so i was on my local CL and found this and was able to trade a rebuilt short block chevy for it. talking with the guy, he said he got it at a estate sale about a year ago and that it was brand new. he knew this, because he took it out of the crate. anyway, it looks brand new. it appears to never have had oil in it or ever ran. i pulled the plugs and they were all new. the oil pan is empty and the dip stick looks new. i looked down the plug hole with my cheapo bore scope and all i saw was clean and looked new but i really couldn't see the cylinders. so my question is what have i found here. and more important, what do i need to do before i even try to put a wrench on it and turn it. thanks for any and all feedback.
I would squirt some oil in the spark plug holes and let it set fir a while. I would then rig up a system where you could put oil into the pan via the oil pressure sending port. Bones
looks like an 8RT which is a truck engine. Similar to the 8ba, but different exhaust and oil pan. 49-53
It looks rebuilt, but not brand new. You can squirt oil down the cylinders put oil in the crankcase and turn it over by hand. Maybe a quick leak down. If thats successful put a starter motor to it and see if it starts. If it were me it doesn’t take long to pull the heads off and take a quick look at the cylinder bore condition. Check for cracks etc. Either way it seems like you got a good deal.
Not likely a "brand new" engine. Probably a rebuild. Looking at the head bolt heads, some have different markings than others.
thanks for the replies. the board underneath it was put there right before the pics and there is no oil in the pan or motor that i can see. i'm new to flatheads but if i squirt oil in the plug holes, how do i know it is getting in the cylinders? isn't there a space in there shared with the valves? do i just keep on pouring until oil it flows out? if i pull the heads will i need to replace the gaskets? sorry if these are obvious questions just that i don't want to damage anything on what appears to be a engine that has not run yet. thanks
Not new ford but hopefully rebuilt and not just cleaned up . Not to be a downer but Ive seen high school shop projects just like this , crated and all . Its a 8 ba , thats about all is going to be important or available to you . Casting numbers ans letters mean nothing like a sbc does . The cyl heads are factory 8ba , the front mounted dist is typical of 8 ba . Started 49 to 53 in most countries
Pull the intake . Gaskets are $12 from most parts houses . It’ll tell you if the motor is clean and if it has adjustable lifters , you can check valve clearance , checking if its been correctly set , head gasket should be replaced . Remember if you get it running with water in it , it takes 3 hot cool cylcles tightening the head bolts each time . This makes certain it’s correctly torqued
Quite a find. Hell of a trade. Yes I’d pull the heads at least before firing it. Check for valve movement and proper looking cylinder walls.
It's not brand new out of the crate. It's been rebuilt and painted and then crated. The plug wires are way too new. The heads could have been replaced with good heads. It could be an 8BA with newer water pumps 5/8" and I'm leaning towards this. It could be an 8RT and rebuilt as such. It could be a Mercury flathead.
This gets shot down every time by the hopeful, young, and inexperienced but old rebuilds can be all new parts but still be full of rust like the 90's rebuild I disassembled. Bearings were new still with pink assembly lube but the entire inside of the block was covered with red, powdery rust from humidity. Looked great and had it not been for someone breaking through an exhaust port post rebuild(I have no idea why) it likely would have been started. That would have destroyed the engine but not until far after the celebratory YouTube "Will it Start?" video. BTW, this had been in a climate controlled basement for some time so not sure what previous conditions were. Had .030 pistons, 4" crank, and a 400 jr grind cam. Be conservative and drop another $100 on gaskets to take it down enough to see what's actually in there. Adjustable lifters, cam, etc. It's not that complex, Pedro.
thanks for all the info. i've ordered a gasket kit from speedway and i'm gonna pull the heads and intake. i'll post whatever i find.
I guess I'm in the minority. I've bought "good used" old engines and after barring them over to make sure they're not stuck (and unsticking as needed), I've put them in the car and started them up. No dismantling etc.
If you dont want to disturb the heads, pull the inlet and give it a look in there . it its all nice and clean , flip it over and pull the sump, check its all there , check the end float and squirt some lube onto the bores and inside the underside of the pistons to get it past the rings then turn the motor by hand a few times and repeat. Check the sump for gunk and the oil strainer.. If its all good refit the sump fill it with a decent quality oil an button it up.. Lube the top end and refit the inlet, pull the plugs and turn it by hand a few times .. then fit a battery , and crank it untill you get oil from the port on the back of the block .. Plug the port crank it to build oil pressure then fit a compression gauge to each plug hole in turn and check if you have decent compression .. If that all checks out refit the plugs, check for a spark check the plug wires ae in the correct firing order, ( you might be wise to check that with number 1 cylinder at TDC , do that with a long zip tie , remove number one plug push lock end of zip tie into plug hole turn engine by hand untill the piston locks the ziptie against the head , then turn the engine in the opposite direction until it does the same again.. This will get youin the ball park with timing , check the crank and if the check on the crank pulley is lined with the pointer your firing on number one .. add some fuel and see if it will fire .. Try not to go pouring fuel or Ether down the carb, fit a decent carb and prime the float bowl and have it working from the fule pump for a constant fuel supply .. checking the tip on the end of the fuel inlet jet at the carb worn go amiss , they tend to stick if they have sat dry for a while .. like wise the accelerator pump on the carb .. If you look up the water pump hose connections , if its a crate motor there wont be any rust .. yo coold pull a pump and see what the block looks like , if its rusty or clean casting .. all clues.. good luck .
I'd bolt it up to a rotating engine stand and pull the pan as well. This will give you the opportunity to check the bottom end, main and rod torque, pump, etc. Might as well check ring and valve tolerances, etc too. We have to assume the person doing final assembly had good intentions, however we all have stories of finding issues such as dirt, poor torque in freshly rebuilt engines ranging from an Uncle Pete's shed build to a trusted machine shop. Better to find and address it now than fire it up and have a mess on your hands.
Is it all car or truck stuff (pan, manifolds, accessories) plenty of these went into equipment and coulda been a shelf item. For me, It would be worth the cost of a gasket set to see what's inside, check clearances, clean up dried out assy lube and reapply. Best of luck, hope it's all new and clean inside.
Pretty common still but flathead parts aren't as affordable nor found at the local parts stores as they used to be. It's seen all the time but I cannot understand why, for the cost of an oil pan gasket, maybe an intake gasket, one might be willing to turn a long lasting engine into one with a shorter life. Oil pressure is low enough when new so why add scratches to all the bearings. This is just what I've found in limited experience. This does kill low time vintage airplane engines all the time. I guess I assume the patience I've developed with age(and many failures) was universal.
If you do pull the intake manifold, many folks use grease on the new gasket so they can be reused several times on a flathead. It will seal up just fine
Should have said earlier if you have the inlet manifold off you will be able to confirm with the position of the lifters when number 1 is on its power stroke , but the zip tie trick and a view into the valley area at the lifters will set you up good ..
Not certain it was the correct thing to do, but years ago on a flathead that sat idle for years I put a standpipe in the npt oil port where the oil filter line connects & kept feeding it with oil, screwed a coupling & adapted to my air hose to push it through the system, an oil gage was attached in the bellhousing area npt port, however don't recall if I ever had a reading or not.
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