Hi all, Today I picked up a 53 Ford flathead motor, bellhousing, clutch and transmission assembly, price was right and block was crack free. Pulled the intake, heads, pan and bottom end out and found it still had one original headgasket, intake gasket and all the original bearings still intact. Since I'm still learning on these old flathead motors I have a few questions. Can I use the early pumps on the 53 motor so I can mount it into my 29 Model A? I'm using the 32 to 48 mounts in the car. Given a choice would the best motor be the 53 motor I have now or the 40 ford stuff I already bought (Complete rolling chassis with motor, trans, rearend and juice brakes for the A) but didn't pick up yet? I understand the differences on the early rods, up to '49 and the '49 and later with the lock tab bearings being easier to get which is one reason for picking up the motor and transmission today but are there any other reasons for going with one or the other motors. Tips, input and direction are appreciated. Thanks, Cliff Ramsdell Mopartek@aol.com
52 and 53 ford motors had EAB heads, which were the best flowing of the stock heads ive been told. This is good, unless you are planning on putting aluminum heads on. Id definately go with the 24 stud over the 21 stud
The '40 is a 221 CI while the '53 is a 239 CI. You can use truck water pumps to match up the late motor with the "A".
Cliff, if you go to the Tech-o-matic here on the HAMB and scan down to the 8th entry; "Flathead motor rebuilds - tech & tips" you can find a lot of info that a bunch of us created late last year.
The 40 stuff is torque tube. The 53 setup is open driveline. You can use 8ba truck pumps to mount to your 40 setup. You gonna use the 40 radiator? The 53 fan will hit the water hoses if you go with stock 53 fan placement. 8ba radiators were taller. If you go with the 53 setup in your 40, you're going to have to chop up the k member to get the trans to fit. I'm assuming overdrive trans on your 53 setup. Putting a late model flathead in a car designed for pre 49 motors is not hard, but its not a drop in. Mike
Mike, I have a 29 Model A that the flathead is going into. I bought the 53 stuff today and already have a rolling 40 chassis for the brakes and such and was going to use the 221 from the 40 along with the side shift transmission and torque tube setup but might use the 53 with the side shift and open drive line. Just trying to determine which engine would be my best bet for the car, the 40 or 53. Thanks, Cliff Ramsdell
Gotcha, One other thing to check is where the oil pan sump will end up if you use the 53 motor. If your 53 has the car pan the sump will be more forward. Early flathead pans and late truck pans have the sump at the rear of the oil pan. Just make sure the sump of whatever motor you're gonna use will clear your steering linkage. Maybe its not even an issue with your 29. Mike
IMHO, the best combo to build from your pile of parts would be the '53 basic engine, early pumps and accessories, early can and '42 type distributor. All of the swapping around requires minor changes but nothing difficult. A single-sheave early pump set and '42 distributor is considerably more compact than the late stuff. 2 or three inches off the front is a LOT on a 29 engine compartment. I posted flathead front stuff dimensions a while back--don't know if that is still on the list somewhere.
Also, attaching the late engine to '40 trans is easy, requiring only some fairly common truck or Merc bellhousing components.
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