Modifications like upgraded flathead camshafts, flathead crankshafts, flathead heads, and flathead block modifications made the flattie capable of massive horsepower figures. The MSRP is $35. Many of the early 221 flatheads suffered from extreme overheating issues caused in part by the location fo the water pump. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. This sweet unit is based on a m." Junk & Dirty Rob on Instagram: "Way-cool Edelbrock 4 deuce induction system for Flathead V8 Ford. For even more protection, install a crossflow radiator and increase coolant system pressure to 17-21 pounds. In its final form, the 239 V8, renamed the V8-B3 and 8RT in truck applications, produced 110 and 106 horsepower respectively. Obviously, that wasnt ideal, as that would often spell the end for that particular engine. Mullins, a leading purveyor of surplus Jeep and other vintage military parts in Texas, accidentally discovered a warehouse full of brand-new French blocks about to be junked during a European trip searching for Jeep stuff. It was a statement, in effect saying, "I am not a cookie-cutter rod.". The physical limit of a flathead Ford is really dictated by airflow limitations and the fact that they are three-bolt main rather than five-bolt main engines. It will use a new oil pan and special bolt-on universal bellhousing that accepts most modern transmissions. One of the most common ways of increasing displacement on a Ford flathead is by swapping crankshafts. Removable thermostat housings were now found at the fronts of the heads, which were retained by cap screws instead of studs, although there were still 24 per side and the pattern was the same. No major changes were made for 1940 and '41; then compression rations on both engines were raised slightly in 1942, resulting in 95 for Ford and an even 100 for the Mercury. Flatheads need high compression because they don't breathe. From its debut in 1932 to the end of its U.S. production life in 1953, the flathead Ford underwent three major evolutionary changes. Fabled Stromberg 97 carbs are back, but you can also upgrade to modern Holley four-barrels or even electronic-fuel-injection systems. Best Oil For Ford Flathead V8 - shoppierguide.com Modern flat-top Mahle pistons are a common swap and offer better ring designs. Then, about 20 years ago, traditional street rods suddenly became cool again. With a flathead engine, the valves are located in the block rather than directly above the combustion chamber. Baron also offers a modern version of the famous Tattersfield/Baron four-carb race intake in more civilized street form. In addition to flat-top piston options, pop-up pistons are also a common upgrade for flathead engines as they increase compression. A former contributor to sites like The Smoking Tire, Bold Ride, and Autos Cheat Sheet, he's a little too in love with the E39 540i, the El Camino, and the Volkswagen Phaeton. While pop-up pistons will certainly yield more horsepower, youll need corresponding cylinder heads in conjunction with them. Buying a bare block is "risky" but if you do make sure it has no cracks ,has the main bearing caps and hasn't been over bored. Blocks from 1932-42 use the same cam in terms of the lobe centers, while 1946-53 blocks use another (1949-53 cams have a gear on the nose to drive the distributor, thereby using a different front cover). Like all fads, once started, the process fed itself. He street-parks a Porsche Boxster in Brooklyn, New York, much to the horror of everyone who sees the car, not least the author himself. Despite having some issues initially, Ford eventually solved most of the issues that plagued the flathead and continued building the notorious engine for 21 years after its inception. Over the course of six days, they took more than . Ground with a 114-degree LSA and 112-degree intake centerline, it has 0.395-inch lift and 234 degrees duration at 0.050. Locate the engine serial number. Higher octane was also available at the time, meaning that compression could be safely increased to 6.8:1. But with modern solid cams and big stroker cranks, overall engine rpm and piston speed is considerably higher than the old stockers. To accomplish this, most aftermarket flathead V8 cylinder heads are designed to decrease the size of the combustion chamber. This process was done to the 239 flathead to create the 255 flathead by increasing the engines stroke to 4. As a result, the 239s displacement was increased by 16 cubic inches. Flathead V8: 1932 Ford Model 18 Tudor | Barn Finds There are kits to install Weiand and Magnuson superchargers, or even one or two GMC 71-series blowers. While that seems like a lot of engines, in reality, that was only a small percentage of the 212,238 flathead engines that Ford produced between March and December of 1932. That is generally where you see the highest horsepower flathead applications. Long live the Flathead. Now it's 2005, and the flathead's resurgence shows no sign of diminishing. Both have benefits and shortcomings. Flathead Myths courtesy of Tony Baron That is a design philosophy that carried over to the flathead V8. The company they formed to produce these heads was named "Ardun," an acronym derived from their last name. flathead V8 value - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums ", Among this herd of sheep, a few original hot rods were brought out of retirement, complete with gennie flatheads as the powerplant. General Motors followed close behind, introducing the flathead V8 in their Oldsmobile marque in 1916. Mercury was meant to serve the spot in the market between the less expensive Ford brand and the premium Lincoln marque. It was ultimately succeeded by the 226 straight-6. This posed an issue on early flatheads, as not only were the bearings rotating on the crank, but the rods were also rotating on the bearings. Up until 1942, valves were 52 degrees from vertical on the left side and 49 1/2 degrees on the right for an included angle of 101.5. He also insists he's not a convertible person, despite owning three. In fact, the growing flathead movement has basically sorted itself out into three distinct groups. Thread Starter. Nearly non-existent. Throughout the 221 V8s build cycle, its compression was raised multiple times between 1932 and 1936. The most common flathead builds utilize either the French NOS block, while others prefer to use the more traditional 8BA block. Ford Flathead V8: The Original Hot Rod Engine - OnAllCylinders Along with special pistons, this yielded an additional 1/8-inch stroke. In 1947, long before Zora Arkus-Duntov became famous for his work developing the Corvette and performance Chevrolet parts, he and his brother Yura designed what has been considered the ultimate flathead performance mod-turning the engine into an overhead-valve hemi. The third-design "8BA" '49-'53 engines have a bolt-on bellhousing, the distributor was moved to the top-right of the engine, and modern insert-style bearings are used on both the mains and rods. Relieved blocks must have the reliefs filled to use Ardun heads. It involved many more steps than we could ever document here, as well as quite a bit of specialized equipment. Not all flathead water pumps are created equal, though. 53 likes, 2 comments - Junk & Dirty Rob (@robrod_kustomyard) on Instagram: "Way-cool Edelbrock 4 deuce induction system for Flathead V8 Ford. Relieving is simply done to improve breathing; there is general agreement about that (although some builders favor pop-up pistons and re-contoured combustion chambers). 5.0L Windsor 302? Tony Baron says French blocks can be bored 0.250-over (1/4 inch). Austin has been a muscle car enthusiast since an early age with his Dad having a collection including a 1965 Mustang, 1968 Mercury Cougar, and a 1969 Mustang Mach 1 among many others. Every Painstaking Detail of Rebuilding a Ford Flathead V8 Engine By porting the ports, some performance can be regained by removing some of the casting flaws and other obstacles that the air has to contend with. After acquiring an almost-perfect 70ish-year-old flathead engine, attempt number three started. As more time passes between the hay day of the classic muscle car and now, prices are, Read More What Are The Most Expensive Muscle Cars?Continue, It truly speaks to Carroll Shelbys legacy that nearly everyone stateside and abroad can conjur up a mental image as soon as the term GT500 is brought up. It set the record for the Bonneville flathead class at 302.2 mph. Manufacturing flathead heads since the 1950s, Navarro is known for build quality and high flow figures. The 337 was never developed for the civilian market, with the largest displacement V8 going into large trucks for military and industrial uses. Ultimately, you can move up to one of Cornhusker Engineering's custom front cover and late-model water-pump setups. Lot #55,040. The downside was trifold: The assembly was 12-inches wider than stock, it weighed an additional 60 lb and it wasn't cheap being cast from heat-treated, 355-T6 Alcoa aluminum alloy. Plus, some year flatheads are much more valuable and desirable than others. Year, condition, if a 60hp, 239 or 255, what all is included. But, credit the Flathead for kickstarting America's love affair with the V8, leading Chevy to design the next great version, the legendary small block. And made it obsolete after the War. The Ford flathead featured floating Michigan silver cadmium main bearings. The legacy of Ford flatheads at Boneville is still alive and well to this day, with an entire class dedicated to flathead V8 records. Research has shown there's relatively little air movement over the base of the block. As an example, the crankshaft was offset to the right side of the block .265 inch. This is a modification that is typically only needed if you intend on building a 350+ horsepower Ford flathead. To fix the issue, the thermostat location was changed on Ford flatheads after 1937. Currently the most popular approach is running a big popup piston, but with a scallop on the side adjacent to the valves to keep the transfer area clear between the valves and the cylinder bore. You need the right amount of plenum volume and runner length to complement the engine size, camshaft, cylinder-head flow, and operating range. As you can see, this was not a task for the faint of heart. The '39-'48 flatheads used a direct camshaft-driven front-mount distributor; '49-'53 engines use a gear-driven, vertical-mount distributor on the right-front of the engine. The old cam grinders-including Isky, Schneider, Elgin, and others-have both old and new cam grinds. Trying to gain back compression ratio by using popup pistons may improve airflow provided proper attention is paid to the transfer area and overall piston-to-combustion chamber interface. But more impressive is the fact that the Flathead V8 (with Ardun heads) can hit 6,200 RPM and still lay down over 400 horsepower at the wheels. Recommended bottom-line street-gas-friendly compression ratios are between 7.5-8:1 on naturally aspirated engines and 6.5-7.0:1 with a blower. Plan on spending about $5K. Flatheads began to come back, and prices of swap-meet stuff skyrocketed. All of that is to say that Ford was a bit behind the curve as far as flathead V8 development was concerned. Two things to watch out for are an extra water hole in the block and the lack of a breather standpipe in the block. Prior to 1937, the 221 flathead V8s water pump was located on the front of the cylinder heads. Engine Facts has information on the 239 V8 by Ford and many other motors. While the Ford remained at 239 ci and 100 horses, the Mercury was now up to 255 inches and 112 hp. While the flathead Ford eventually became antiquated by the rise of the overhead valve V8, it still lives on in the hearts of many due to its major impact on the history of high-horsepower motoring. The original bore was 3.1875 inches with a 3.750-inch stroke for an original 239 cubic inches. Melling still makes a high-volume oil pump (PN M-15). One popular procedure was to offset-grind a '46-48 Merc crank and use early full-floating rods for 1.998-inch journals. A Ferrari 250 GTO, Bugatti Chiron, or McLaren F1 perhaps? Again, while the Flathead looked the same on the outside, there were some major noteworthy changes on the inside, including larger crankshaft rod journals. The only change in the V-8 for 1938 was the size of the spark plugs, but 1939 brought another variation of the Flathead that would be found in the new Mercury. This new combination resulted in a slightly lower compression ratio of 6.12:1. ". Four carbs on a properly designed intake manifold offer the best distribution short of today's dry EFI systems. The Ford "Flathead" V-8 was first introduced in 1932. Flathead engines are simple machines, at least as far as engines go. With such a small difference; it's relatively easy to take a little off the Ford snout then slightly hone the inside of a Chevy balancer so it slips over the Ford crank. The French flathead block is preferable due to its more modern casting, resilience to block cracking, thicker decks, and larger main bearing caps. The 221 V8s compression was raised to 6.33:1 for 1933 and 1934, raising horsepower significantly. Not much changed in 1935 except the material of which the pistons were made; some engines had steel slugs, others had aluminum, but a significant improvement came about in 1936. Although it outpowered the similar Chevy Impala at first, it never sold as well due to its uninspired styling, poor aerodynamics, and heavyweight. Flatheads are old, ancient, obsolete technology. Finally, there are brand-new aluminum blocks and Ardun OHV conversion heads and valvetrains. Copper head gaskets are sold by SCE. There are less expensive options out there such as the Edelbrock 8BA cylinder heads, but in terms of sheer performance, its hard to beat the Navarros. It was basically a copy of the Ford flathead 221 with a larger bore and some extra horses. Compression was raised to 7.2:1 for the V8-MA which resulted in a horsepower boost to 125 horsepower. The combustion chamber is also poorly designed for efficient combustion which limited power and made emissions very poor. Terms of Service. Fostering a special relationship with eventual Ford president Lee Iacocca, Carroll, Read More Shelby GT500 History and SpecsContinue, Galaxie History 1959-1972 A predecessor to the muscle car era, the Galaxie was Fords full-size competitor. Increasing compression could help boost power, but the flat cylinder head design meant doing so would restrict airflow further. Both engines now featured 24 studs on each bank to retain the heads (as opposed to the 21 used previously) and main bearing journals were now 2.500 inches. The Ardun heads are 12-nches wider than a stock flathead Ford V-8 and consequently will not fit in most stock vehicles and they weigh at least 60 lbs. Unfortunately, old-school resistance to this "new and improved" part is so extensive that the SCTA has banned the blocks from competing in classic land speed racing classes. Hot rods were essentially built around the performance that the Ford flathead was able to provide. Normally we'd title this section "Cylinder Heads," but on a flathead, the heads-having neither ports nor valves-only form the combustion-chamber roof. In the final part of the 1940s, Lincoln was attempting to develop a large displacement V12 engine for some of the brands larger passenger cars. This hot rod holds the class record for top speed at over 157 mph. That's the kind of power the original hot rodders could only dream about. The Fabulous Ford Flathead V8 - EngineLabs But to Ford's credit, a great deal of effort-not to mention money-was spent on fixing engines at the dealership level and making corrections in design and manufacturing. You can now build a brand-new flathead. While it seems like an insignificant modification, it did have a profound impact on valve timing, so the cam was changed as well. But when Hagerty decided to rebuild the flathead V8 engine in its 1946 Ford pickup truck, the team was kind enough to document the entire process. In order to give it his best shot, the customer brings his 1947 Ford Flathead to PER Race Engines for freshening up and rebuilds. With its debut to the displacement-crazed American public, the Flathead was in constant production for 21-years ending in 1953. 1947 Ford Flathead. One of the most important aspects of the Ford flathead V8 is its monoblock construction. Tom Roberts starts with the Speedway pump, modifies it for even more flow, and also redoes the snout to accept modern, bolt-on, serpentine-belt pulleys. At the end, though, you could never have guessed the engine they put back in the truck was the same one they originally pulled out. If not, he returns the money to you. French blocks have some unique features and are covered separately. This time at the Quick Speed Shop I'm going to do a comparison test of two Ford flathead V8 engines. A ported flathead block will allow for a less asthmatic engine. # 3. The flathead V8 got its name from the structure of the cylinder heads. In fact, that honor goes to the Antoinette V8, invented in 1904 by Leon Levavasseur. Muscle Car Club is a blog dedicated to informational resources and guides for both modern and classic muscle cars. You'll find them in Appendix B on page 203 of the book. Ranging from common problems info to performance modification guides, we cover everything muscle car. Magnuson offers an Eaton blower kit, while Joe Abbin of Roadrunner Engineering has Weiand 142 and 174 supercharger setups. The Model 18 would eventually become known as the Ford V-8 due to its unique engine. Production of the 221ci engine ran from 1932 to 1936. It's been over 50 years since the last Ford flathead V-8 was commercially produced in the U.S. In the old days the hot ticket was dropping a '49-'53 Mercury 4-inch-stroke crank in place of the Ford 3.75-inch-stroke unit. Most stock flatheads never came with an effective harmonic damper. Although it sounds weird in this modern age of thin-wall castings, the 3 3/16-inch-bore, U.S.-built flatties can be bored 0.125-inch (1/8-inch-over). In fact, it essentially introduced the hot rodding scene to the world. By 1942, the V8-29A 238 flathead V8 received a compression bump to 6.4:1 and horsepower subsequently rose to 100 horsepower. Reputedly, they are cast with 10 percent higher nickel content, and the quality of the modern castings is a lot smoother with much less core shift. Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by BenLeBlanc, Aug 27, 2015. Of course, you might get lucky and find an "old timer" who has a rebuilt flatty just sitting in the corner of his garage that needs a new home. Typically, when you think of expensive cars, what comes to mind? Mostly true, but the French military used flatheads as late as the early '90s and "ancient" flathead technology has evolved to run over 300 mph at Bonneville. A good supply of new French (really) blocks exist and outfits like Scat make new H-beam rods and sell cranks with up to a 4.5-inch stroke. Strombergs were the favorites, but Chandler-Grove/Holley, Zenith, and Rochester two-barrels were also in use. A truck oil pickup tube assembly (PN 8RT-6615) is required to use the M-15 as well as the standard volume Melling M-19 in '48-and-earlier engines; '49-and-up engines can use the stock pickup. At around the same time, old-time hot rods gave way to modern musclecars and street machines. Another interesting viewpoint comes from those who point out that putting on aluminum heads to raise compression then taking material off the block to improve breathing is an exercise in futility. And in a sense, the flathead also begot HOT ROD Magazine, for this publication probably wouldn't exist if not for the flathead speed industry and the advertising dollars it spawned. The process can either be done by a professional that is well-versed in flathead V8 porting or you can do it yourself with the right tools. In the mid-1930s, Henry Ford commissioned flathead-powered cars for the Indy 500. Henry Ford revolutionized the automotive industry in more ways than one; however, the Flathead V-8 may be the best example of his bravado. By placing the valves next to the cylinder, air has to make two 90-degree turns in a complete cycle. Privacy Policy. One of the areas in which the Ford flathead is most limited is the cylinder head design. One flathead builder, Dave Tatom, offers a unique line of custom grinds with wide 114-degree LSA for naturally aspirated engines, and 116-118 LSAs for blown motors. Tony Baron says that a good-running flathead should have no less than 0.400 lift and about 250 degrees duration at 0.050-inch tappet lift. In fact, unless you have a badly core-shifted block, most of them can accept a whopping 0.1875-inch overbore (3/16-inch over standard). This variant was not popular in the American market, as the 221 V8 produced a more promising 85 horsepower. As the name implies, polishing the ports means going a step beyond simply smoothing out the lumps and bumps and knocking off the rough edges-the ports are polished to the point where they shine (and it's a process that has found not to pay the dividends once thought). .css-wanth8{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#668892;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#000000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;background-image:linear-gradient(rgb(239, 237, 233) 0px, rgb(239, 237, 233) 100%);-webkit-background-position:0 100%;background-position:0 100%;background-repeat:repeat-x;-webkit-background-size:0 0;background-size:0 0;padding-top:0.05rem;padding-bottom:0.05rem;}.css-wanth8:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-size:0.625rem 3.125rem;background-size:0.625rem 3.125rem;}The Ford Flathead V8 wasn't the first V8, but when it debuted in the 1932 Model 18, it brought this brilliant engine configuration to the American masses. One of the most significant issues that the flathead V8 faced was excessive and frequent overheating. Ford's last version of the Flathead was the 1949-53 design (through '54 in Canada). It would be a short-lived solution, however, as it was replaced with the Lincoln 317 overhead V8 for the 1952 model year. Tony Baron runs 10 degrees of base timing and 23 degrees max at full advance. I guess tested block by a reputed local company is the way to go. Original 50-plus-year-old blocks without cracks are getting scarce. The water pumps were moved to the front of the block so they pushed cool water into the engine rather than trying to draw hot water out, as did the head-mounted pumps. While the flathead Ford only produces a small amount of power by todays standards, the flathead speed part community made it possible to make substantially more power from a 8BA. Junk & Dirty Rob on Instagram: "Way-cool Edelbrock 4 deuce induction The block was redesigned slightly to accommodate the front-mounted distributor, and a change in the water jacket's configuration improved cooling.
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