The Original Big Block Ford

PM sent. I have an F6 and F8 from my uncle to get home, and an engine of this magnitude would be awesome sitting in one. Brute force!

 

Here are a few more pictures of this engine.

I don't think that I can get one of these into one of my Model A's.

I'll have to stick with my aluminum big block 4 cylinder engines that use the 460 ford head.

They kind of give me a Ford in a Ford and they fit better than the GAA Ford engines do in a Ford Mustang.

Dick
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The original 'Cammer' prototype

 

I have the special sockets for the head bolts and a NOS set of head gaskets (right and left bank) I also have a copy of the Military specs on that engine. If you have never experianced the sound and rumble of one at red line, be prepared to piss your pants!

 

you think about useing 3/4 or 1 ton springs to alleviate your front sag from the weight?

 

bump

 

Locomotive breath: PLEASE KEEP US UPDATED!!!! Most of us could never afford to build anything like this, but the concept has stimulated a TON of progress in a lot of projects(mine included!!) Anyone with ANY info, pics, videos, rumors(?), etc. PLEASE add them to this thread!!! Until this thread, most of us had never heard of these motors!

 

BUMP!! There must be more out there!! Does anyone have 'build ' pictures so we could see components? How 'bout more pictures of 'in use'/ Videos would be 'Super-nice'(!!), especially with sound, like from Tractor Pulls??

 

BTT

 

View attachment 3489358

 

Anybody with manuals, exploded views, build pictures, etc? Somebody has to have it Somewhere!

 

http://www.fordgaaengine.com/

 

I have a full Army parts book for the Sherman which includes the GAA. Also included is a great 2 page cartoon about how not to be a parts wasting douchebag. I liked the part about Sgt Snorkel training the newbie with a wet mop to the face. Sadly, it's at my other place. There are some good pics over at Speed Talk in the Engine Tech section, where we discussed the GAA in depth a short while ago. You have to log in to read it, though.

Ford contracted with Cornelius Van Ranst to design the engine and if the name is not familiar, do some reading. IMO the GAA etc has one of the most beautiful OHC drive setups, ever. The valve guide-cam bucket idea was great, too. At the time the block was the world's biggest aluminum casting. The crank is an iron casting, something Ford pioneered. The rods were the potential weak link, although OK for 500HP.
I met a guy who bought up virtually every GAA from a Seattle scrap yard after M26s were junked out of Ft Lewis Washington. He used them in water taxis in BC and was locally famous for having the front lawn at his house covered in them. I asked him why he didn't go Diesel and he told me there was no way to get the power density into the room available with any Diesel then available. He said they were reliable and dependable and used them for years. The reason the carbs sit at either end is that the original V12 version was designed for a centrifugal supercharger, so the tubular intakes were an optimum design. They never changed the castings when they chopped it into a V8. They were in one hell of a hurry in 1941. The development is also covered in the Army Green Books [Ordnance] and Ford:decline and rebirth.

I was introduced to a man that worked in Ford experimental during that time and he had some interesting anecdotes about the GAA. He wound up in the Air Corps and his luck ran out over Italy when his group was the only one that didn't get the recall notice. Broke out of the clouds in their B-17s and the whole F-ing Luftwaffe was waiting just for them. What he really wanted to do was teach a class in how to use the Norden bombsight.

 

https://archive.org/details/TM9-1731B

 

http://www.easy39th.com/files/TM_9-1731B_Ford_Tank_Engines_(Models_GAA,_GAF,_and_GAN)_1945.pdf

 

http://www.theshermantank.com/tag/ford-gaa/

 

http://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/38194/proper-oil-for-1940s-era-aluminum-ford-engine

 

http://www.williammaloney.com/Aviation/AAFTankMuseum/TankEngines/FordV8TankEngine/index.htm

 

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...-tank-engine-spitting-fire-god-bless-america/

 

thank you : Countrytravler & bundoc bob for this info!!!! most of us have never heard of this engine, let alone seen one, so this is a true learning curve! Was this the engine that the legendary Jocko of "Jocko's Porting Service" was starting to experiment with in the late '50's in conjunction with a fully enclosed & streamlined dragster? I seem to recall something of the sort being mentioned(with no follow-up, of course!!) as a 'throw-away' comment in an article about Jocko & his streamliner in one of the magazines of the time(maybe Hot Rod?)

 

Any Updates?

 

Please tell me this thing was finished

 

I almost forgot about this one, so :BTT

 

That would be so kool and appropriate in a dry lakes car!

 

Insane.. I need to see one run the 1/4 mile.... the search is on...

https://jalopnik.com/5262849/bow-to-the-fury-of-a-sherman-tank-engined-1970-mustang
http://www.amcarguide.com/custom/1969-mustang-fastback-with-tank-engine/
https://bangshift.com/general-news/...y/whatever-happened-ford-gaa-powered-mustang/

 

BTTT

 

And to think Fat Jacks orange 46 was deleted for having wide meats in the back.....

 

Can anyone here imagine one of these in a '60 Ford Starliner??????.....

 

Apparently some do not like WWII cubic inches and their after war applications.

Yes but I would much rather see one in either a '57 or '59 Fairlane.