Hi Guy's, I'm collecting parts for my 30 Sport Coupe project. Going the AV8 Route, picked up a 40 Ford Rear end last Sunday complete with brakes which with some horse trading finally cost me $50. Well today I had another score, reading the local Craigslist under autoparts there was a 265 Chevy V8 for sale and under the same add was listed a V8 Ford Flat. I was wondering could this be a flathead. I phoned the guy and he said he knew nothing about the engine just that he wanted $100. I thought it was worth going to take a look at that price. The guy had loads of engines in a yard, there were a couple of 327's as well. The flathead was on its side. I could see it was a later model because of the seperate bell housing so I thought ok 8BA. On closer inpection its a Canadian Mercury 24 Bolt 8CM. So now have it safely at home. Its stuck so will have to free it up. He got it with a load of cars he bought from Byran near College Station. Ends up it was the same yard that I took a look around last year but most of the good stuff was already gone. He had bought about 12 cars from the place and this was in an old pickup. What are the main differences between the 8CM and 8BA? Here are a few pictures, doesn't look much at the moment.
Nice find, the heads and other parts should be worth more than you paid for it if the block is bad. I'd say you did good on that one. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
Chech the crank!! It has a ford intake, but Merc heads. No way to tell unless you look at the crank. The main counter weight sould measure 6 inches across from the longest distane, a ford is 5 1/2, plus the oil galley will be big enough to stick the eraser of a pencil into, if a pencil will not fit it is likely a ford. Better check before getting your hopes too high. I hope you the best with it.
Should be a Merc crank. There is a "bean" shaped dimple on the front counter weight. I bought an engine with merc heads and a teapot carb one time. Turned out to be a Ford crank. Lots can happen over the years.
I'll know exactly what I have when I take it apart on the weekend. All I was looking for was an 8BA. The transmission attached to it is a 4 speed with a PTO.
Its not a Canadian engine, Canadian flatheads had aluminum intakes and aluminum timing covers plus on the heads it would say MADE IN CANADA. Also just a note, even though we had Mercury Trucks, they still used a ford crank, only the cars had the 4" stroke.
Thanks for the heads up. I thought thats what the CM stood for. Also is the transmission good for anything. Its a 4 speed with what looks like a PTO.
Truck*******'s*****s, about the only thing i could ever see myself using it for is if I had a truck with a flatdeck and used the pto to tilt the deck or run a winch. Sounds like you either have a truck motor that someone put merc heads for some reason or another, or sombody put a merc engine in a truck. Between 1953 and now who knows what kind of junkyard fixes could have been done to it. Hopefuly its a true merc motor.
Ok, Good News/Bad News on the engine. Good news is that I took it mostly apart tonight and it does have a Mercury crank. The crank even has CM stamped on it. It also has adjustable lifters. The bad news is the block is junk. Big crack in one cyclinder wall into the water jacket and two of the other cylinders look like they have had water sitting in them for a while. Also one of the cylinder heads is badly cracked on the inside. Looks like the block had a freeze at some point. So what I can salvage is the rods,crank, one cylinder head,94 Carb, bell housing and flywheel. I'll use the block for mockup with my chassis. Alex
Sounds like the Merc block I bought last week, the 2 rear cyl had chunks busted out. when I convinced myself it had the 4" crank I paid $90 for it. My crank looks like it hasn't been turned yet, has yours? I****ume that the crank is worth the money. The problem with the Merc head is that they are lower compression than the 8BA. Some advice, keep the bell and the starter plate together. They made a couple different styles and the two have to match to work.
Doesn't look like the crank has been turned, I'll know tomorrow, it was getting dark and I was working outside. There are no chunks missing just a crack and pitting in the other 2 cylinders. I was even wondering if the block could be sleeved. I've seen H&H work on worse on the cable channel.
Well you're always rolling the dice buying a flathead, Sorry to hear it didn't come out better. I would guess you're still a head money though.
Hi Brent, Yeah its always a chance. The flathead 4 I have is completely clean compared to this 8. I'm going to finish stripping it down to the bare block and then take it from there. I might take a trip to the feed store tomorrow to get some molasses to clean out all the rust. There haven't been many flatheads available in Houston the last few months so if I can save it I will. Alex
Thats what I was looking at doing. Do you know of a decent shop close to Houston or in Houston. I've seen one out at Bryan that does flatheads. Alex
I don't know of any machine shops in, or around Houston that work on flatheads (or San Antonio for that matter), there used to be a guy in Fredricksburg Tx that did only flatheads many years ago, he was an old timer, and has probably passed on by now.
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