I just bought a '59' style engine that had the heads off but came with an 8BA and EAB head. Can these be run on this engine or will the water holes not line up?
They can be fitted with minor changes...but you do not have a pair. Compression is significantly different between your two. Street value of a stock 59 head is about 99 cents...just gettem.
Find another EAB-the best heads Ford ever made. I see them at swap meets all the time-for peanuts. Most vendors don't know what they have.
If I did find another EAB head what are the minor changes Bruce says I would need to do to run em on my '59'? Also what makes the EAB heads the best?
Other than smaller combustion chamber, I think around 70/71cc's for the EAB, compared to the 8BA which is around 5 or 7cc's bigger....................that's about it. If you had a stock motor with the 8BA heads, your compression would be around 6.5 to 1. If you had the same motor with the EAC heads your compression would be 6.8 to 1. IMHO
I have a couple eab heads in my storage, if you are looking PM me which side and what lettering is on the head, a pic would be good.
I appreciate the offer, I think I'm gonna take the path of least resistance and go with 59 heads. Besides Bruce has a set for me for .99 cents . This is my first flathead so I'm taking my time and budget slow. But I am enthusiastic.
Just in case... Gaskets in swap are a judgement call, since holes differ, but I would use late gaskets if changing to late head... But your old early gasket is perfect for figgering out the problem: Lay it on late head, aligned with a few bolts. Draw a line around front of gasket. I'm at work and have a leaky memory, but you will see one or two of holes in head outside of the early gasket's area. Pluggem. Probably someone here has done this...I use early heads because all cars are early. Can't get to my spare 59 iron heads due to an outbreak of rabies in that platoon of guard dogs in parts bunker 17-B. Nearly all of my stock heads are Canadian aluminum ones.
Thanks Bruce This is a bit of an unusual block anyways as its cast '59' but bore measures 3.075. From what I've researched its likely a 46 replacement block for 41 engines. Seems to be a good block though from a visual inspection anyways so I'm gonna have some fun with it.
I believe you have a 1942 Ford. I bought one once. It had 59 on the bellhousing and I was suprised to find it had a 3.0625 (3 & 1/16) bore and 21A rods. That was OK as I was going to build it as a 3 & 5/16 bore and 4 & 1/8 stroke. The problem came when my high school auto shop teacher caught be boring a quarter inch out of it. He believed if a bore cleaned up @ .010 you didn't go to .020 to get standard pistons and rings. Yes, he threw me and my partly bored engine out of the shop and an "F" for the quarter. This by the way was 1951.
3 1/16" with the 59 is probably the block listed under 41A prefix in catalogs...this is a 59 cast with smaller cylinder barrels (in other words, it cannot be bored as far as a real 59) as a replacement block for prewar applications. It is a purely postwar over-the-parts-counter piece made for the huge parts demand after WWII. I don't know for sure, but I do not believe it was sold as a complete engine. I think the 59A immediately became the standard replacement engine ***embly for prewar cars, and some catalogs show the selection of external parts to fit the various applications. General belief is that it can go to 3 3/16 but not much further.
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