flathead firing order questions

I recently purchased a 53 mercury flathead. the heads have EAC on them. I am trying to figure out the firing order, from what I found it should be 1-5-4-8-6-3-7-2. the only prob is that when I pulled the head on the passenger side and spun the crank by hand the 1st cyl I set to the top. Then I turned it and the #3 cyl came up next then the #4 came up 3rd and the #2 cyl came up last. That doesn't match the supposed firing order. I do not know how the other side comes up.
Now the spark plug wires were in the order of 1-6-4-8-5-3-7-2. I don't think that was right because it wasn't starting up.
I drew a pic for a reference. I numbered the cylinders inside the cylinder and then I numbered to the left the order they come up when I spin the crank.
If any one could help me and tell me the engines firing order I would appreciate it.
the cylinder's bore is .030 over 3.1875 and 4 inch stroke

 

I know nothing of flatheads but every modern engine had no.1 as the closest cyl to the front of the block. In your drawing it would be the one on the right. Maybe a good time to get a manual.

 

Were you turning it in the right direction?
#1 cylinder is on the passenger side front.
#2 is right behind #1.
#3 is the third on the passenger side.
#4 ....passenger side.

 

Fords are not Chevies. 1234 on one side, 5678 on the other bank

 

http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/FH_images/FH_engine-pics/Flathead_Sparkplugwiring-49-53.GIF

 

I was just gonna post that pic, but my prob is that the cylinders dont seem to be in that order? the rotor was spinning clockwise when I spun the crank clockwise

 

When did this engine last run? Was it in a car? Was it used for some industrial application? Can you crank it backwards and see what happens?
I think you will have to set everything according to that drawing.

 

How do I know what the order of the other side of the engine is? I guess I could pull the sparkplugs and try to see when the piston comes up.
I dont know the last time it ran or what it came out of. The previous owner said it ran when it was pulled and recently had a rebuild about 8000miles old.

 

All V8s without flat crankpins have the same crankshft cylinder sequence Ford, Chevy, Dodge, its the cam that makes the firing order. You can put a flathead firing order in a 460 if the cam is ground for it. 1 and 6 are companion cylinders, one is on overlap the other on ignition.

 

Maybe I'm not understanding fully , but remember, just because a piston comes up , doesn't mean its on a compression stroke and ready to fire , it may be on its exhaust stroke.

 

Yes, both valves must be closed for it to be on the firing position.

 

Here's a close up of an English Flathead head, it has a firing order diagram cast in.



All flattys are the same.

 

Actually, all Fords except the Flathead/Y, Mod motor, and the 5.0 HO /351W, and all of your V8 Mopars have the same firing order as a Chevy if you renumber the cylinders.

Ironically the LSx Chevys have the same firing order as a 351W, along with a center thrust main, if you renumber the cylinders like a Ford. And the 4-7 cam swap for regular GMs give it the same firing order as a Flathead/Y block. There is even a 2-8 swap cam available for 460's that do the same thing, giving it a flatty firing order.

It may be hard to get the head around this, but to balance a "normal" crank you have 4 rocking couples that have to be the same across V8 engines or you would have all kinds of wierd shit going on that would break the crank. But if you ground a cam that closed the valves and fired the ignition at any cylinder full of charge and ready to fire you can call it whatever firing order you want but it will revert to only a limited number of sequences you can get of what cylinder is on top. In my opinion, Henry got it right the first time. Having three mains, he hit the corners, then crossed that center main without overly stressing it. It is the most evenly loading firing order there was. I wish I could get a 2-8 swap cam for an FE without spending a bazillion dollars.

 

One thing to add: The cam in the flattie is direct gear driven (no chain or idler gears) therefore the cam rotates in direction opposite the crank direction.

 

True, but only if talking about the pre 8ba engines with the dizzy mounted directly to the front of the motor.

 

Find TDC #1 piston and follow post #15 diagram for plug wiring.

 

Mart - have you come across 59A style engines that didn't have timing gears vs some other drive? I've not...

 

As stated, the firing order is 15486372. Starting with 1 at top, as you turn the crank, 3 will be at top next, but it will be on the intake stroke ( 5 will also be up on power stroke on other bank), 4 will be up next and it will be on power, then 2 will be up but it will be on intake and so on down the line. All is normal with your engine.

 

Installed some flashy new ignition leads on the 8BA today. Clear red ignition leads, screw on terminals...etc. Couldn't get it to fire. Checked the firing order a dozen times and everything was cool. Scratching my head I decided to do a quick search and came up with this thread which pointed out to me that the cylinders are not numbered as I thought. Printed out that pic above and presto she fired right up...in gear and took off like a hotrod straight into the steel bin and wooden bench!

I must have clicked the gear lever as I was doing something else to take the tension off my dilema. Fortunately, the suicide front end puts the axle up front which mangled my bin and pushed my heavy bench hard up against the back wall. Front axle - 1, steel garbage bin - 0. No harm done at all to the car.

I wish I could have seen the look on my face though. I'm sure I'd still be laughing. I learnt about 6 lessons today - all hot rod and all good. Thanks H.A.M.B. Lotta fun...lotta fun.

 

THis is an old post, but it's still incorrect. All Flattie cams spin opposite the crank.

 

I know this is an old post, but I thought I would point this out as a case of "Lack of Common Sense" Since #1 and #2 are on the same crank pin I'm going to bet #2 comes to TC 90 degrees after #1. Every time. Same for the rest of the cylinders. I have heard there are no stupid questions. Maybe. But some are really not smart.

 

Dayum, I read "cam" and must have thought "distributor"

I do know all Ford flathead cams go anti-clockwise, due to being gear driven.

Early, end mounted distributors go anti-clockwise, 8BA go clockwise, that's what I was saying, but I read the question wrong.

Early Ford cylinder numbering is a little strange, but if it's all you've ever known, it seems "normal" and all the others seem odd.

(I'm LOLing here,)

Mart.

 

All the Ford V8s use the 1234/5678 numbering...even late models. All the others ARE odd!

 

When Henry counted something, the way he counted it was RIGHT. Kinda like Chuck Norris, but more assertive.

 

1 and 2 are not on same crank pin 1 and 5 are on same crank pin.
2 and 6 are on same crank pin
3 and 7 are on same crank pin
4 and 8 are on same crank pin

This is the correct spark plug wiring diagram

Tig.

 

You are right. I am wrong. Just can't get comfortable with the Ford numbers. But subsituting the correct Ford numbers and it is still true that common sense will tell you what the other bank is doing.

 

Dam now we all know good call

Tig.

 

There's only so many ways to fire a V8 and have it run smoothly.

If you re-number the SBC cylinders with the correct Ford numbering, one of the SBF firing orders is the same (albeit they start one off, but the order is same).

 

im having problems with mine not firing on the rear 2 cylinders. anyone help me with this