Hello Gentlemen of HAMB, I'm kicking off a new project: Rebuilding a Flathead, which I have never done before. It's an 8BA and seems to be in pretty decent shape. It's something I've wanted to do for nearly twenty years, since I bought my first '51 Mercury at the age of 19. Sold that car, and never pulled the Flathead. Well I got my hands on an 8BA and now it's going to happen. I don't have a car to put it in, but I'll work on that later. I'll be leaning on your guys for your expertise and knowledge. Last week I began the teardown, but I still need to pull out the crankshaft, valves, etc. It appears to have been rebuilt before, because the pistons are all marked 060. The guy I bought it from was very cool. He pulled the heads and pan and showed me that it turned over, and that the inside was in pretty decent shape. If Ken in the west suburbs of Chicago is out there reading this, thanks man. Check out the pictures below: Before teardown, during teardown, and my Flathead model. I keep it on my desk for inspiration. Does anybody around Chicago have a recommendation for a reputable shop to thermo clean, magnaflux, and sonic check a block?
Congrats on your choice of engines. I just finished freshening up my '49 Merc engine to go into my '51 Merc coupe. There is lots of help here, and some great books available, just take your time and enjoy your build. We all think our build is the best way, but you need to pick your way and be patient on your learning curve. Some guys here are experts and build very exotic machines, but flatheads are only as complex and expensive as you want to make them. Henry made them simple, and sometimes it's best to go conservative for your first build. At first glance your block looks about normal for a flathead in service, with the usual deck cracks, not serious. But after cleaning you will know for sure if it's a good candidate. Worst cracks are those found between the valve seats and the cylinders. VanPelt Sales is a gold mine of flathead info, with many other good sources of info and parts. Go slow, savor the journey, remember to keep it fun.
There is a thread here that may be of some help to you. This feller started his in December- http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=545243
I found an 8ba flatie a couple of months ago, built a test stand, wired it up, rechecked the fluids, and that baby fired up so sweet , 50 psi oil pressure cold and no smoke, i hope you have as good luck as I did ,,,,,Sam
Have fun with the flathead. I'm doing a head change on mine right now. Just had the stock ones shaved andpolished them up. Doing a hand lap valve job while it's apart. Butch
Found a place just west of downtown Chicago to clean the block and check it for me... It's not completely torn apart yet, so it will be a few weeks before it goes to the shop for cleaning.
I too am from the Chicago area and in the middle of doing a 49 8BA for a 32 Ford build. My engine block is being machined by Bob Sweeney of FX Engines inMokena, IL. I was lucky to start out with a real nice core, never rebuilt. My block was cleaned, magnafluxed and pressure checked to be sure it is a useable block. There were 5 cracks in the decks found between water holes and head bolt holes, which is quite common. He decided to pin the cracks and then use a Time-Sert type threaded insert that are made for head bolts in the affected head bolt holes, to prevent the hole from spreading open from the bolt torque load. He also installed new valve seats due to some of the original seats were not installed true with the block. Next week he will be boring the block .040" over and then re pressure test it again. Once he knows its ok, then he will order pistons from Ross. One thing that I have learned and seen from him, is there is a bunch of poor quality parts out there, so bee careful when selecting components. Bob is very knowageable on vintage engines and flatheads. I wont get it back fast or cheap but it will be right. I am not trying to build a race engine, just a great running low RPM motor (idle to roughly 4000RPM) My engine will be a 4" stroke with stock rods, Ross pistons, Offy heads and Offy regular dual intake, around 8.25-1 comp. and have yet to decide on a cam. Good luck and do as much research as possible on component choices. When its all said and done, the flathead is just an engine like any other engine. The biggest problem is there is so much poor quality, white box, offshore parts available and miss information out there, it takes much research to weed through them.
Justp***inthru, thanks for the info about FX Engines in Mokena. I'll have to contact them. They are pretty close, about a 30 minute drive from me.
I just added a cleaned, checked, and machined 8BA block with crank and oil pan to my collection... Just in case I need it.
Turns out the block the 8BA I dis***embled is cracked enough to make it s****. Perhaps I'll just paint it silver and use it as a paper weight. Or 8 cups for holding pencils. On to Plan B. As soon as I figure out what that is.
I looked at it when I picked it up from the machine shop last week, and really haven't looked at the cracks since. I still want to create a cad model of the Flathead block, so it will still serve a purpose. I'll probably paint the while thing, inside and out and use it to measure off of. It's just sitting on the pallet with my other Flathead block. The cracks appear to run parallel to the crank in the lower part of the block. The gentlemen at the machine shop said if the engine had value to the car, such as being numbers matching, etc, it could be fixed. If not, get a different block because it wouldn't be cheap. Well that was a random 8BA I purchased before I had a car. Now I have a car which the Flathead was going to go in. I'll still build a Flathead, just rethinking what I want to do. Build my second block, which would mean new everything. If I do that, I'm not going to use the Ford crank. I may just find a decent Mercury Flathead, or at least Merc crank and heads. I've been working on the car a lot the past few weeks, and it won't be ready for an engine for a while.
The Jalopy Journal
