[Elevinpointsixtoone]

Howdy, I have a few flathead questions as I just picked up my 2nd non running Ford V8 flatty. This time an 8BA. The first is a 1941 59AB. I'm in no hurry to get these running but I'd like advice on the 8BA. I just popped the heads off yesterday and one cylinder had sat full of water and left a nice pile of rust about half in thick inside. The piston was about 1/3 from the top of its stroke. Another cylinder appears to have had a ring snap off and get jammed between the piston and the cylinder wall leaving about a quarter inch wide groove that is around 1/32" deep for its full cylinder travel. At the very top of this groove there is a much wider and deeper indent. Weird. I'm wondering if that is a crack and that is what caused the ring to break. I can actually stick my finder into the water jacket and have one on the backside of the cylinder opposite of the "dent". Anyway, boring, sleeveing, crack repair? There are no numbers on the piston tops....think its standard bore? I'm thinking 2 sleeves here as the rusty hole was pretty flaky. After cleaning up the rust the engine now turns over. This thing still has good paint, its wire looms, very nice Holley 94 carb, bell, exhaust mani's, clean oil in the pan, distrib that looks like it would fire today, coil...blah blah blah....
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Dave

[bigdog7373]

First of all I would pull it all apart and clean everything up, it. If the scratch or dent or whatever it is is too deep to be fixed by boring it out then you will have to sleeve it. Put in new bearings, cam, lifters, valves, springs, and rings for sure. Are the pistons reusable? How about the crank and rods? Btw, what is this motor going in?

[Elevinpointsixtoone]

I don't have a car yet to put it in. There are a bunch of Model A sedans around here (desert). I'll probably chop up a couple of them...
How far can you safely bore a flattie 8BA? Did they normally stamp oversize pistons on top? The bottom end is still buttoned up. The vavles open and close smoothly. If the block is useable I'll start asking hotrodding questions here. As in how much power can the stock crank and rods safely take, oversize valves, cams, porting/relieving, any oil system mods etc.
I think I wanna put one flathead in one car and my poly dual quad 318 in another...I like weird engines.

[bigdog7373]

Do the springs anyway because if any valve were held open while the engine was sitting then those spring are shot. Safer to replace them. I don't know how much you can bore it, i'd have to guess .080 over is the max, I'm sure someone here knows for sure though. Measure your bore size, it's better than guessing that it's a stock bore.

[cobalt327]

Originally Posted by Elevinpointsixtoone

I don't have a car yet to put it in. There are a bunch of Model A sedans around here (desert). I'll probably chop up a couple of them...
How far can you safely bore a flattie 8BA? Did they normally stamp oversize pistons on top? The bottom end is still buttoned up. The vavles open and close smoothly. If the block is useable I'll start asking hotrodding questions here. As in how much power can the stock crank and rods safely take, oversize valves, cams, porting/relieving, any oil system mods etc.
I think I wanna put one flathead in one car and my poly dual quad 318 in another...I like weird engines.

A couple observations:

Sleeve any bad holes. I would seek out a shop that was intimately familiar w/the flatty, not just the corner "do all" shop unless they were "qualified".

You can go as much as 3/16" over bore (I would sonic test the block), but the "usual" max is 1/8". I wouldn't try to go nuts w/bore size- your 8BA had a 3-3/16" standard bore, so the max would be 3-3/8".

About the biggest you can go is 322 cid: 3-3/8" bore X 4.5" stroke. Scat and others make the cranks, etc..

Displacement increase is best done w/stroke, IMO. It can be a Ford 239 cid w/3-3/4" stroke or a Merc 255 cid 4" stroke, so ID the block to see just what you have.

NOTE- Be sure to verify this info for accuracy- it's been a while.

If the paint is original, you can use (from HERE):

Engine Colors:
Ford engines were generally dark blue in 1949 and changed to bronze in late '49 production through 1951. For 1952 and 1953 the Ford engine was either tangerine red or green. The Ford truck engines were red from 1948 through 1951, and then changed to green for 1952-53.

Mercury engines were green in color from 1949 through 1951. From 1952 to 1953 they were either green or tangerine.

[Elevinpointsixtoone]

I'll post some pics tonight. The block is like a Pontiac greeny blue. That would be cool if it were the merc crank although I'd probably go with more stroke. Hey where is the power band on this things....in an average hot rod state of tune? I'm assuming a low grunt with all that stroke and small piston bore. 1500-4000 RPM?
Dave

[cobalt327]

Originally Posted by Elevinpointsixtoone

I'll post some pics tonight. The block is like a Pontiac greeny blue. That would be cool if it were the merc crank although I'd probably go with more stroke. Hey where is the power band on this things....in an average hot rod state of tune? I'm assuming a low grunt with all that stroke and small piston bore. 1500-4000 RPM?
Dave

That would be about right w/a mild cam- but even w/only 3 main bearings, the flat head V8 will rev past 5000 RPM- if there's enough cam and port work to support it.

Timing is another issue- go very easy on total timing. Generally speaking 25º total is sufficient.

[Elevinpointsixtoone]

I'll probably end up with a stroker crank so no need to ask about the stock ones limits but how about the rods? Are there hyper pistons or will I need to go forged? A quick look at aftermarket internals and the stuff is spendy. $800 for a Scatt crank etc. Besides the block breathing mods any other "must do's" for like the oil system or main caps (4 bolt conversion)? Can I keep the OE flywheel? Hey are these internally balanced?
I think I need to get a book....

[cobalt327]

Originally Posted by Elevinpointsixtoone

I'll probably end up with a stroker crank so no need to ask about the stock ones limits but how about the rods? Are there hyper pistons or will I need to go forged? A quick look at aftermarket internals and the stuff is spendy. $800 for a Scatt crank etc. Besides the block breathing mods any other "must do's" for like the oil system or main caps (4 bolt conversion)? Can I keep the OE flywheel? Hey are these internally balanced?
I think I need to get a book....

Stock rods have to go if this is going to be run hard. Even back when, often Scheffler (sp?) flywheels were used- I'd imagine the stocker is good for a little more than stock HP, but that's a lot of old cast iron spinning around to take much of a chance on, IMO.

If it were me, I'd definitely do some serious research- my knowledge is from quite a few years ago, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then.

Good luck.

[Elevinpointsixtoone]

I called a local machine shop (not a performance shop by any means) and they said if there are any cylinder issues sleeving pretty much clears them all up. They wanted $90 to bore any hole that needs a sleeve plus the cost of the sleeve. I better start saving my nickles and dies.....my 59AB has all 8 cylinders sleeved. I know nothing about the history of that engine. An old early Ford collector told me that some factory engines came that way....anyone heard of that?

[TireTracks]

Originally Posted by Elevinpointsixtoone

I called a local machine shop (not a performance shop by any means) and they said if there are any cylinder issues sleeving pretty much clears them all up. They wanted $90 to bore any hole that needs a sleeve plus the cost of the sleeve. I better start saving my nickles and dies.....my 59AB has all 8 cylinders sleeved. I know nothing about the history of that engine. An old early Ford collector told me that some factory engines came that way....anyone heard of that?

I know this isnt the same kinda engine, but the flat head 4 in my grandpa's tractors all came sleeved.