My new military french flathead will be converted to a Hot Rod engine

I,ve just got it from France, these are amazing, produced in 1986!






The Roadster is waiting for it.....

 

That's awesome!!! The french flathead definitely has a lure to it....

That roadster looks killer.

 

Do a search, There's a thread about a guy who got one, IIRC he was in Italy, putting his on a dyno.

 

Give an update when you get it installed and running. I see a lot of things on it thats not the norm but thats the French--LOL

 

Why does it have the funny distributor with the shielded plug wires?

 

Military style, to protect it from failure, very rigid.

 

Marine/Industrial or Military spec.
The cat's meow if you ask me.

 

Shielded, ( ignition wires), for durability, AND, to cut down / eliminate radio interference....................

 

I've heard rumers of these, where do you buy them? are they still available? and whats the going rate for one?
BTW good score!

 

I have a similar in my AV8, runs great! but there are some things to be awere of, so if you want some advice, let me know.

 

I have one running in my model A roadster "Old Rusty".
You will need a sump, flywheel and starter from a 59A or similar engine, and if you keep the French pistons and want to fit Offenhauser heads you will need to reduce the very top part of the dome on the pistons. You can adapt a Chevy dual point or electronic distributor to the french front cover or use a crab type distributor if you use the 59A type cam and 2 bolt cover - that's what I did. Be careful of the breathing - The front road vent tube in the sump needs to be sealed off, and this will leave the manifold short of a breather - a pcv valve can be plumbed in the plenum to overcome the problem - I will be pleased to answer any questions and offer advice.

Some threads on the subject:
PCV. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=514775

Me being silly: (it's the french motor with one head off to solve the piston/head clearance problem) http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=511446

My startup video - listen carefully for the knocking at 4:30... I'm so busy lookingb at fuel leaks I did not notice it.. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=511015

Mart.

 

Cool stuff...

 

The reason the pan fit is cause it is a Ford design. Sold to the French. I think they made some mods, A few years ago someone found about 800 of these at a surplus sale in France and bought and shipped them to the states and sold them off.
I came by this knowledge from SR mag.

 

Is there not some sort of a governor on these engines as well? looks like a cool piece, the olive drab even looks cool, gives a nod to its origins.

 

Got the heads and intake of, everything look good!

 

I bought a block and main caps from Halibrand when they first got them in. I plugged up the regulator areas on the back side of the block and also had to plug the vent on the 59AB pan you have to use and cut a relief in the block to let what oil flows down in that area go back into the pan. I have a 4" crank in mine and all of the stock US stuff fits fine. My block has a factory relief in it but I'm not sure if all the blocks do. Mine was also cast in 86, same as yours - I left mine a stock bore and w/4" crank, I'm at 255 cubes.

These are very beefy blocks with alot more nickel in them than their USA counterparts and some have said they can be bored pretty big. Have fun with yours and there's plenty of help around with regard to a buildup or change from the stock French stuff to USA goodies.

 

Can we see some more pics of that roadster!

 

See http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=491868&showall=1

 

a friend of mine has one, its a strong motor he had it supercharged to begin with and ran a 13sec quarter mile, he is now currently using it in a rail dragster he is building, how ever this time he is running hillborn injection and running it on methanol

 

http://jeep-m201.chez-alice.fr/marmon.htm

Here´s a french site about the Simca SUMB, that is the veihcle where these engines come from, they have the 4" crank.
Don´t know french but i think it says that the engine has 100kilowatts and that will be about 136hp!

 

That explains a lot...

 

I can even see some crossdrills since honing

 

If i understand right but i dont understand french so does
the simca sumb got a 4 speed pont a mousson gearbox????
interesting since simca/ford comete got a 4 spd pont a
mousson box that some swedish rodders used in the 50-60s
same box behind the Hemi in Facel vega wounder if the sumb
box is the same

 

When I got mine it had a gearbox attached, it was nearly as big as the engine! I throwed it on the junkpile... maybee I shouldent have done that?! the good thing was that the Simca 11" clutch fitted right on a -39 ford gearbox!

 

I have a french flatty in my roadster. It has a 3-3/4" crank, Offy intake with two 97's, Edelbrock heads and isky Max 1 cam. Changed the water pumps to 8RT ones (i think?), Mallory duel points dizzy and centre dump exhausts. Set it up nice and it runs real stronge on the street and ran a 16.8 at the drags ealier in the year. I know that's not real quick but fast enough to have some fun.




I also have another french flatty which we dropped into Nifty's coupe while waiting for his Ford flatty to be built. That one has a 4" crank and ran a Thickstun inlet, 2x 97's, stock cam and Mercury heads. This one also ran 16.8 first time out without any real setting up, so would have run faster.

 

I had one that required rebuilding...there is quite a bit of mix and match parts wise and was a bit of a headache getting the right parts from different year Flatheads.I think you`ll find that all the spare parts for the French motors are owned by www.sfflatheads.com

 

I have one that I bought with my 32 roadster when I brought it back from England. I am not going to use it so if anyone wants it, I will sell it; let me know.

 

If it is a French flathead it is already too damn old to work....

 

I run a French Flathead in my Cologne built '37 Ford - and yes it is a very tight fit to the bulkhead and the front x-member.
not all come with the regulator boss casting in the back of the engine though

Yours appears to be the large displacement version with the Merc style crank and front oil sump design as used in the SUMB 4x4, the SIMCA Cargo trucks used the Ford 3.9 litre crank but have a alloy oil pan with rear sump more suitable for use in a passenger car.
the metal plate riveted to the blocks indicates when it was last reconditioned in central France

We'll pick up some more army surplus engines for our club pretty soon - just in case someone is in desperate need for a "new" flathead engine. E-Mail me for details.

 

wouldn't that be a "freedom" flathead...