I just bought this flathead mill. the previous owner said it is a French block. Never used. Back home cleaned it, searched a little on the web. but have not yet become any wiser. it has an aluminum oil pan. curious what I have but I'll let the pictures do the work:
Looks like a professional rebuild. The metal plate states 'ord'...which could hint that it was intended for a branch of the Ordinance Division of Defense. The stenciled letters 'Brake tested' probably refer to a 'dyno test' performed on the engine right after rebuild, prior to delivery. The engines are set up in a 'run fixture', with a power brake to load them while running for a few minutes. Nice, those French engines...We thought we saw the last of the good ol' flatheads here around 1953. (in general production)
Blocked off early distributor drive and pan makes me think German... One symbol on bell not shown enlarged looks kinda French. Is there a framed SAF on bell?/ are there any other numbers on head or manifold? Is there a threaded hole in front cover for a timing pin? Serial would match a USA sequence for postwar, when Germany was making an updated 1942 24 stud engine for trucks still. French ones I think would not carry a USA based serial. Looks like front pump holes are entirely pre-49 type, with no upper bypass hole. I think German, but I suspect there will be symbols like G29 on it somewhere to identify.
It looks like it was built in Brussels by this company or its predecessor J. Vanderperrin. The address has changed. http://companylist.org/Details/11052156/Belgium/J_VANDERPERREN_SA/ Crank (maneton) has been ground .030. It has been bored (alesage) .020 and crank journals (palier) have been ground .020.
Hello from the Netherlands. You have bought a Ford Koln engine and NOT a French flathead. 15 years ago i bought a Ford Koln engine and gearbox from a 1954 Koln (came from Belgium by the way, like most Ford Koln's in Holland). Engine had the same red color, 12 Volt Bosch alternator/generator and Bosch starter and had a Solex carb. on it. These are great engines with (mostly) low mileage on it, because they are mostly ambulance or other army supply, mine had only 32.000 kms from new and ran like a clock. Mine is now in a Dutch Model A and i'm lucky with a new French flathead in my garage. The French engines are mostly army green or simple black like mine. Groeten Hennie
ok so it is a German engine, not a French. what would be the c.i.? is 55 the production year? and the coupe came with it, ore vice versa
It is a 3.9 litre German G29T engine. Looks like post 1952, but I cannot tell the exact year from the numbers shown. The Belgian army ordered around 300 Cologne Ford ambulance trucks with aluminium bodies sourced from NWF (Nordwestdeutscher Fahrzeugbau in Wilhelmshaven): http://www.fomcc.de/fordsetzung/04_2/nwf06.html They stayed in service until the 1990s and regulary pop-up for sale with low mileage.
ok thanks for the information. What about parts for this engine? as you see I'm missing some parts. waterpomps, carb and a complete ignition.
Looks like it is made for USA '49-53 pumps, choice there depends on planned use... But if it is going into the Model A, short is good. This means...first, look under the ignition block-off plate on front cover. If cam has a slot in the front of it you can easily adapt any '32-48 ignition, with the '42 type being shortest. Then you can plug the top small hole where pumps go and use '37-48 pumps and pulley...this saves several inches over the late stuff, very valuable in an early rod. It also would give you an excellent and easy to find distributor so you don't need the rather rare rear one. Carb...I see a three-hole pattern there, ready to accept several different types of Ford carbs used from 1934 into the mid 1950's. That may be an adapter over a 4-bolt pattern for a Solex, which I tink will fit a number of 4 bolt American carbs.
Most Ford Koln's are from 54 or 55 so pretty sure 1955 is the production year. Ford Ford waterpumps and other Koln parts you can contact Lilypad hotrods here in holland (Gorredijk). Not cheap but he has (some) parts for it. Hennie
You can use 8BA style waterpumps. Original, Cologne built army surplus pumps are also still available at reasonable prices. I am using them on my French flathead as well with good results (double roller bearings). Currently army surplus rebuilt sets are offered on eBay in Germany: http://www.ebay.de/itm/FORD-FLATHEA...DE_Autoteile&hash=item1c3d08f419#ht_808wt_867 Basically most of the G29T parts interchange with 8BA, only excemption is the rear mounted distributor (which can be blocked off when a front mounted dizzy is used).
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