Hi Guys n Gals i´m fascinated by the French Flathead and the period it was made. On the bellhousing there is the foundry date cast in. Let´s see some! In Vern´s Flathead-book we see 18.10.1987 Anyone got newer? Here are some of mine 11.02.1970 13.05.1975 31.07.1980 11.04.1986
Hard to believe they were still making them till then...I wonder if they mothballed the equipment used in production or smelted it all after the last of the run occurred?
The title would be (in my opinion) more accurately stated if it said "casting" date instead of "pouring" date, if it matters maybe a moderator could fix it for you.
@DDDenny thanks for the hint. i think I'll have to work on my technical vocabulary. cast didn't come to my mind.. so now i guess I'll have to cast errr pour me a glass
Mine are a bit different than those shown. My casting numbers don't make sense to me. Numbers on the right side of the block below exhaust ports show 30 1 63....So I interpret this to mean 1/30/1963. Anyone able to interpret the info on the aluminum tag? I have the heads off and the bores are 1.4mm o/s (.050")
rebuilt in 91 third over on cylinders crankshaft on first under in block and on conrod this would be the typical order on a french rebuild plaque std would mean standard
Thanks for ending the mystery. The tag was illedgible. I measured the bores and found them 1.14mm o/s but have no desire to open a good running engine. Sadly it was not a 4" crank... but it was relieved.
Question ,outa the blue . Is it possible on these blocks ,to run a distributer in the rear casting that usually held the governer/tacho thingy ? looks like the ww2 german blocks that had this feature .
While we are thinking about French flatheads... Is there anything good or bad about the heads they came with? FMA casting marks?
The French did major improvements to the block. Higher nickel content, thicker webbing around the mains, thicker cylinder walls...