And these scat rods will make me feel a little better. Even though I have NOS pre-war rods, I was nervous on using them. They look so fragile. The scat rods look much better.
Whomever decked the block must have done flatheads before. Don’t keep cutting til everything is shiny. Just take the minimum.
With the block decked and deck heights trued up, you can really see the difference in the valve pitch from side to side. Maybe 3 degrees difference
Now like everyone has said get rid of that bell mount and use your exhaust mount, you may even want to invest in a Harbor Freight boat winch for this......old chev timing gear setup
Totally understand the logic. Any rod can break for sure. Ford rods were made out of some really good metal. I think somewhere there is an old picture of a Ford rod twisted a few times around and it didn't break.
I don't know what I did with the picture of the other side of the block but it has the same crack between a head stud and water passage as this side shows. There are no visible pan rail cracks or cracks in the cylinders. It came with rods, flywheel, and lifters. I paid $200. Other than the paint hopefully it's not too bad. Larry
Larry, That looks pretty clean compared to the ones I've grab in the past. Remember, try to clean it the best you can and get it pressure tested and mag'd before you sink any money into it. Good luck. Tim
Here is a diagram I did for the 46 - 53 flathead blocks - you can see the valve angle differences: 3.64 degrees on the passenger's side and 6.38 degrees on the driver's side.
Hope l'm not intruding, I have a 59A which came with my 47 Merc convertible; was told it was reconditioned but it was stuck and when I got the crank and pistons out I found two identical pairs of gouges in two cylinder bores, it is .030 over and the crank journals look good hope you can see in the pic what the gouges look like, I can't see any other reason for these except the circlips not put in the pins. HOWEVER all the pistons have circlips on them! I reckon someone saw the damage and shoved it back together,it also had one alloy and one iron head(?) not the 83 year old guy l bought it off but the South African he got it from.
Some damn tough luck, but glad to see you finally got a block that could be brought back to life. I have an extra inspection cover if you decide you need it. Still waiting to hear back on my second 59A block. They removed the cam/valves but still hadn’t got around to checking it for cracks.
I bet the block does NOT have a 59 on the top of the bell housing? Also, can you take a picture of the oil-pan rails (the pan mounting surface) and the intake surface. It looks to me like it may be a 39-42 Merc block, but can't see enough to make that determination.
Yep you are right, it only has a 1 and a small casting clock at the top of the bellhousing, can't find a serial number either. The car and engine was made in South Africa so l expect Henry sent old stock. Mike Davidsons (Aussie guru) books suggest it's OK to take it out 0.125 over you reckon that's right for 39 to 42s? It has a 41 dash too cause it's easier to reverse for right hand drive.
I typically bore .125 - but ONLY after the block has been magged, sonic tested (12 places in each cylinder) and pressure tested. You can invest a lot of money in one of these - important to know the block looks 100% good before you do so.
The Jalopy Journal
