the pumps and radiator work.
Awesome,...some good solid info there from guys who "know" because they run them! Excellant! Thanks a million guys! Best wishes!
Also,... As far as early 21 stud speed equipment,...what was out there before WWII? I know Robert Roof had some stuff, Thickstun, and some other folks,...I know I'm lacking here, so I'm open to a good education on the early stuff. thanks guys!
21 stud speed equipment is super rare, Be prepared to pay for it if you ever find it. I ran a dual carbureted intake. They will all fit on yours too. Here's the one I ran, it too was a 37 engine.
Ron Holleran bored my '37 engine out .125. Made a 239 out of her. Ran great and NEVER got hot. Milled the stock head .060 and put an L-100 cam in her. Then I bolted on a Thickstun with two 97's. Nice little street engine.
Wow,...that sounds NICE! Thanks for sharing your experience... Its good to hear all this stuff on the early engines...thanks guys.
Well it seems that upon furthur inspection, cylinder #2 on one side has some bad pitting. I'm pretty shy on the idea of over boring her out anymore right now even though I see others have done it with success. I'd rather something that still has some meat left inside just in case i hurt it after its been bored and run. How do you guys feel about sleeving? Stock sleeve, to regain stock bore,...overbore,..etc.?? Good idea, bad idea,...otherwise? Thanks gents!
Sleeve the bad cylinder, bore sleeve .060, then you can re-use all your pistons. Sleeving all the bores back to stock would be pretty spendy.......
I've heard advice before from some older gents that boring sleeves is a bad idea,...makes everyhing way to thin and depending on heat ranges can work itself a bit loose?? Otherwise it sounds like a good idea,..have you done this before yourself?
9N, 2N, and 8N Ford tractors are similar to automotive V8's and 4's of the same era. I believe they all had sleeves in from the factory. Not sure if that is a great comparison, but I would not be scared of using a sleeve.
Some of the late '30s flathead V8s came from the factory with dry sleeves. An ancient HRM lists special .082 oversize pistons to use in them after forcing the sleeves out.
The OEM dry sleeve approach has its appeal...these thinwall sleeves used in partial production allow instant rebuilds! A kit of simple tools allows the sleeves to be popped out and replaced with new ones...I've got the R&R stuff for 60-85-100 engines. Some but not all N tractors had the same sleeves as sleeved Mercs.
This doesn't look like it did have any sleevs in it,....though is ther any other way to tell other than just looking close,....anything I might specifically look for that an untrained eye could miss?? Thanks guys!!! Very nice to get some good solid knowledge under my belt! Thanks
It did not have sleeves originally...that came later, though I have heard of (Replacement?? later English built?) '37 type engines with them... The replaceable sleeve engines had a step in the sleeve at the top that registered in a matching step in the bore. This step remains visible at 3 3/16 on 221's. It would be easy to do on a non-sleeved engine, and the oversized step is at the very top where there is plenty of metal.
Here are the patents, but they don't show the tools, which are in the overhaul book. http://www.google.com/patents?id=ip...&as_miny_is=2008&as_maxm_is=1&as_maxy_is=2008 http://www.google.com/patents?id=Go...&as_miny_is=2008&as_maxm_is=1&as_maxy_is=2008 Sleeves are actually about like sheetmetal, so tools support them as they are driven in.
Ah very interesting Bruce! So honestly speaking, I'd be more than fine with sleeving this little puppy then huh? What about sleeving AND boring the sleeve out?
We're talking two different kinds of sleeves...machine shop rebuilder sleeves, thick cast iron, permanent part of block; Ford OEM sleeves, thin (~040 wall), R&R possible, not boreable! Iron sleeves require fairly substantial boring, of course, but should work fine. If you need pistons anyway, consider the steel ones and have a standard block that can always be standard.
Talk to any machine shop worth their salt, sleeving is no big deal. It REQUIRES that the engine be bored after the sleeve is installed. Here's a recent thread Dyce started with some good info and pics. It's for a hemi, but the process is the same. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=292239
This is to satisfy my own wonderin'... If the block will go .125, and you want to avoid boring the sleeve too thin, why wouldn't you bore the block out before you sleeve? That way you could run the sleeve .60 over, and retain the thickness?
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