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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Engine Swap

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Engine Swap -- page: 1 2 3     dicky 02-11-2013 @ 2:33 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 41 Joined: Oct 2009 Well I have finely made the decision to put another engine in my 1935 Ford. I have been dealing with it overheating for the last 8 years. I have done everything to this motor (thanks for everyones help over the years). I need to know which flathead engines would interchange with my 1936 LB engine. If I remember right, the 1937 & 1938 would be an easy swap. I would like to put a stronger 59AB engine in it. Since I am starting from scratch I am open to any flathead. I am open for suggestions. Dicky Herren 205-675-6948 richardherren@hotmail.com This message was edited by dicky on 2-11-13 @ 2:37 PM ford38v8 02-11-2013 @ 4:21 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2780 Joined: Oct 2009 Dicky, Your giving up on a '36LB is going to raise a few eyebrows for sure. You have a desirable engine there, so let me go over a few things for your consideration before you trade and quite possibly wind up with the same overheating problem on your new engine. Engine should be flushed and backflushed, while using a coat hanger to dislodge original casting sand. Run white vinegar for a couple hundred miles to remove scale. Radiator should be rodded out, or recored using the original tanks. Have the top tank reinforced inside to prevent oil-canning, and use a 4lb cap. Check for proper function of your water pumps, and if you are using thermostats, pull them out and check them in a pot of water on the stove. Check for the presence of the bottom radiator splash pan. The distributor should be checked for function and correct timing. Fan belt checked and tightened if neccesary. Fan checked for close proximity to the radiator. Use nothing but Regular gas, never Hi Octane. If you have done all that and still have heat problems, you might consider rebuilding your engine rather than changing for another. It may have been bored to the max which itself is a cause of overheating, in which case you may be able to have it sleeved. While in process, the bare block should be submitted to a process known as "Shake & Bake", where steel shot is bounced around within the cooling passages. If you do replace, the easiest swap is for another 21 stud engine, such as the '37 or '38 you mentioned. Your '36 heads would be used on the new engine, with a block-off plate on the front. Any 24 stud engine up to '48 would also work with the use of flex hoses, as would the post '48 engine with some additional modifications due to the location of the distributor on the later engine. Alan This message was edited by ford38v8 on 2-11-13 @ 4:26 PM dicky 02-11-2013 @ 6:46 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 41 Joined: Oct 2009 Thank you for your input. This is the order of events on my engine. 1. When I bought the car 8 years ago the owner told me that the car never ran hot. I had to have the car towed the first time I drove it (dead battery), the next tim the generator came apart while driving it. 2. Car ran hot from the first time I drove it. I could not keep water in it. 3.Got radiator recored using both the upper and lower tanks. 4. Got the waterpumps rebuilt by Skip. 5. Bought Cast Iron heads to replace aluminum ones. 6. Used preasure washer to wash out water jackets before being sent off to get rebuilt. 7. Got engine rebuilt by someone that had been rebuilding them for 60 years. Engine was baked and then assembled. I have only put about 300 miles on the engine since it was rebuilt in 2005. 8.I had two different people check the distributor. 9.my fan belt is the correct tention. 10. The fan is 1/2 inch from the radiator. 11. I only use regular gas. 12. I had to tighten head bolts (15 to 18) more than once in 2012. Anywhere from 10 LB to 25 LBs. I think this is because I have 12 to 18 Heli-coils installed for the head bolt studs. So you can see why I am frustrated with this engine. I would love to put a LB engine back in, but as you said they are hard to find. I would also like more power to drive it more. That is why I was thinking of putting in a 100 HP engine. ford38v8 02-11-2013 @ 7:32 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2780 Joined: Oct 2009 Dicky, sorry about your bum luck with your car. I say car rather than engine, because few of your complaints are actually about your engine, but about how it was not built correctly. I'd first question the competence of the rebuilder who, after breaking half the studs and replacing them with the use of helicoils, showed further incompetence by failing to use sealer on those studs that penetrate the water jacket. (This, by the way, is not an indication of your engine overheating.) Sometimes a guy has to just bite the bullet and learn how to do his own work and forget lining the pockets of incompetents. Alan supereal 02-11-2013 @ 8:42 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Before giving up, have both heads resurfaced. We find most old Ford heads are warped. That would explain both heating and coolant loss unless the block is cracked. Install Barr's Leaks when you put the engine together. Heads that are flat shouldn't need to be retightened more than once after about a hundred miles. A simple test for block cracks is to remove the belt from the water pumps, top off the radiator, then look bubbles in the coolant while running the engine. flatheadfan 02-12-2013 @ 12:43 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 450 Joined: Oct 2009 Dicky- Something that ford38v8 mentioned that is worth looking for. You must have the lower radiator shield installed. The purpose of the fan is to pull air through the radiator thereby reducing the heat retention of the radiator. However, if you do not have the lower radiator pan installed the fan takes the lazy way out and pulls air up from under the chassis and not through the radiator. The result, the engine heats up. Tom dicky 02-12-2013 @ 5:34 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 41 Joined: Oct 2009 I want to thank all of you for your responses. I did not try and rebuild my engine because I did not think I had the expertise to do it. Also there is no V8 Club in Birmingham Alabama for me to get help. The man who rebuilt my engine has a very good reputation on rebuilding flathead engines. He did not break the studs, I did when I was trying to do things myself. A couple of you have mentioned the lower radiator shield. My car has the lower shield in place. I do not have any type of shroud in place. I also am not happy with the cast iron heads that are on my engine because I have an oil leak around the spark plugs. I will take the heads off and get them resurfaced. supereal 02-12-2013 @ 6:52 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 You shouldn't have an oil leak on the surface of the heads around the spark plugs, or anywhere else. The only cause of excess oil in the cylinders would likely be broken or poorly installed piston rings. flatheadfan 02-12-2013 @ 7:00 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 450 Joined: Oct 2009 Dicky- This may seem like a stupid question but bare with me... How do you know the engine is running hot? Hopefully, you are not basing on the dash gauge. Those things are terribly inaccurate. Before you start tearing things down get a heat gun (about $40 from Harbor Freight). This can give accurate temperature readings and can isolate what part(s) of the engine is/are running abnormally hot. As for "oil leak around the spark plugs", this sounds more like valve or more possibly piston ring problems than head problems. Have you done a compression test? Tom TomO 02-12-2013 @ 9:50 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7264 Joined: Oct 2009 Dicky, you did not mention when your car is overheating, is it when you are driving at highway speeds(50-55 mph), driving in heavy traffic or when idling at a stop light? Each of those conditions call for different fixes. High speed overheating is caused by timing, plugged exhaust or water not being circulated properly( cavitation around impellers, not enough water, plugged passages). The vacuum gauge can be used to check for plugged exhaust and timing problems. Overheating in traffic can be caused by airflow through the radiator, low cooling capacity, poor water circulation or timing. Overheating while idling is usually caused by poor airflow or low cooling capacity. The oil around your spark plugs is probably caused by a defective plug gasket, rough gasket surface or plug not torqued properly. Always use a fresh plug gasket when installing the plugs, use a thread chaser to clean the threaded holes in the head and then torque the plug to 25-30 Ft lbs. If you are having overheating problems with your current engine, you are very likely to have them with any replacement engine if the problem is low coolant capacity or low airflow. Tom This message was edited by TomO on 2-12-13 @ 9:52 AM

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