Who knows about the Dick Flint's Roadster motor?

[Kevin Lee]

I'm looking at an old cutaway of the Flint roadster and it shows an extra water pump (not flathead) bolted above the right head. Caption said it was supplying water to the back of the block. The headlight is in the way but it looks like it's underdriven by a smaller pulley fixed to the front of the water pump pulley.

I know Navarro talked about snaking some tubing from the pump to the back of the block - but that was all internal. I see the plumbing here but it disappears behind the shock and frame rail. I understand the advantages of getting water to the back of the block - I'm just curious about how this was set up. Anyone have any more information or pictures on the motor or pump?

[Bruce Lancaster]

Small minds run in the same gutter...
I have the May 1952 HRM with Flint feature and cutaway drawing hidden under my desk right here at work. Brought it in for an Olds/flathead horsepower comparison...
The Flint roadster should be mentioned in the Flathead HP thread--143MPH street roadster.
The pump shown is quite small, and is plumbed to two small hoses--probably 1/2" bore or so. It looks like a racing power steering pump almost.
What is undoubtedly the distribution system is barely visible in one pic and depicted in a useless way in the cutaway. There is a rubber hose running along the side of the block parallel to the pan rail near the bottom of the block. There is a clamp or fitting visible fore and aft about midway between the exhaust ports, which might indicate a tap into the water jacket there. This might be like the Martas cooling system shown in the Huntington flathead book, except that was the total system and not an auxiliary. It pumped through a low mounted pipe in the same area
with a port at the bottom of each cylinder.

[alchemy]

A little off course:

A local flatty and 32 Ford expert is building himself a hot rod. Was previously into restoring 32's mostly. The 59 ("X" block I think) he's using was an old stock car motor that had an extra hole drilled into the back of each cylinder bank, right above the bellhousing. He said the racers used to hook a fitting and hose into there and pipe water up to the sender holes at the center of the heads. He's gonna hook them back up when he gets the car going. We'll see how it works. Don't think it used extra pumps though, just natural circulation.

This guy has almost one of every body style 32 Ford made, save for a B-400, woody, and RPU. His hot rod is gonna be a highboy roadster with flatty, Buick trans, and Hal quickie.


alchemy

[Bruce Lancaster]

By the way, the engine is a 99A type, prewar Merc.
Ford revised this cooling system for the 59A, and called for 99A's to be reworked in service, I think to force more coolant through ends of block before exiting at middle.
The mod was to switch to the postwar '46-48 gasket, blocking most of the huge deck hole in the early engine, enlarging the smaller center holes a bit to force flow upward, and messing with holes elsewher by using the gasket as a restrictor.
I suspect this is an attempt to do something similar.
Some people also swear by 8BA type gaskets under their early heads. Anyway, 143 isn't too bad for an engine with no power.

[RF]

Lo and behold, the legitimacy of the HAMB returns. I knew there was a reason why I stuck around through all the useless rants (some of which I have succomb to), ebay crap, etc. Thanks!

[Kevin Lee]

Nice. In the same book I found a picture of a flathead on a dyno - Early block, Harman and Collins Magneto....and a small aluminum pulley on the front of one of the water pumps - but the generator is right where the pump would have to be.