49-51 Ford Flathead build (Intake and Heads)

[@WaxMeister]

I believe that if the intake manifold is aluminium, you should not use lock washers but flat washers designed for the aluminium manifold. Your suggestion to chase the spark plug threads is excellent!

[@dukecraig2402]

Do you know anything about the French military flathead engine's from back in the 50's that they had someone make under a military contract? I remember reading somewhere that they were supposed to have heavier castings that were reinforced in certain areas and had a high nickel content, supposedly back in the day the guys who built these for racing preferred to use one of them if they could get their hands on one.

[@aarondominguez4533]

That would make sense Gee Whizz.

[@WaxMeister]

@@dukecraig2402 I know the blocks were considered a more 'heavy duty' block but other than that, I know little more. I'm more a 21 stud guy when it comes to the early V8s. I'm planning on building another '37 21 stud engine next winter.

[@dukecraig2402]

@@WaxMeister I'm pretty sure the article I read on them said that along with being heavier in key area's they also had higher nickle content than the regular Ford production engine's, I can't however remember who they said made those French military engine's, if it was someone in Europe or the US that had the contract, I'm into motorcycle's but a friend of mine who was a Ford guy had magazine's laying around all the time that I'd read and I remember an article about those French military engine's from the 50's and how if you could get one they were better for a performance build than a regular Ford flathead.

[@aroundlinemen]

Very nice work , thanks for sharing 🇺🇸

[@mdogg1604]

Great vid! I'm installing a new head gasket on my (new to me) '50 Merc after I found a broken valve in #5 combustion chamber. No apparent damage to cylinder or piston, thank God. I think the previous guy installed a high lift cam, which I'm not too crazy about.

[@aarondominguez4533]

Hi mdogg, thanks, I hope it helps you with the gasket install.

[@dukecraig2402]

If you run into the problem of running a tap down through a spark plug hole after the heads are on just pack your homemade taps flutes with a bunch of grease and it'll hold onto all that crud instead of it falling into the cylinder. That's an old Harley trick we use for when we have to Heli-Coil the timing plug hole in the left side engine case, nobody wants to do a complete tear down and split the engine cases to keep cuttings from getting into the bottom end of the engine because you have to straighten out a mess some idiot made because he got the timing plug cross threaded putting it back in.

[@aarondominguez4533]

Hi Duke, yep, that's a tried and true method.

[@dukecraig2402]

@@aarondominguez4533 I like your homemade tap, good to know about those spark plug holes. Am I correct in assuming that they were a standard thread before the US auto makes went to metric size spark plugs?

[@aarondominguez4533]

@@dukecraig2402 , they are 14MM.

[@dukecraig2402]

@@aarondominguez4533 Oh wow, I didn't think they started with the metric spark plugs until after WW2.

[@jeromebreeding3302]

I regret not tackling a rebuild on the tired 239 Flatty in my 51 Ford Custom. I was'nt confident because it had so many peculiarities compared to modern V-8's.

[@rene3896]

Nice work clean thank you for sharing. Question you don’t use any spray on your gasket. Thank you

[@aarondominguez4533]

Hi Rene, no, I dont use spray on these types of gaskets. Haven't had any problems.

[@gordoncorey8023]

Nice engine

[@elkinperez8351]

Buenos días me puede decir en que orden y que torque se apretando las culatas

[@aarondominguez4533]

Hola @elkinperez8351 empiezo a apretar en el medio y me abro camino hacia afuera en cada lado. Aprieto a 70 libras-pie.

[@JavierSN95]

What's the white grease you add to the bolts?

[@aarondominguez4533]

Hi Javier, it's Permatex thread sealant 59235

[@andrewbodey5025]

Damn I ran a tap in my block, hopefully it doesn't leak....

[@aarondominguez4533]

Hi Andrew, I did the same thing on the first Flathead I built, and I didn't have a problem with it. I wouldn't worry to much.

[@sawymer]

​@@aarondominguez4533are you still out there?

[@aarondominguez4533]

@@sawymer yes, I'm still here. I had some life changes, and I don't have the free time I used to have. Hopefully I'll get back into posting videos sometime. Thanks for the inquiry.