For those that would know, can someone explain to me why people of olden days would put a Chevy 4cyl OHV head on the Model T's? Why didn't they just run the Chevy? What a I missing?
I don't know. Did they do that? or put on Fontac heads which were made by the Chevrolet Bros. I know today you can buy an adapter to instal a early Chevy/Olds head on a Ford. But I didn't know that you could do that in the olden days. Why would somebody put a Y block head on a Plymouth banger?
The T was, believe it or not, a stronger block and crank. The Chevy overhead was a cheap alternitive to the Fronty, Rajo, and other aftermarket heads. When we were into the T speedster thing, I saw Chevy, and Olds heads adapted to T engines. There was no end to the things tried on T's to try to make them faster. We had a T touring that was built in the 60's that ran a Fronty head, 292 Y block pistons and rods from an air compressor because they had insert bearings and fit the T crank.
Replacing the head is a lot easier than swapping a four cylinder Chevy engine in a stock T chassis. If I was around in the 1920's I'd buy a Fronty or RAJO head and run it on the T, new they cost around $125.00 in 1927. Bob
i am not the first guy to do it. I got the idea from Dave Dozier. But he said his didn't "Work". Wouldn't or couldn't tell me why. So I had to try it myself. Worked OK for me.
T's were very common and easy to get hold of. Their transmission is always in high gear and to go to neutral you engage the clutch. Think of it as a real early "in-out" box making it a perfect set up for dirt track racing at the county fair. I think that is why so many early dirt trackers were T based. The head has already been explained, Chev/Olds heads were easy to get hold of, not really difficult to adapt. Neal Jern out in CA is still producing the plate to mount them, go to the MTFCA forum and search for "Thunderbolt", or "poor mans' RAJO" Most folks associate hot rodding with the 40s-50s, actually started in the teens and 20's. My guess is the T had as many hop up parts produced as the flathead or SBC. Kevin
It's already been explained. But also because they could and it worked. As for buying a Fronty or RAJO head for $125, even adults rarely made that much in a year.
I had a Banger in a 30 Model A that I did an Auto Shop project with and installed a Cragar OHV head and did the required block modifications. It ran so good I had to update the rear end to handle the torque. I sold it in 1972 and it was still dong its thing. In my time with the Bangars I never did see a GM four in any of T', A's or later Ford cars as an engine transplant. I'm sure there are some but I'll bet not too many. Normbc9
People bought Fords because they were cheap and common. Then they spent a lot of money and time trying to make them less cheap and common. Go figure human nature.
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