Flathead Ford Mystery

Mystery Ford flathead from the 1950s.

We bought a 1950s Ford V8 flathead engine assured it  was ‘a good one’ so Damperdude began disassembly to discover that this was the first time this engine had ever been taken apart: it was a virgin. It really was a good one. 

To explain: a standard flathead in used condition from this era would be worn out completely. There would have been at least one rebuild in the life of the engine. Many of the nuts and bolts are spoiled where spanners and sockets have been used to force them undone. Threads of many of the bolts will have been damaged. The piston bores would be badly worn, the pistons on the thrust side would have the worst wear, which is why the old flatheads burn oil.

The mystery is that our flathead has clearly never been taken apart, ever. The whole engine is stock standard. There is thick black mud as the remains of engine oil in the block and sump. The valves are original Ford valves, the valve seats are un-burnt, not recessed, they are mint. The valves had never been adjusted, but still had clearance. The crankshaft is worn and has slight bluing because of lack of lubricant on the journals, especially the mains. The piston bores are worn but look as if they will go to 10thou oversize and the pistons are in quite good condition although the ring lands are a bit sloppy. The original gaskets are present throughout the engine. The original Ford bearing shells are in situ, the distributor is in really good nick but the water jackets are quite corroded and the engine shows obvious signs of never having been serviced nor used a great deal.

There are no markings on the engine to identify it, to say what year it is, or where it came from. The Inspector’s stamps from the Ford Factory are the only marks on it. The only clue there is as to year of manufacture is 1BA cast into the crankshaft, this, according to the numbering system, indicates manufacture in 1951. The mystery is why would a 50s Ford flathead be treated like that? What was it’s history that it arrived in New Zealand as literally an un-cracked egg.

A conversation this week has likely resolved the mystery of the history of this beautiful old engine and why it is in such good condition.

It was the power behind a US Nuclear War warning siren.

The sound of those things I find either terrifying or exhilarating, I can't decide which.

Now a little history. Post World War II US communities felt they needed an emergency warning system should a Nuclear war be declared, so Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler factories were commissioned with producing hundreds of thousands of air raid sirens, complete with engines to run them. These sirens were mounted on public buildings, towers and poles throughout the USA. According to the information I’ve found, many thousands of these sirens remain where they were put 60+ years ago. However in many communities they are being removed as urban development progresses.
Modern communications networks mean that, in theory anyway, danger alerts can best be conveyed by mobile phone networks.

A customer this week shared with us that his father was a mechanic in a US city. He was charged with making sure all the warning sirens worked during the 1950s and 60s. The sirens were fitted with Ford, Chevrolet or Chrysler 6 cylinder, V8 or hemi engines to run the fans to create the siren howl. The mechanic would travel around the siren sites, once or twice a year, top up the fuel tank, start up the engine, let it run for a couple of hours, top up the oil occasionally, then switch it off. No other maintenance was ever done to these engines. Now the engines from dismantled sirens are entering the world market as viable flathead engines for restoration.

We are investigating the possibility of building harmonic dampers for these 65 year old engines as when they were made they were only made to run at 3000 rpm or less. Modern hot rod owners can have these engines running to as much as 7000 rpm and this means damaging harmonics are affecting the life of the engine, wearing them out faster than they would if an efficient harmonic damper were fitted.

We can also source custom made Ford Model A harmonic dampers for those who need to run the engines faster than they were made to go.

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