I found what is marked a 81a (?) in my pops shop and found it spun easily by hand, plugs had no sign of water, oil looked good. A little Mystery oil I Put some power to it last night and it fired easily. Heres a little video, I know its not great, I was working the starter and filming at the same time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kwHkE2pYj0 1. trying to determine approx what year do I have? 2. I have heard this style of dizzy called several things, what is the correct (commonly accepted) name for this style. Thanks for your help.
More details would enlighten us, but so far it appears to be a 24 stud from 1938-41. I would lean toward a 1939-41 simply because of the front crankshaft pulley. THey used that pulley (with a fan mount hub) for the Deluxe 1939 Ford thru the 1941 models. Since I see a gen type fan mount, I can say that someone has mixed at least those parts on the motor. Who knows what else has been mixed. The tranny is a 1936 (based on the shift tower and the rear support bracket). A check of the serial number would confirm that. Let's say....a previous owner used this 39-41 motor to power his 1936 Ford. He left the later crank pulley in place but used the generator with mounted fan since that is what he would have had in the '36. The distributor has the 37-41 type coil on top. The pumps are 37-48 passenger car type. The carb is the 94 type which is correct for 1939-48 engines.
Not positive but I think the 81A dates it as a 38 Id post over on the Ford barn if you dont get a solid answer on here
81A = 38 to 42 Ford or Mercury Car, Truck heads/engine marked as 81-T. Yours is simply a 24 stud Flathead featuring shelled (rather than babbitted bearings). These are great motors and the salt flat guys prefer these blocks as it is generally considered the strongest block. Sure it doesn't have the easier to work on upright distributor (1949-54) but don't let that bother you. Parts are easily found for these mills, check out macs antique auto and ask them for one of their Free! catalogs that best describes your project or engine. Their catalogs are a very handy source book filled with great illustrations that will help you id that part. Good luck with your project, .
heads were marked 81A or T from 1938 thru 1942, The basic engine/block did not change although engine accessories varied.
Thanks for the clarification moefuzz, My Dad sometimes calls his 38 deluxe a model 81A and when I pulled the flatty out it was marked like that.
The 81 block should have the raised intake pad - desirable. The 81 blocks can be found in 239 and 221 sleeved block. I have an 81 block that was sleeved and was 221 cid, easy machining to pull the sleeves and bore to stock 239 cid. great starting foundation.
Heads mean little, as the fit all the 24,s. Originally used '38-42 221, yours is a '39 up... post a shot of where manifold sits on block for another sorting factoid, next thing is that prewar 221 and 239 are nearly indistiguishable with head on, so need shot of top of block surface with head off. It is LIKELY either a '39-40 or '41-42-WWII 221, but could also be a 239 of same age groups with 81 heads. You can NEVER relaibly fully ID a flathead by interchangeable external parts... Distributor you have was used '37-41 (two variants!) but is more an indicator of engines last home than its first! Trans might or might not be original to engine...serial number stamped right above the window on bell will tell exactly age of the trans case. AND...to add more fun confusion, the rear mount indicates trans was once resident in a '35-6.
Another external tell: Look closely at pan rail area on each side, where block bolts to pan. '39-40 blocks will show 2 bulges on each side, leading down to pan rail...at bottom of each is a freeze plug location in rail that you cannot see directly without removing pan. This disappeared aroung 1941.
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