I am looking at buying a '56 international truck with the original l6 flathead in it. I have always been more of a muscle car guy but love old original trucks. I plan to restore it to original condition minus converting it to a 12v system. Can anyone help with where the best place for parts would be along with info on how to rebuild the flathead 6 that's in it. I have never torn down a flathead motor so I am looking for a book on how to do it if there is one. Thanks for the help Jeff
A '56 wouldn't have a flathead 6, should be like a 240ci OHV 6cyl. Rock Auto is a good place to start, not sure if they carry 4x4 parts, but thats where I've been buying parts for our '50 L-120 (no help on the original engine, I'm going with a 302).
Class-Tech-Cars in Virginia has lots of hard to find stuff for older Internationals. I've used them for L Series parts and have been happy. What model truck do you have? While my experience is with the earlier L series trucks, I am surprised to hear your 56 has a flathead intead of an overhead valve engine since by this time International had been using them for several years. At least on the bigger trucks International was pretty good at allowing you to order any drivetrail combo you desired so if your truck came with the flathead I would assume it is one of the industrial makes perhaps a Continental.
Also check out oldihc.org Most parts aren't as hard to find as people think, because International fans tend to collect things and you can find folks with about anything you want. Egge has motor parts for the OHV I'm certain, and maybe the flathead as well, but as stated above most of those trucks from that era have OHV so you may want to double check that.
Justinternationals.org is a great site with an "old truck" section ihonlynorth.com has the best tech info
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