How we rebuilt our Ford Flathead V-8 engine | Redline Rebuilds Explained
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- With a brand new Redline Rebuild time lapse video a little over a month away, we thought we'd give our engine rebuild specialist, Davin Reckow, a break from all the grease and grime of the garage. Davin is joined by the Ben Woodworth, the guy behind the camera for all these time lapse rebuild videos. Together they take a deep dive into the details of rebuilding this classic Ford engine. Spend some time with as we discuss the process of rebuilding a Ford Flathead V8 engine that was sourced during our Swap to Street 100-hour build of a 1946 Ford pickup at the 2015 Hershey Swap Meet. It faithfully chugged along for over 4000 miles before we decided to give it the rebuild it deserved.
If you have any questions about the engine work or the video production process, feel free to ask us in the comments section and we'll do our best to get back to you with an answer.
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I'm 64, when I was 12 I was helping my brother-law rebuild a flathead for his '49 Mercury hot rod coupe. I had helped my dad several times so I was handing him tools etc. and I realized he hadn't tightened or torqued one of those upper water pump bolts. I pointed that out to him cause I was doing the checklist that he had given me to mark off completes. He told me I was stupid and sent me away and finished it himself. The next day after school I was there when he was firing it up, I noticed a puddle on the floor but kept my stupid mouth shut. He cranked it into life, 1st try and began to wrap the throttle up pretty high when we noticed a shower coming from the top of the aforementioned pump. He and I made eye contact as he shut it down. He announced to me since I was so bright that maybe I could fix it and he left the shop. So I tore it down, tightened up the bolt and replaced everything properly and fired it up... 45 minutes tops. I left it idling and went to find him. He was smiling when I walked up as he heard it start. He handed me a $10 dollar bill and said thanks. I think I grew about 3 inches that day.
My old man was a ww2 vet, he was hard no doubt, but when you did good he always made you feel 10 foot tall. I never realised what a good father he was until he passed.
Que memória boa.
Only 3 inch’s ? 😉🙂
When you've got a million dollar shop, reliable, experienced help plus background people in the parts network and, a detailed working knowledge of what you're doing along with plenty of money, this kind of an engine rebuild seems like a lot of easy fun, and it is to them, but try it yourself sometime and find out what an incredible, involved, enormous task it can be. It's the hardest way to have fun there ever was.
I really enjoyed this. About 1965 my dad had a '37 ford flatbed that died. I asked him if I could have it and he said if you can get it running it's yours. I think I had the engine out that night... First engine first love it is hard to tell the difference. I wish I had your tools. Mine was done on the back of the flat bed talking with the mechanic next door. I was about 14. when we got it running I could only keep it running when I drove in reverse. Finally figured out the carb problem and drove it to school. It was a wreck...but it was my wreck. psg
There also nothing like "your first wreck" as well... well done man... great memory.
@@FalconXE302 My 1960's wreck was a '55 Chevy panel truck which I turned into my 'dorm room' when in school in California in 1968. Pulled and totally rebuilt the engine, it ran really great, was stolen, driven off a small cliff, got it back covered with dents, drove it for three more years. (I am a female) it was a great 'go run off on whim' home vehicle. Had a swivvel chair on the passenger side, roof opening and a refrigerator and a sink between the driver and passenger. Lived there with my cat, George.
My reck was a 59 Ford Custom with a 332. Wish I still had it
@@emsnewssupkis6453 sounds like an amazing time you had with that car !..Oh and George !
My wreck was a 59 f100 styleside with wrap around back window and a 292 y block. Drove it for many years. Even outlasted my first marriage. Now I have a 38 ford fordor deluxe. Can't beat the sound of a flathead or y block.
Pretty good info, with a few exceptions. Having done these motors for years, a few responses just to clarify a few points: The water pumps have 'inlets' not outlets. The outlets are at the cylinder heads. The head bolts are strategically located around the cylinder/combustion perimeters specifically to seal the head/gasket/block combustion chambers via the engineered clamping force. The cast iron heads are not 'warped' unless the engine has been severely over heated. If they are, the last thing you want to do is 'flatten' them though the use of the head bolts. They need to be surfaced, or tossed into the recycle bin. Surfacing will always leave some of the head's chambers different sizes, so be aware. Over-heating was pretty common with old flathead Fords due to lack of cooling system maintenance. The original timing gear was made of phenolic fiber. The use of a quality aluminum t/gear is recommended for durability, and will not 'hum like a son-of-a-gun'. They run pretty quietly. In this case, the dirty interior is from years of early use of non-detergent oils, not necessarily infrequent changes. The block intake surface is very stable, and wants/needs NO sealant- just a quality gasket. Sealant only makes removing the intake much more difficult in future. Use NO sealants on cork gaskets as it will tend to make them crush, split and 'squirt out' from between the parts when torquing the fasteners. Bead blasting the pan interior is NOT recommended due to the difficulty in fully removing the media from joints between the baffles, etc. even when hot-water/soap washed and cleaned. Having this glass material work loose from engine vibration and hot oil after assembly is not what you want circulating in your oil, for obvious reasons. One other thing to mention if you're using bolts to attach the exhaust manifolds/headers: Be absolutely certain the lower front and rear bolts are not too long. If so, they will bottom out against the cylinder wall, and when tightened it will definitely ruin your day! Just some observations from a grey-bearded flathead guy.
Clearly you know your stuff!! My brother and I inherited my dad’s 51 Woodie driver. We’ve been having a bugger of a time with stuck valves. My brother finally pulled the intake to try and free them up. Internals look very clean. What would make the valves (4) stick? I’d love to get it refreshed, but I’m not that confident in my work. Do you know anyone in Massachusetts you’d rfeccommend??
Thank you for this video. In 1949 when I started helping my father with the flat heads, our ring compressor was a Folgers coffee can and two hose clamps. Cylinder hone was on the end of a Sears and Roebuck electric drill. How that drill sparked. Now, after all these years rebuilding the 49, 50 and 51 motors (I am 75 years old, you do the math). I am glad to see someone still does them correctly. PS: With three Stromberg 97's and playing with a few in block items. This can be a very fast engine. Oh! Put a exhaust cross over and add two Smithy mufflers. What a wonderful sound. Again, my thanks for the video. captjack
Jack Scurlock i
Jack Scurlock - I too am 75. And grew up loving the flathead. When I go to a show I’m less impressed by rods with later GM or Chrysler engines and gravitate to those with the flathead. I still have tools for side valve engines and might still have an ancient ring compressor somewhere. What we didn’t have in those days were all of the shop equipment that’s available today.
Jack Scurloc
Some where in my past my dad said to use 2 inch copper for exhaust pipe. He said it sounded so much better. I think he might b have done that a time or two with a flat head. It's 2018 and I'm 60 and I never had a chance to work on one of these.
With a bit of boring, stroking, porting, relieving, and milling the heads (or getting "Denver" heads or Navarros) + decent free-flowing headers, the cross-over, and good exhaust flow.....these were pretty good in their day. The hot set-up behind one was Lincoln Zephyr gears (higher quality), a Hurst Mystery shifter, and a steeper rear-end. Guess I'm showing my age here. They were the Chevy small-block of the day. Also available were 2- and 3-carb intakes for Strombergs or early Holleys. Henry Ford used to bury the blocks in the sand by the river and let the cylinders get a bit of rust in them prior to final honing......it made the block really last due to increased hardness and micro-pitting (that retained oil well).....made the blocks seem to last forever. The sound of a flathead coming on the cam was glorious and very distinctive.
Re some comments on here- 3 main bearing Engine all needed for low rev, 4th ring was oil ring below pin, engine only 85 hp, or 100 hp on Mercury.
One of the main design flaws with Ford Flathead is that exhaust port passes through water jackets which can cause overheat at higher rpm, used 2 water pumps as did better designed L-heads like Cadillac but Cadillac had exhaust out top of Engine into a porcelainized manifold back to where it attached to exhaust pipe.
ASE Master Engine Machinist 42 years here,retired.
y'all are doing people a big service putting what you are going through here on this engine.
Trust me people with neg comments, this is way more involved than they could go into here!
On the valve adjust- you at least had "Johnson Lifters", I have done the older where the stem had to be ground, inserted, checked, until proper clearance was obtained, a real time consuming job in itself!
Good job guys!
BTW- first Ford LHeads had "full floating rod bearings, with two shells with both rods on those two shells, clearance in rod and on crank. Some of these early engines were/ are amazing and you need tools that can be challenging to find to rebuild them(valve guide puller in this instance)
Again good Job, I enjoyed!
Really good info.....learned quite a bit....thanks. tn
I was thinking of reversing flow if I ever rebuild one. I'll have to look into the Cadillac engine you mentioned. Thank you.
That was fantastic, too cool. The narrative really made it.
My dad bought a '47, which is identical to the '46, in 1970. Paid $50 for it because it wouldn't run. He learned it wasn't getting gas so traced back to the petcock at the tank. There was a twig there worn tapered, serving as a needle valve. The previous owner offered $200 on the spot, but it wasn't for sale. He drove it 4 years without issue and that was my first stick.
Did my first brake job, first repair on any vehicle, on that truck. I honed the slave cylinders and installed a kit in each and put new shoes in. I was only 10 so those return springs were bigger than my arms, but I did it with a large screwdriver for leverage. Dad was so patient. Just directed and watched me figure it out.
Before '49, a dual-point distributor was on the front of the crankshaft. I got the job replacing the points because it was easy access for small hands and didn't even need to jack it up. Meantime my older brother changed the plugs. Then Dad tuned the carb and we put a tachometer on and played with it. All the flatheads inherently had low compression, but this one was still solid enough he could back the idle screw until it was idling at 200 RPM. Could hear each cylinder hit at that speed.
Thanks for the memories!
My mate use to tinker with these motors many years ago.
I reckon they still the greatest v8. Thanks Henry Ford
Nice to see someone give some love to an old flat head.
You must be joking!!
My pops 48 flat heads was smoking all the big block V8’s down the track in the early 60’s I believe and he had racing parts on it that took his car to 90 in the first gear!!
@@mrx196 Yeah,if you left water in 'em in winter,otherwise,,,,,,,,,,no.
I am not a mechanic but when I was a kid, I my older brothers used to fix old Chevy engines. Fixing this engineers that you guys do, it brings me some of the most memorable moments in my life.
I rebuilt a 1953 Ford flathead in 1972. Lot of fun, and a great learning experience.
What a pleasure to see these engines and how they make repairs in my boyhood era, help my father repair the engine to his Ford F600 1953 truck
What memories
I really enjoyed this. I had many flathead fords in the 50s and 60s (high school). I rebuild most of them. Still have my ring compressor, still have my piston ring grove CLEANER (couldnt afford NEW pistons). This was a class build. Now I am as old as that truck, so I only can enjoy WATCHING you do this. Thanks.
I am a ASE certified Master Auto Mechanic I have rebuilt thousands & thousands of Engines & Transmissions but THAT man is telling you exactly right about that flathead V8 engine he got everything 100% exactly right ABOUT THAT 1932 Ford flat head V8 engine he knows exactly what he's talking about I could not have did no better myself and I have been doing this for ogre 60 years myself .
As a teen in 1957 I rebuilt a 51 Ford flathead and put it in a 1929 International truck for a hot rod, about the most fun I ever had in my life :-)
When I was fifteen, I overhauled my friend's '51 Mercury flathead engine. It was the first time that I had ever seen the inside of an engine. My next door neighbor worked at the Oldsmobile dealership and was a mechanic and body man. He loaned me a cylinder hone and a ring depressor and showed me how to lap the valves etc. I didn't know that there was such a thing as a torque wrench. When I tightened the rod bearings I would tighten them until I couldn't turn the crank with a wrench, then back off until I could. When I finished, that engine ran like a sewing machine until my friend wrecked it a couple of years later. I've never rebuilt another engine, but I'was proud of that old Flathead engine re-build.
By the way, the engine was in the car, not on the bench. The work was done in the front yard!
I didn't have any "lube" to put everything together, so I just used Vaseline! lol
My wife walked by as I was watching this and she stopped and asked why I was watching this because you're too old to be even thinking about fixing up old cars. When we were dating I had a 51 ford two door with a flat head. I built my own headers and was just learning to weld and all she remembers is when one of my welds would break open it meant no date that night because I was re-welding it. I finally learned how to weld redoing those headers. I loved this video and brought back many memories of me and my flat head.
David did a excellent job rebuilding THAT 1932 Ford flat head V8 engine .i could not have did no better myself AND I have been revealing engines + Transmissions plus alternators +starters + generators for over 60 years
Nice I miss these older cars they always had lots of room to slide engines in and out and work on them
i found 2 of these in tx for 150.00 in 1982 time to get of the pot i guess
Great video, held my attention through the whole rebuild and how did you guys know this video would put us old time flathead owners in 7th Heaven? 1949 Ford 2-door sedan with a flathead 6 that I could work on with my eyes closed was my first car ever. $10 in 1958 when I was 14...The time lapse concept with clear explanatory well timed voice over commentary was right on. Thank you guys for one of the best videos on UA-cam imo.
cool! i plan to restore a flatty 8 for a 1950 merc.. so that maybe i could drive it into my current high school and show off
I feel a strong sense of nostalgia watching this. A sort of window to a bygone era belonging to people who are no longer with us.
Love flat head engines, they're so simple, they look really cool and they're so silky smooth.
I own a 1968 amc javelin that’s completely restored. My grandson when 5 crawled into the car and took it out of park and rolled it down a hillside through a barbed wire fence and into a ditch. Hagerty took my claim and with no trouble at all and I mean NONE paid for the repairs to almost seventeen thousand dollars. Hagerty was so easy to do business with,that I’m still with them today. Great company . Thank you hagerty. And yes my grandson did make it to six. Barely. I still have the car and it still looks great. I owned a shop for forty years so I know this half hour was really mor like forty
To people new to learning car mechanics like myself, this "breakdown" was an enormous help! Keep up the amazing videos :)
My grandpa has a 1953 mercury truck with one of these in er. Its one he restored with my uncle when he was a kid, and he tought me to drive it. The 3 in the tree.
Three ON the tree... ;-)
@@dennisschell5543 You get a gold star .
In 1963 I bought a 37 Ford Standard (fastback) 2 door coach and I had a garage full of goodies to build a great flathead engine since by then the Chevy V8's were doing plenty of damage around the racetracks in the South. My dad had started stock car racing in 1947 when all the dust had settled from WWII, most of the early racers drove 39 Ford coupes. A few guy's drove Chevys and Plymouths but with Ford having the V8 the majority of drivers chose Ford. My brother and I had cut our teeth on flathead V8's and really got into this one. We started with a 59AB block bored 3&5/16's with a 4 inch stroke we had a Winfield 3/4 cam a set of Offenhauser 10 to 1 heads and a Edelbrock manifold for three carbs. Gasket sets were about all I had to buy. Once finished and tuned just right this flathead was about the meanest sounding engine I ever heard. Taking off full throttle was to much for the transmission and we ended up changing to a Lincoln Zephyr transmission. From a rolling start it would more than hold it's own against stock small block Chevy's. It was fun having a car built before my brother or myself were born. 1938 and 1941. By the way the Ford was slick with Lakewood Green from a 52 Mercury and black rolled and pleated interior. The interior was my only substantial expense as I did all the bodywork and painting. Fond memories!
As a positive note, your camera man has a better comprehension of motor rebuilding than most shade tree mechanics...... Love the videos.....
The fire department in my hometown had a '46 Ford firetruck. It was an old truck then, but still ran like a champ. No matter how cold the weather, just a bump of the starter button was all it took to bring the old flathead to life. The original exhaust was long gone, so to save tax dollars, one of the volunteers installed a couple of cherry bombs with just enough pipe to get past the cab. That was the sexiest sounding firetruck I've ever heard. I'd love to have it now, but it's long gone.
You said fire ring with the head gasket there and it reminded me of the old detroit diesel 2 stroke head gaskets. A fire ring around each cylinder, o rings in each coolant port, and a sort of rope seal around the deck for the oil drain back. No single head gasket to be found. Definitely two of my favorite engines, the flathead ford and the 2 cycle detroit.
In my youth I worked for a scrap dealer. A pair of copper head for a flathead Ford came in on a load of scrap. I have always regretted not buying those heads to save them from the smelter.
I’m new to your channel and can’t get enough. I started watching about 12:00 this afternoon and it’s now 10:00 this evening. Makes me want to get back into Hot Rodding. Those days were some of best.
Thanks for this video. I was never introduced to the mechanical world as a kid, even though my Dad worked at Chevy's V8 engine plant in Flint, MI. His world was divided into the white collar and blue collar men. He wanted me to grow up white collar. Sad really. I find the engineering and mechanical skills shown in this video to be amazing. I wish I had known more about these things. It would have been nice to rebuild the flat-head in my 1953 Ford F100 truck I bought in college...a blue collar guy ended up with it. Poetic justice. I hope it's still on the road 45 years later!
I get chills every time he smiles at the camera during the first startup.
Flatheads are just fascinating. Thanks for the amazing content, guys!
I enjoyed immensely, thank you. I'll never forget riding with a friend of mine back in "65". He had a 49 Ford with I guess a built flat head. I say this because I remember duces with Offenhouser heads. The sound of that engine at full throttle going who knows how fast is still music to my ears. We were young, dumb and full of no fear.....lol
You kept the 6 volt system. Very original! I owned many ford flathead engines in my younger days. They served me well!
very interesting rebuild! I'm a chevy guy but owned a few flat heads, first time i wvert seen one rebuilt.Great Job guys really enjoyed the share...
Thank you very much for posting this video. I just bought a 1952 Ford COE truck with a non-running flat head V8. The previous owner said that the truck was running and he drove it in a parade a couple years ago, but he tried to turn it over recently and nothing - he said he thinks its stuck. I just got it to my shop and haven't taken a close look yet. Wish me luck!
Sound of a flat 8 still makes me smile!
My first vehicle as a teen had a flathed V-8 and my current vehicle is a V-8 only now it's a OHC V-8. Still driving Fords
Enjoyed the pleasant camaraderie explaining what was going on. Shared, positive and intelligent.
Glen Miller
That other guy didn't know a damn thing !!!!!
This reminds me of Mystery Science Theatre the way you two are watching the screen.
I would be thrilled to have the MST guys do a parody of one of the builds!!! Or have them watch one of the cheesy '50s Hot Rod movies!
Even though I know about a lot of this stuff, it's great to see it again and to have it time-lapsed to see the process as a whole. Great commentary, too. Thanks!
Loved watching this. I bought a 41 ford coupe in 1966 with a "built" 53 Merc in it. 3/4 race wolverine cam, Wiend aluminum heads, I believe Johns piston and a triple duece progressive setup with Mallory dual point dis and headers. Head a stiff new front spring and looked like a gasser. stock rear and tranny with a Hurst shifter. Could never restart her. Had to let her cool down so I had to plan my trips. It was alot of fun.
Just discovered this rebuild video on my Hagerty subscription. It was extremely enjoyable. Video quality was excellent - one thing missing from the comment section was the brilliant shot of the engine inside ,showing the cleaning process. It was interesting to note how long Edelbrock has been around.
I never knew the flat head ran gear to gear timing, which unlike a Pete Jackson style gear drive, results in the cam gear turning in the opposite directIon as the crank.
As usual...Super Production!
Really liked this, especially for someone who enjoys watching but doesn’t always know what he’s seeing.
Simple is AWESOME! This video was amazing! I know nothing about cars and the way that you simplyfied all the technical part was fantastic, also the idea of person knowing nothing and asking questions is perfect ! Briliant ! Please make more !
The person asking the questions didn't not know anything (I'm sure they knew the answers to their own questions), it was scripted to sound that way for the benefit of viewer. People who know nothing typically don't ask on topic questions, question after question like that.
When I was 6 to 10 years old my dad bought his cars from wrecking yards. He fixed them up and drove them till they broke down where he couldn't fix. I remember going on a vacation of Vakama,WA We were in a 1946 ford, the car started to backfire in the carburetor and lacked power. Will, he pulled off the road. Got his toolbox out of the trunk with parts. He had me turn over the engine listened to the engine. then he proceeded to pull the intake manifold, head on the driver's side. Had me turn over the engine. Took a hammer and knocked off the valve head. had me turn over the engine again pulled the valve out on the intake valve. Put another valve in had some valve turning compound and turned the valve to seat set the valve in. Put on a new head gasket put the head back on. replace the intake back on. Started the engine and away we went back on vacation. By the way, he always carried valve head gaskets, timing gear gaskets in the trunk. Also, he never had to worry about his tools from rusting as the was a puddle on oil in the bottom of his toolbox.
Bob, I really respect your dad's mechanical abilities and his fearlessness. My own father was much the same way. I remember watching him rebuild motors without ever taking the engine out of the car. He'd just replace the bearings, install new rings, and grind the valves himself, and away we'd go.
I thought this video commentary was terrific. Interesting to watch. Glad you offered this in addition to the video itself.
Thanks for this. I rodded the 225 slant six in my '82 W150 and everybody thought I was crazy. That's probably correct, but I doubled the horsepower.
I had a close friend who turned 11 with a slant 6 in the 70’s
I would like to do a 200 or 250 ford small six,mill off the cast on intake and weld up a bolt on style like the Australian versions or do throttle body injection,cam, headers etc.
LOLZ, the devious side of me loves the idea of a hot rod slant 6. I've owned two.
i had a slant six dodge dart in high school, it burned some oil but was very reliable
Clifford 4 barrel intake by any chance?
With the help of a very good friend, I rebuilt one of these engines in 1964, for my very first car. The engine was from a 1951 ford, which I put into my 1949 Monarch, the Canadian version of the Mercury.
Each side of the flathead had its own water pump. The breather had oil inside it. Smoothest running engine I ever saw. You could track one fan blade as it rotated around. Could idle very slowly and rev very quickly when tuned correctly.
My first car was a 36 ford and back then it was a great set of wheels. Moved up to a 40 convertible eventually and, this hurts, sold it for twenty five bucks to a friend. Takes a lot of money to buy one now. Now a car that is seldom mentioned is the Kiaser, had a 49, that continental six would blow the doors off the old ford. Troopers couldn't catch it, raised a little hell when I was young. I survived.
My brother in law had a about '52 Kaiser maroon
Mine was maroon also and the paint job was lousy, they had to repaint it after a couple of months With a little fine tuning it would have been a top vehicle.Worst thing about the early fords was the mechanical brakes. Currently I'm playing with a Honda Del Sol and I love it, thinking turbo as I have a need for, well you know. *4 and never grew up, too much fun being a kid.
I don’t think there is any other engine with the same sound. Friend had a 49 2 door sedan with duals and glass packs. Sooooo sweeet.
Nothing else sounds quite like a Flatty. Nice.
Thank you guys for taking the time to produce this . Awesome
I love how your video guy is like, "There's all kinds of goop." And you are like, "Yes, that is assembly lube."
What amazes me most, looking back at the 23-year-old '47, these trucks were not too prone to rusting out.
I learned more from this video than 4 yrs of high school
This is truly a labor of love. Keep up the good work and thanks so much for sharing this on video!
"Oil is the balls", (when framing an answer to the description of the crank bearing) Inadvertent Awesome! (@11.10)
Awesome Production Guys , just found this Channel , i have never had any interest at all in watching Engines and Cars and Now i cant stop watching these , this video explanation is just Gold , learning and understanding how many Pieces it take to run an engine , its just Incredible , Thanks again
Beautiful! Quick build on an old school. V8 I love it! That's what built hot rotting right there 👍💪🇺🇸
Well explained for those people who aren't familiar to the tear down and assembly of a engine wether it be a flat head or overhead valve... growing up on a dairy we did all our overhauls so I started learning at a young age..did my 1st solo on a 4cyl. on our bailer at the age of 15 ( with some guidance...lol)
This is one awesome video just learned about the flat head that I did not know before like the valve timing no chains no belts for the age that was brilliant maybe not the most efficient intake outtake but keep the things simple always works, I have worked with machinery for 44 years built engines from little diesels to you name it. Huge Thank you for posting this !
If you like old flat head truck engine rebuilds check out the vid on youtube of Alaska Trucker "Studebaker US6 Frozen In Time (Engine Overhaul)"
Look up sometimes rebuilding a model T engine where you had to scrape the bearings to size or some similar process. and that was after pouring the hot bearing material into a shell or form. makes this seem so easy in compare.
I enjoyed that. A 1950 Ford custom is what I learned to drive in. So I am familiar with that engine.
My first car was 1949 Ford 2 door (I sorta "inherited" from my dad) with thee "on the tree" and a flathead (VERY worn out flathead!!) that was so loose from wear that every bearing in it clattered if you revved it up to much above an idle. Not exactly the fanciest ride or the fastest, BUT the price was right and it ran OK and got me back and forth to school until I got a 1958 Chevy Del Ray to drive. The old Ford had an overdrive that I changed around a little---put a switch in place of part of the system so I could control when the overdrive was available Made a 6 speed out of it---1st, 1st overdrive, second, second overdrive, third (high gear) and then third overdrive in that order. Was a lot of switching goin on, but was a lot of fun, too! VERY NICE too see one of those old flatheads being overhauled and used as a DRIVER and not just a trailer queen!!
Flatheads Forever !
Incredibly well made video, all pro engine re-builders and machinists. What a wonderful job and a great truck, thank you.
Do another this was GREAT.
what a great time to pressure wash and repaint the engine compartment. didn't happen. Most of the block cracks I've seen were in the valve seat area not between the cylinder bores. They all seems to run hot and that's part of the problem. good job on the video and the rebuild.
I have the special tool for doing the valve guides and springs on those. It was my Grand dads. He was working on those engines back in the 30s when they came out. Tool is very old but in great shape.
If you had gone to a old ford parts supplier you could have bought a specialized pry bar for compressing the springs. It was pretty easy to do with that tool. You just pulled the keepers out with pliers. I did it when I was 14. One week My dad, my brother, and I did valve and ring jobs on a '49, a '50, and a '51 Ford.
Very nice tutorial fellas. I like the way you have the one guy with a very basic engine knowledge, and the guy to answer his questions. I can see this VERY helpful to a beginner. Even the choice of the flathead is great for a beginner. I did not realize that they had the nylon gear for noise reduction that far back. Funny, now gear heads can choose "extra" noisy timing gears to simulate a supercharger sound or something.
A beautiful rebuild. A tremendous effort professionally executed. Really enjoyed watching this video. Thanks a bunch!
I had a '46 with an 8BA. Sold it to a friend. That was a fun truck. Nice video!
I loved the video, would like to see more of you guy`s doing your own work on your project vehicles. thanks guy`s .
Fascinating video, have rebuilt a few OHV V8,s but never touched a Flathead, thank you regards Doc Cox
My father, Allen Neiman was a moulder and worked to get the metal components correct for the V-8. When Mr. Ford came in to view the activity my father was told not to speak or look up. My; fathern then taught in the TRADE SCHOOL until it was closed.
out of all the vid’s I have seen this is the best !
MY DAD SWAPPED A DOUBLE BARRELL STEVENS RABBIT EARED SHOTGUN FOR A '46 FORD FLATHEAD 8. IT HAD WHAT HE CALLED A WORM GEAR LOW FIRST GEAR . LEAKED OIL, DID NOT SMOKE BUT HE SWAPPED IT FOR A BOAT MOTOR AND TRAILER ABOUT A YEAR LATER...I WAS 13 YEARS OLD. WE NAMED THE TRUCK CLYDE, FOR AHAB THE ARAB, LOL. HE LET ME DRIVE IT AROUND THE YARD TO KEEP THE BATTERY UP AND THE TIRES FROM GOING FLAT. I MISS OLD CLYDE..I AM 68 YEARS OLD NOW. IT HAD ALL THE GLASS, NOT MUCH RUST, BODY DID RATTLE (PRESSURE PLATE WARPED FROM HEAT I GUESS). HAD 1 FREEZE PLUG THAT LEAKES, POP WOULD PUT BLACK PEPPER IN IT AND IT WOULD STOP FOR A WHILE. GREAT OLD TRUCK IN '62. YOUR VID SURE BROUGHT BACK SOME FOND MEMORIES IN CHILDERSBURG AL!!!
Please Woody, stop SHOUTING ! Useless and her to read. Thanks.
Maybe the next thing your dad can buy you is a new computer keyboard with a working caps lock key. You know, one that lets you turn off the caps lock function.
@@marcryvon whats yor problem
Woody Rester
HOLLER all you want,I can't hear it,but it sure is a HELLUVA lot EASIER to READ without my GLASSES LOL !!!!!!!!!!
man u r bringing back mrmories !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that was the first motor out of my 46 coupe
Excellent! Good job... Sometimes you can surprise yourself . Doing things you thought you couldn't do... Next one will be easier!
Plan to come back to this video often, I'm restoring my first car, and it's a 1953 ford customline, v8 flathead.
I have a 53 custom line Victoria
After 58 years of wondering what went wrong with my 48 flathead.
Now I know it had a fiber timing gear.
Just shut it off one day and it never started again.
Thanks for the answer.
What a sweet sounding rebuilt engine.Good mechanical skills, sirs!
Love this! You need a flat head valve spring compressor.
Same here... great video... would have liked to hear it more. thanks.
Very nice informative video. I’ve rebuilt several engines, but never a flathead Ford. It looks more simple even if it is tighter getting the valves out and back in.
I really liked the cinematography fellas!
I love engines overall, but specially old and classic ones, this one in particular was a break-truth for its time
good mention of bearing definition: think of a bearing as simply a platform for something to "bear" or rest on... and not necessarily a needle or ball type. a plastic ring can act as a bearing in certain situations as well...
Love these and the wrench men keep them coming 👍
Fresh rebuild..first start up...it sounds like a old rotary aircraft engine...awesome
Great video. My first two cars, a 50 and a 53 Ford both had this engine - always wondered how it worked! Thanks.
Great video, love the commentary/banter...kinda reminds me of the old "Mystery Science 3k theater"!
Real good guys