Ok guys, I am a Hudson maniac to the core but also have a soft spot for the ‘36 Ford. I’d prefer a coupe but a Tudor has become available not too far away. The details I know are these It’s stock Older resto in real good condition 60k plus some change on the clock What are specific things you’d look for? How road trip worthy is a stock ‘36? What are some steps to make it more road worthy? I do like to take ‘em on some long trips. Thanks, Ken
The 21 bolt 36 engine isn’t the best for your expressed needs. The 1937 21-stud engine is the favorite replacement engine for '33 to '36 Ford V8's. It is an inserted main bearing like the LB's of late 1936. It also allows you to put the early heads on the engine to "look" correct, hoses and all. They are a lot easier to find than a good early block. The 1938 to 1948's will work too but the hoses have to run from the center of the head. The 21 bolt engines in stock form just don’t have the horsepower you’d be happy with. I’d pull that engine and replace it with 38-48 59a engine
I have been in love with '36 Fords for a long time. As far as specific things to look for, just the usual stuff you would look for on any car of that era: rust in the lower 6" basically all around the car. I pay close attention to the bottom of the A pillar area especially. Also, like with any flathead, I would want to drive the car enough to bring it to temp to make sure it doesn't have any overheating issues. Drive it, let it sit there and idle at temp, etc. Check to see if it has the correct-era flathead in it or not (water pumps in heads) if so, they are not quite as great as the later flatheads. It's very possible that it's already been changed to a 59AB style, a lot were and that would be a plus. Road-trip worthiness depends on how big of a hurry you're in. They'll get there, just not very quickly. A lot has to do with how the car was restored and how it was maintained. As for making it more road-worthy, the best thing you can do to one of these cars is to upgrade it to hydraulic brakes. I would bet it probably has already been changed over. Juice brakes and a dual reservoir master cylinder are pretty important for a good road car in my opinion. Upgrading the transmission to at least a '39 style make them a little more pleasurable to drive. A two speed rear end or overdrive makes them much happier at speed. Also ask about any extra parts. Everything '36 Ford is worth something and is very easy to sell if you want to offset some of your purchase costs. Good luck. More hot rod content: WWW.IRONANDSTEELE.COM
Yours also has cable brakes. The safe alternative would be to install a 1939 and later hydraulic setup. The 36 engine also doesn’t cool as well as the 37 and later engine. The big change in the day was to exchange those heads for a 37 head that had pumps located in the block and not into the head of the 36 engine. My very first flathead. A 37 21 bolt.
i believe it was mid 36 when the babit bearings were replaced with the modern style, known as LB motors. LB stands for large bearing, and it is sometimes stamped on the top of the deck, right side, near the edge of the intake manifold. yes, 36 fords are beautiful
Uh, cable brakes were not used until 1937. There are a lot of folks out there who believe that properly set up mechanical brakes are as good if not better than the early Lockheed hydraulics. The later '37-'48 engines cool better, as the engine mounted pumps push the water through the engine rather than trying to pull it through like the earlier head-mounted pumps. In just about every case, pumps "push" more efficiently than they "pull". I'm not really a '36 expert, but I have owned a few.
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