What's Inside A Flattie..Flathead Guys...A Weird Question

[delaware george]

i just finished with all of the grinding of the block,the ports,blah blah blah...but while i was doing that i heard a ping on the floor like i dropped something...i had previously noticed some pin like things sticking out of the casting in the exhaust ports...i look down to find something that looks like a piece of coathanger...i guess it came from the exhaust or a water jacket...i rooted around a bunch but didn't find any more...still struck me odd,has this been in there fifty years?..survived hot tanks,etc. ...what is it? and why is it in there?..and will more come out and fuck shit up? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[Digger_Dave]

If I was going to take a wild guess; I'd say someone had used a piece of welding rod (coat hanger) for "digging around" in a water jacket to loosen up some of the left over core sand and lost their grip on the wire and it fell inside.

[Jim Marlett]

That doesn't look like anything Ford designed into it. I'm guessing a piece of welding rod got dropped into the water jacket sometime. Maybe someone was trying to fish something out. I doubt if it came out the exhaust.

[delaware george]

that's what i thought,but i wasn't sure cause everything has been cleaned so good and i never heard anything rattling around in there before...i guess alot can happen to a motor in fifty some years http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[haring]

It's a magic wand.

Use it wisely.

[Mr 42]

It’s a bit hard to see the size of it, but wires like that where used to keep the "mould" pieces in place during casting, and some time they got stuck into the cast iron.
Nothing to worry about, if you see the remove them otherwise forget about it.

[timebandit]

I have seen things like that in a flathead before. I think it was deep down in the water jackets at the outside of the cylinders on both sides. They were stuck in the casting however, so I left them alone.

[Germ]

It's RICKYRACERS cock

[delaware george]

hahaha http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Petejoe]

George, I wouldn't think that that piece of wire was in the water passage very long. If it was originally in there surely it would have rusted to pieces. My guess it too was a makeshift tool to clean it.
[ QUOTE ]
Loc: camden, de....an OK place,if you're amish

[/ QUOTE ]
I too live near Amish country, its amazing to see the tourists stop dead in the road to watch a group of tax and license deferred, bathe once a season, pacifitic draft dodgers traveling in a buggy going down the road.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Mr 42 gots it. Very occasionally ypu'll find a fully intact one, running from top to bottom of jacket area. Its job was just to hold a block of sand firmly in the right place while the iron was poured in. I've seen them in modern v8's as well. They were just left in place, as they didn't impede water flow and usually just eroded away in service.

[Oilcan Harry]

Mr42 is right. Its casting wire. It is very common to find this stuff in flatheads. I found some in my block, in the water jackets. I also have a set of EAB heads, late 53's and they had 6 pieces of casting wire hanging out of the outside of one head and 2 out of the other. Its like "Well we're gonna stop making these things anyway so screw it!". I didn't care, the heads were sound so I just ground them smooth.

[tokyo]

my soul....