Recently acquired a 24 stud motor from a 38 Ford Truck hoping to rebuild it and one day swap it in my 30 roadster. The engine had been sitting for a long time so I didnt expect it to be in any great shape. Check out the images, showing one of the cylinders. Tell me it is s**** or can it be sleeved and rebuilt. The hole is 2 X 3 long .
I'm sure it can be fixed, I have seen worse repaired. But... is it going to be cost effective? That I doubt. I've seen engines screwed up worse than that repaired, but we're talking big $$ engines...
Take it to a machine shop who works with antique car owners and restorers. They'll tell you up front if it's economically salvageable or not. Happy Roddin' 4TTRUK
If it is not cost effective to save the block I'm sure there are many other parts worth saving -- or selling to others to give a new life to....
You may be able to sleeve the cylinder but if it is rebuildable is going to be determined by the condition of the rest of the block. I can't remember the guys name but there is a pretty famouse flathead guy in Calif that saves some pretty ugly blocks, but he does not do it cheap. I have seen some of his work up close and he is amazing. I may look for another block and keep that one for a time when there are no other blocks.
PNB, you are referring to H&H Flatheads. As for saving the block, a crate motor would be much cheaper.
That name sounds correct. A fella that I knew was having them do a LSR motor for him and we visited them when I was out that way.
I think the block is junk. I can't spin the crank to get to to all the rod nuts. Two of the nuts were rusted away. I will say they knew how to build motors back in those days. All nuts on the rotating ***y. and mains were safety wired! I have the heads, intake & carb. and oil pan. What else should I salvage?
There are still alot of flatheads out there. I would find a better builder. Save what you can s**** the rest.
This looks like it was frozen from water in the cylinder. IDK what else could have gone wrong when the water found other areas and froze. don't look good to me. And I don't like throwing anything away.
You can still get that crank out. sometimes you have to sacrifice a rod by cutting it but even when they are stuck you can still salvage the crank.
Also, you could drill holes aroound the top of the pistons that are seized and break the rod free from the shell. I've done that before on a nailhead to salvage all the parts I could. Dave.
I would say that if your block was a '39 to mid '42 "99" series Merc block or a 59L with factory relief then go for the repair. But a 38 to 41 block should have been 221" (with sleeves). They can't really take much of a bore compared to later flatties. I would p*** on that one and keep looking for a better block. As was previously mentioned, they're still out there.
Safety wire means it was never dis***embled. Ford loved that stuff... Must have had a bunch ov aviation engineers working there ! 4TTRUK
When I worked for JT Carpenter in Waco in the early 70's he took a lot of sbc cranks out of blocks at the s**** yard by pulling the mains and taking a torch to the rods so as to not ding up the crank taking it out. With two dirt track modifies running out of the shop they ate up a lot of cranks.
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