I bought a very straight ‘53 F100 in 1969 for $250. I drove it 2 yrs. to high school, football practice, and to and from my part time job in the oil fields. After a couple years of marriage, I guess I sold it, but I can’t remember who to. Now once in a while I dream I have misplaced it. That’s a very haunting dream. Anyway I do remember that thing never gave me a bit of trouble.
Wow, Jake, brings back tons of memories! Drove my '52 Ford coupe to high school, then first two years of college, had the 239 V8. Great engine, tough as nails. Keep oil and coolant in them, you can't kill 'em !!! Thanks for the video!
You're a lucky man, Jake, I would dearly like to have one of these old Ford engines. Please restore it and keep it safe and show it running every now and then. Thanks for this.
You can tell General age by the distributor location. As stated in other comments, it's post-war. I have 49 Mercury V8 in a 52 willys jeep. It has the distributor on the side like yours. Instead of on the front like older flathead v8's.
The 239 was redesigned in 1948 as the 8RT for Ford trucks and in 1949 as the 8BA for the cars where the engines had the distributor up top at an angle. 1948 was the last year for front-mounted distributors except for possibly some industrial applications. My '47 has the "V" twin style distributor cap.
Crank it up once more and it may humm like an electric! Dad had one in a truck with a burned valve and you could hear that thing coming down the road missing for a long ways. Hope all is well and I sure liked the big grins and especially the one where you were talking the muffler off. Just showing your heritage! All good here but not able to do much. Army-itis and old age have about got me. Toots has been doing the yard but doesn't understand how to start the Vanguard to keep from getting gassed so we're trying to decide on a battery zero turn. We'll get there one day. Hope you're wearing the 5, 6 and squeaky voice out! Now is the season as well as everything else in the world going on. HI to everybody and keep on getting greasy. The world is depending on you, even all the ugly wimmen! God Bless Yall!
I was excited to see your video! Never been around a flathead much and the couple or three that I did see worked on sadly I was the young boy holding the flashlight 😂
Wow that's a really cool piece! Never even realized Ford made a commercial version of the flathead V8's! Definitely a later one or they did some form of modification for the commercial ones with the distributor being where it is. Love how the first thing you did is cut the muffler off LOL! They are extremely quiet engines in my experience, half the time I can't even hear the one in my car running! You definitely should pull the heads and valves at some point though, that thing doesn't sound quite right... seems to be running fairly smooth but those old V8's have a very distinct sound and yours sounds weird... I have a feeling you have some stuck or non sealing valves.... Cool to see the quick video from you though! Looking forward to more in the future!
The valves like to hang open on the old flat heads the more you run them get them warmed up they usually come free if they don't have to pull the head tapping back-and-forth lots of oil
That brings back some good memories of my younger days. Had a 1950 ford, don't run it without coolant very long as it's very to easy to crack the block. How do I know that? Did it with two different engines in my ol' 50 ford.
It's a 1949 to '52 Model 8BA engine. In my view, fix the cooling system, disconnect the drive to the pump & put some upper cylinder lube in the fuel. Run it at no load & fast idle for a while & the stuck valves [if that really is the problem] should free up as it warms up. Compression test it once it comes good, assuming that it does come good. There is likely more service information & more available parts for this engine than your 2006 Toyota/Ford/Chev/Mopar. [pick one]
Boy it ran pretty quiet considering it was a straight pipe if you left the muffler on it would have been very hard to hear! I was also surprised that the carburetor seemed to work pretty good that was really cool 😀🇨🇦
Isn't that one of the best things about the old equipment- half to full days tinkering with it & they run! How much, if any, of today's stuff will do that in 80 yrs?
EAB and EAC head code indicate 1952 1953 and often a Mercury 255. Mercury 255's had longer 4 inch stroke and are the most sought after "Ford" flathead ever. Easy to measure with a head off. Some of the very last Flatheads made.
Those old flathead ford's are cool. Not bad for just throwing fuel at it !!!! What is the little gearbox with the 540 PTO shaft on it ? End of the video behind the V8 pump.
Hi 5T I WANTED TO KNOW WHICH BUICK V6 distributor you put on the GMC WORK TRUCK. I RECENTLY GOT A 1964 K1000 and am doing necessary upgrades to make it run better
Flathead is easier to kill than people are admitting…weak cooling system, brittle cast metal, Babbitt bearings on early ones, studs pulling out, and prevalent core shift when casting. Very cool, lots of hot rodding history, etc., but durable is not a word that comes to mind.
Having once owned a '53 Ford Customline ... Which was the last year of flatheads ... I can safely say, that you have one of the final years motor ... The location of the coolant lines, being forward (closest to the radiator) gives it away ... The earlier version had the lines more to the center of the heads ... Now, weather or not its an auto or truck motor, is in the designated letters cast on the heads ... Such as 8BA, which indicates a motor for a sedan ... Good to see the motor in action ... Regards ... 🔧 ... 😁 ...
