Sleeving a Flathead?

Anybody had a flathead Ford(49-53) block sleeved? I picked up a motor for free from a friend but one cylinder looks too pitted to bore out. This block is already .040. How much more overbore will it stand? Should I just find another block? Thanks, Bob

 

Should be able to go .125 over.
And I doubt it's THAT pitted.

Find out who sells pistons,they come in standard sizes.
See what sizes are available.
I think I've heard of 3/16" over,but that might have been on early blocks.

AV8 would know.

 

A good shop should be able to sleeve it,if it needs it. My Dad had an 8ba block bored .100 over. I think the max is.125

 

Check all the other cylinders for cracks,and wear.
If the cylinders show very little wear,it might make sense to just sleeve the one cylinder.

Even if you have to bore it to the max,it will probably outlive you.

 

So its true that you can bore one up to an eighth of an inch. Next question, are pistons available for that huge overbore? Not that I would go that big on a street motor anyway. The pistons I'm seeing are all designed for the Merc crank. Who does the stock 3 3/4 stroke pistons, Speedway? Egge? Jahns?

 

Pancho: My block is at .040 with .008 wear and I plan to go to .080 to clean it up as the old boring machines did each cylinder individually and sometimes resulted in cylinders not being parallel to each other. My flathead friendly machinist recommended this approach. I did have a bit of a struggle to get pistons but then I'm in Canada and the ice and snow make things difficult at times! Before you do anything, have it hot tanked and magnafluxed and then if it checks out OK, redi-stripped or some form of chemical cleaning of the water jackets to ensure cool runnin's! Hope this helps! Regards, Dave.

 

I know Patricks used to sell pistons for both 3-3/4" & 4" up to .125" over - that's not too much for a street engine either.

Anyone who advertises the Merc pistons will likely also have the Ford pistons - just give them a call.

 

I took my flathead to Vern Tardel's place when I was in CA. The Merc block was already .125 over, and needed to be bored. Vern said the max you want to go on a street motor is 5/16. This is what he was telling me. My block needs a sleeve and may be too far gone to work. I might be looking for a good block sooner. We'll see. Anyway, it seems you may be in good shape. Matt

 

This question is a bit OT.
A friend is re-assembling an 8BA engine after boring the cylinders .030 over.

When the pistons and rods are installed on the right bank, the rods are sitting in the middle of the wrist pin.
BUT, when we try to install the pistons and rods in the left bank; THE RODS AREN'T IN THE CENTER of the wrist pins!

I have NEVER run into this before! The crank, rods and block are original, and the rods "check out" for alignment. (straight) One old time machinist that he works with, says that there are LEFT and RIGHT RODS!?? I have never heard of this.

We have switched piston/rod assemblies from side to side and "flipped" the assemblies 180 deg. and STILL can't get the left bank rods to center on the wrist pins!

Can anyone comment?

 

OK, on a street block you can go 3 5/16 and that will allow room for 1 more rebuild at 3 3/8 later. Above that is pushing it. Sleeving a cylinder is no biggie. I had to sleeve one on my motor. Also had to replace the seats due to pitting. Just means more money for machine work. The 4" merc crank and 3 5/16 bore gives you 276 cid as opposed to the stock ford 239cid. You'll need big bore gaskets if you go for it.

286 merc should be answering this flathead question, but I think the drama of this place finally got to him. I'll defer to Mike or the more experienced flathead guys to explain the flathead offset difference between banks.

 

i took a block to my machinist and he said it needed to be sleeved because it was already bored alot and had alot of water damage...it was gonna cost around 50 bucks a sleave....i found a better block

 

The most common flathead overbores are .030, .060, 3 5/16, 3 5/16 + .030, and 3 3/8. 3 3/8 is pushing it for a street engine, but some blocks will take it just fine. You can get pistons in all of those oversizes. Red's Headers is a good source for parts and advice. There are sleeves in vast numbers of flatheads. Nothing to be afraid of.

 

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I'll defer to Mike or the more experienced flathead guys to explain the flathead offset difference between banks.

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Joe, I have been "playing" with flatheads since 1956 and have never run into this problem before. I understand the offset of cylinders between the right and left banks and was never aware of "Left" and "Right" connecting rods; so my first reaction was, "Did the machine shop bore the cylinders off center??" But with a .030 overbore, I couldn't see how that small amount would cause such a BIG DIFFERENCE in the rod location (about 3/16 of an inch off center!!) on the wrist pin.

The only other explanation I can think of was, MAYBE the block was bored incorrectly from the factory!! And the extra .030 over bore just AMPLIFIED the incorrect rod position. (even though it was running fine before the rebuild, and didn't show any abnormal cylinder wear)

But if the boring bar was centered in each cylinder when boring; THAT shouldn't have made any difference!

Like I said, "This problem really has me baffled!"

Sorry for hyjacking this thread!

 

Been all over the world and parts of Georgia and ain't never heard of no shit like that...left & right rods...

Is there pin on both sides of the rod end? If so, run it. If the rod is up against the piston, obviously, you've got bigger issues...

 

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Is there pin on both sides of the rod end? If so, run it. If the rod is up against the piston, obviously, you've got bigger issues...



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And they ARE! (on the left bank)

Tommorow we will tear everything out of the block and do some SERIOUS measuring.

 

What kind of pistons? Perhaps a machining/casting flaw that has the internal pin boss shifted one way or the other?

Stumped.

 

[ QUOTE ]
What kind of pistons? Perhaps a machining/casting flaw that has the internal pin boss shifted one way or the other?

Stumped.



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He is using Badger pistons.
We are going to pull his engine all apart and do some comparisons of his pistons and my set of Ross. (which in my engine on the Merc crank, center perfectly)