looking for more info from my previous post ,first I must say thanks to all that helped or looked at my thread .so far I have learned that what I have is a 39-40 mercury flathead which consist of frost plugs on the pan rail ,center round hole in the water passage spot ,no raised intake ridge, just would like to find out what # s are on the front area on the rite front side of the block, looks like 90 but can't tell for sure ? what should it be ? just want to be sure what I have if it turns out good/no cracks?? I hope I am correct so far ??? also did that years come with factory aluminum heads ? as this is for my 33 pick-up project. thanks to all .
Most '39-40 239 engines (truck or Mercury) have 99 stamped at passenger side front of block where intake bolts on. This distinguished the engines from 221 on the assembly line since appearance was identical. Assuming no cracks or disasters, excellent hot rod engine. Original heads would have been iron.
thanks bruce!for the info as I am told you are the go to guy for info ,just one of many .so is it safe to say I have a 40 mercury ?I will check out that #again as I can make out the first digit an it is a 9 as I find they are so close together almost looks like 1 #.. good to hear it is a good choice. so it must another 9 .what else does 99 mean ? thanks again..
99 is the Ford designation for 239 engines...9 for '39 start, 9 as code for engine family. The 99 remained the basic serial number designation for '39-48 239's. Changes to individual parts changed the year part...so new parts introduced in 1942 would have been numbered 29, postwar 59, etc., but engine and car serials would have begun with 99 throughout. I don't know of any difference between '39 and '40 engines, and both carried the 99 stamp* up front. Only real variations would have been pumps and fan and stuff for cars versus truck engines. *unverified...the 99 was for assembly line so no one would get a fast Ford for free or a Mercury that was slower than normal, as engines were visually indistinguishable between 221 and 239. Supposedly the 99 stamp was dropped when someone got the idea of painting 239's blue instead of green...which must have made the choice a LOT easier to spot on the line as cars were assembled.
This thread has all the details required to identify a flathead block: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/ford-flathead-block-identification.594463/ 99 has to do with how Ford identified vehicles during the 1930s. The first number is the last digit in the year, 1939. The second digit is for Mercury. So you get 9 and 9, or 99. All parts retained their part numbers until a major redesign. Parts that were shared between the 1939 and 1940 Mercuries retained their 99 prefix on the part numbers. Parts designed new for 1940 Mercuries got a 09 prefix.
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