Look what I got . . .Flathead industrial engine

Looking through the local ads and ran across a guy selling a 59AB flathead. Contacted him and setup a time to meet. Once I got there I was stoked to see what he was selling. It was an old Industrial flathead used as a water pump in the ba*****t of the manufacturing building. The guy received last year in partial payment(very partial for what he tells me) for pulling the flathead and replacing it with a more modern pumping station. Its a 59AB engine that has an integrated housing stand in the bellhousing and front cradle that bolts to the water pumps. It has the stand plus all the sheetmetal that surrounded it as well as the control panel that housed mide 40's Ford gauges.
-Fryguy

 

Looking at the motor is has a governor on the carb so they couldn't take the motor over 2500 rpm.

 

Sweet! Was there an hour meter? Any old records of maintenance? Used to see these once in a while, but usually they're 8BA types.

 

It also has the Marine exhaust manifolds that were liquid cooled from piping running off the water pumps. Marine exhaust was made in Philadelphia by the Barr MFG Co. Exhaust manifolds read Ford V8. Very cool but not too functional for the street

 

One of the coolest things is a crank driven tach drive that was connected to an old white(?) faced Stewart warner engine miles tachometer. The crank was setup so that you could also use a hand crank. I took my old hand crank from my model A truck and was able to spin the motor by hand.

 

Here is a pic of the control panel, kinda fuzzy, I may need to retake. It has a bronze plate with a serial number from the company it was used for, Superior Tube in Collegeville, Pa.

 

There is actually a SW tach that reads
Motor Miles" It has about 50K on that. That sounds like a lot for an industrial pump.

 

That's a cool score... try to fire it back up

 

That's a pretty cool find! I like the SW tach with mileage. I have never seen one of those.

 

thats awesome , ive worked in mills and if their p/m practice was good it should be well maintained , good score

 

WOW! I'm jealous....

 

ya know those exhaust manifolds are going to get some boat restorers molecules jumping.

 

Very Very cool!

 

Here is a picture of the crank driven tach drive. See the shaft end where you can use a hand crank to fire the motor by hand. The drive is connected to the SW motor milage tach. Seems there was a second pulley on the crank as well. I have quite figured out what that was for

 

Second pulley is for a rope start..........

 

Ah, yes, that makes sense. Thanks!

 

They wanted to replace that with something more reliable??? I'll bet that motor runs as good as new!

 

Don, I am hoping thats the case, keep the fingers crossed. It was actually due to the insurance company (Isn't it always?). They would no longer converage the emergency equipment policy due to the age of the equipment. They had to replace it in order to get a valid insurance inspection on the emergency equipment

 

Really? Weren't the boat manifolds a little more rounded instead of square. I really don't know too much about the boat exhausts so I can't say for sure. Do you know much about the marine engines?

 

What fuel did they use? If it was Natural Gas the insides could be super clean. We routinely ran Chrysler 56A's something like a million miles on NG before the valves and rings gave out.

And remember that it would have run at a steady speed which would also reduce wear.

cool find!

 

Actually they did run regular gas through the engine and you're right it was run at a steady speed no hard loading on the motor. I am going to try and start it up this weekend. It does spin over by hand so thats a good sign. It also was recently taken out of commission between a year and two years ago as well.

 

Man, I would love to have one of those... Great find! Keep us posted.

RGG

 

Yeah, for sure. Even if you can't use the
marine exhaust manifolds, whatever
you do, don't junk them.

Mart3406
=================

 

Not likly, it should have a fan and radiator to be complete.

buflochp

 

Am I the only one wondering if it has a "factory relief"?

 

There is actually another part attached to the engine that I forgot to post. Maybe somebody know's what is it. It looks like a collar that has a hose attached to it covered in flex tubing that is attached to the oil pan. I don't know if there was an external oiler of some sort.

 

In talking with the mechanic who disconnected he told me there wasn't a fan or radiator. He said since the engine was used as a water pump that the top water inlets scavenged water from water source the engine was pumping. The bottom water outlets are factory plug but with copper tubing that ran to the water cooled exhaust manifolds.

 

Pardon my ignorance but what are referring to when you say "Factory relief"?

 

It's a slight indent of the block between the bore and the exhaust and intake ports.

This thread explains it all, in fine detail.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=596271

That's an awesome buy you got there! I think she's going to be a really sweet mill with little wear. If it really wasn't revved over 2500 rpm, ever, then she should be a pearler!

Have you done a compression test etc etc on the motor? Maybe a service, head gaskets change and a look-over is due before the startup.... It has been sitting for 2 years too I suppose...

Whatever you do, keep us posted! Love seeing an old Flatty come back to life!!

HC.

 

This is my flathead, 42 Merc/Industrial factory relieved. This means the area between the bore and the valves was machined away. This one ran a sawmill and is standard bore (3 3/16") and has standard bearings. It all is 100% original never rebuilt. It is now in my model a truck: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=540287