Flathead

[cammerfe]

I just got sent a picture of what, from the rad hose placement is an 8BA engine. The picture is cropped so the stuff around the edges doesn't show, but an intake manifold with 3 Stromberg 97s is obvious. The zinger is that what looks like a Vertex mag is sticking up in the back where one would expect to see a fuel pump.

Have any of you seen late model flatty with the ignition back against the firewall?

KS

[cjshaker]

Having grown up around them, seen countless hopped up engines, even seeing several blown and/or injected rails run back in the '70s (when you could still find the occasional flatty on the strips), and just recently visiting the Early Ford V8 Museum, which had tons of stuff that I had never even seen in all the vintage '40s-'60s mags that I grew up with, I've never seen a rear dizzy flathead. I'd think it would have to be using a billet cam to get the gear drive on the rear, so it'd have to be some new concoction that somebody has dreamed up.

I don't see any advantage to it. In fact, I'd think it'd be worse. The original dizzy is driven off the front of the cam, where the gear drive is, so there's no added twist to the cam that might be imposed on a rear drive. Even an Ardun has the front drive with those huge heads. Superchargers don't even come close to causing an issue. I just don't see the point unless that front engine space is being used for something very outside the ordinary.

[frnkeore]

The French made FH and some of the later, German made FH's had the dist mounted at the rear of the block.

http://www.reds-headers.com/html/ffh.html

[Heo]

Yes probably French or German postwar

[Royce]

The big Lincoln Flathead has a rear mount distributor

[Heo]

Having grown up around them, seen countless hopped up engines, even seeing several blown and/or injected rails run back in the '70s (when you could still find the occasional flatty on the strips), and just recently visiting the Early Ford V8 Museum, which had tons of stuff that I had never even seen in all the vintage '40s-'60s mags that I grew up with, I've never seen a rear dizzy flathead. I'd think it would have to be using a billet cam to get the gear drive on the rear, so it'd have to be some new concoction that somebody has dreamed up.

I don't see any advantage to it. In fact, I'd think it'd be worse. The original dizzy is driven off the front of the cam, where the gear drive is, so there's no added twist to the cam that might be imposed on a rear drive. Even an Ardun has the front drive with those huge heads. Superchargers don't even come close to causing an issue. I just don't see the point unless that front engine space is being used for something very outside the ordinary.

Made for military cabovertrucks so for easier servicing i supose.  Guessing now, but dist drive is probably
combined with oilpump drive The french ones atleast have a big hump cast at the rear for a governor thats
combined with the dist drive. you could mill this down and use a ungovenored dist for a cleaner look

[cjshaker]

The French made FH and some of the later, German made FH's had the dist mounted at the rear of the block.

http://www.reds-headers.com/html/ffh.html

Interesting, but other than some basic architecture and 24 studs being used, those don't appear to be Ford based blocks. Lots of visible differences between those and any Ford flathead. It'd be interesting to hear the story behind them.

[frnkeore]

Rotating assy, heads and timing/water pump are the same. Only the cam/dist drive area is different.

Edit:
Oh, I forgot, the price is a LOT different. A guy in my area, wants $2000 for a core.

[cammerfe]

My thanks to all of you for your input. And for being so quick with the answers. I tried to envision what would be necessary, and created a mental picture of an adapter in the fuel-pump position and a camshaft ground with the drive gear on the back end just before the rearmost journal.

As I said, above, the cropping of the picture doesn't allow much from around the edges to be seen, but the part of the radiator hoses suggests 8BA due to the connection at the front head corners, and the mag is right next to the firewall.

KS

[Heo]

The French made FH and some of the later, German made FH's had the dist mounted at the rear of the block.

http://www.reds-headers.com/html/ffh.html

Interesting, but other than some basic architecture and 24 studs being used, those don't appear to be Ford based blocks. Lots of visible differences between those and any Ford flathead. It'd be interesting to hear the story behind them.

They are a mix of older and never flatheads early intergrated bellhousing 8ba type water returns so long time since i saw one last time
some have aluminium sump

http://flatheaddrag.com/french/frenchback.html

[Hemi Joel]

Can you count the head studs? The Lincoln flatty has 27 per side vs. the ford with 24 or 21.

[Heo]

The French made FH and some of the later, German made FH's had the dist mounted at the rear of the block.

http://www.reds-headers.com/html/ffh.html

Interesting, but other than some basic architecture and 24 studs being used, those don't appear to be Ford based blocks. Lots of visible differences between those and any Ford flathead. It'd be interesting to hear the story behind them.

Doug Here is the story about Ford France. This military truck engine i think Hotcskis made up untill the 80s
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_France
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Vedette
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Com%C3%A8te
My wrong Simca Marmon made this engine /trucks

The Aluminium 4spd fullsyncro box from Comete was a favourite among Swedish hotrodders in the 50s and 60s
Same trans that Facel Vega used behind the Chrysler Hemi

[cjshaker]

Doug Here is the story about Ford France. This military truck engine i think Hotcskis made up untill the 80s
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_France
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Vedette
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Com%C3%A8te
My wrong Simca Marmon made this engine /trucks

The Aluminium 4spd fullsyncro box from Comete was a favourite among Swedish hotrodders in the 50s and 60s
Same trans that Facel Vega used behind the Chrysler Hemi

Heo, I couldn't read the first link because it was in a foreign language (to me anyway . That Vedette though? Leave it to France to take one of the most beautifully designed cars of all time, the '49 Mercury, and make it look like some alien monster..lol

The articles didn't provide much info about the foreign versions of the flathead V8 that others alluded to. Just looking at the pictures that were posted, it doesn't look to me like any standard U.S. flathead parts would interchange. Maybe the intake?

I'm hoping to get an 8CM flathead together this Summer, with all vintage speed parts (Edmunds heads, either Edmunds or Edelbrock dual carb intake {I have both}, a couple of vintage Stromberg 94's, and a vintage Mallory ignition system). It'll just be placed on a run stand to start up occasionally for people to see. Mostly just because I miss having one around.

[frnkeore]

Just curious, Doug but, did you look at the pictures on the Reds Header site?

[cjshaker]

Just curious, Doug but, did you look at the pictures on the Reds Header site?

Frank, yes I did. I can see the basic architecture looks the same, so I presume the rotating assy, heads, intake and exhaust can be used. I'd think a billet cam would be mandatory for any performance use, because I'd venture to say performance cams for those blocks are non-existent.