Hey guys, and hello from northern Norway, approximately 350k's north of the polar circle. I'm a long time lurker, and love browsing this forum looking for inspiration, so many awesome builds, and so many awesome cars. I'm not into hotrods yet, I've got a 66 302 mustang ht, and some old european fords, but I'm hoping that will change as time goes by. We have an old Flathead V8 lying in my grandpa's barn, that has been there for ages, but we cant identify it. We're thinking old ford, maybe bantam, simca vedette, or some other manufacturer, but no clear markings on it. Since grandpa is lost to dementia he cant tell me what it came from, and how old it is. Can any of you identify this engine? here's the piccies. Two exhaust ports per side. It's missing a dizzy, and the carb. Aluminum heads and intake: One waterpump per cylinder head: Cute little clutch, with the crank-case breather at the back. Here's the only clear markings on it, " <-> 27I2 " with 5 stars stamped on top. Cute little 2bbl intake: So, anybody got any suggestions?
The engine is not a 221/239 ford flathead. V8 60 used have water outlets in the middle and pumps in the block and 17 bolts. this have pumps in the heads and have 15 bolts http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_specifications.htm Check this side in best case can it give you something. /Stefan
By the looks of the specs Stefan T posted, it's not a Ford V8. No v8's had 15 bolts to the heads on that page.
I think there are too many similarities to the V8-60 for this not to be a Ford based engine. The flathead Anglia was a shrunken mirror image of the Model A-B-C. There were other examples of adaptive engineering in Europe. Someone will recognize this engine and clear up the mystery. I am very courious.
Simca has the regular 60 hp more or less b ut before the war there was Matford Mattis and Fords joint wenture in france thats my guess or some german Ford the flange on the xmanifold look like other german engines
I would think the stars stamped into it would be a giveaway to those in the know. Maybe Russian tank engine? I know nothing! haha.
The stars were to wipe out the numbers on the block. Ford used the star stamp also to begin and end a serial number to prevent changing a serial by adding digits at either end.
The size is a bit smaller than a 302, if that's of any help. It doesn't have much displacement either, maybe around two and a half litre. I'll measure the bore and stroke tomorrow after work when I take some better pictures. I think it's strange the way the flywheel housing is joined to the block and the oil pan. I've been searching my a$$ of trying to find pics of an ford/simca vedette 2.3l flathead V8, but cannot find any. Maybe it was the small 2.3 in the vedette? I dunno. I would love to get this little thing running. Maybe with a dizzyless leccy ignition it would fire up with a simple 32/36 weber carb I've got lying around? I'll probably moleculize it this summer when I've got the time to go over all of the internals. Maybe build a stand for it, and have it power a blender or something? The possibilities are endless.
Have a look at this link. Shows the smaller Matford V8 by all accounts. 65 cv. That is the French abreviation for Hp. Looks like it is rated at 65 hp. Note the water pumps in the heads and the exhaust ports. It appears there are only two. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifhp97/4545242094/
Can the crank be turned with a big wrench? If it can, then maybe pull one of the heads and measure the bore and stroke to figure out what displacement it is. That might help to figure it out. Also, the fact that it has aluminum heads and an aluminum factory intake manifold is significant. I did find a few images of Simca Vedette engines. This one (from HERE): And these images (from HERE), too. As you can see there are certain similarities, but also some significant differences. Differences include things like the number of exhaust ports, number and location of water pumps and water outlets, and the configuration of the bell housing mating surface and clutch. Perhaps it's an earlier or later version of the same basic engine design, or maybe it's a design variation that was used in trucking, industrial, or agricultural applications or something like that ... but looking at the differences I get the sense that it may be something entirely different. Here's a weird thought. Could it be some kind of Eastern European "copy" of the Ford and Simca designs that was produced in one of the Communist countries?
Anouther thought, Bruce mentioned there was an early version of the V-8 60 that had 4 mains and was quite different, i belive he is the only one that has seen one. What about russian copy? a lot of stuff postwar was obviously copied by russian companies, could it be something like that
There was an article in the Early Ford V8 club magazine a couple of years ago about early European versions of the V8-60. This has got to be one of those. The article on the Matford seems to verify this.
I am pretty sure its a french ford, for some reason I remember reading an article years ago somewhere.
I found another image of a French "Matford" flathead. It has similarities and differences, too. As you can see it's really just a variation of the Ford Flathead engine. Hmmm ... What did your grandfather do for a living? Maybe that will give some clues.
My grandfather worked on the railroad all his life, so I don't think this came from something like that. His first car was a 1962 Austin A60 Cambridge with a 1622cc fourbanger that he bought in 1964, so it's not from any of his old cars, as he's had all british leyland cars up til the 80's. My father seems to remember the old man saving this engine from going to the scrappers around 25 years ago. It's been sitting in the barn ever since. But the picture you posted is the closest so far, the "big wing" oilpan and the flywheel casing looks quite similar. The carb dont look similar though, that is a single barrel carb. What, in regards to my location? I saw the sun this morning actually, we've got the sun back around a month ago
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