Reviving a proper six
 

Well, winter is coming on and most of my jailbar fleet is under control so my mind wanders into what is next. I have found I almost never drive my tonner panel, so I decided to sell it to a very nice young man who bought my '47 2 ton. He lives in N. Seattle and is an arborist. He has really enjoyed the stakebed for hauling logs , gear etc. He is 31 and has lots of energy. A few years back I bough a nice bunch of flathead fords from the son in law of a ford guy. In the lot was an H six, very complete from a panel truck that got wrecked soon after a restoration. Years ago I tyried to start the six, but the ring gear was trashed, and I couldn't get spark and I had many other projects going on. I found the ring gear guru and he has the H gear made on occasion, so I ordered one. Shrunk it on this morning. Well I am waiting for drawings on the next project in the wood shop, so today I replaced the condensor and had spark. Went to 12 v with a bosch blue. Took almost all day dealing with spark, carb, solenoid, switches etc, but by 4:00 was running nicely. Short runs, no coolant, but smooth. No real plans for it but..... I do have a 46 tonner PU from the dry side of the mountains, had no bed BUT had a title but had no bed or running boards or engine.. I also have a 47 from the rainy side but the bed was good, or good enough. Cab might look ok to rust-belters, but not me. I currently have the west side bed on the east side cab/chassis. Matching green, needs engine. OK, brakes etc. This could take a while....

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1634101893

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1634101831

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1634101589

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1634101612

GB SISSON Reviving a proper six in a 1946 Ford Tonner

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

The flat six is a good engine. The later version the ohv 215/223 overhead was called the mileage maker to the flathead and yblock. Bullet proof dependable motors.

Cool Project.

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

Hey, GB, that looks like a great start to a bit of winter tinkerin'. Looking forward to how this one turns out.

Mart.

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

There's something compelling about the big stuff !
Charlie ny

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

My first car was a 50 Ford 6 cyl. with o/d tranny. Quick, reliable & at times a V8 beater. Neat motors/engines flatheads ......etc.
Always enjoy your stuff G B; thanks !
mike

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

You are correct, that cab looks good to those of us living in the swamp

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

I titled the thread as such, because my last two projects were sixes as well. The Junior sized cummins in my tonner PU and then the Toyota landcruiser six in my 'RPU' thing. Liking that this is a flathead ford. After some light running this morning I saw some pretty good compression readings. 121, 123, 120, 120, 122, 115. Oil pressure was showing 50 at fast idle, oil cold. Should there be a light spring on thje bendix? Seems I run across them like that sometimes on V8s. I'm being very protective of my new ring gear as they are scarce and expensive. Thanks.

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

Noticed that the Tonner rear has those odd 6 lug Ford truck rims. I have two w tires, but they are the TRUE split rims. A '72 earlier rear diff [8 lug] will fit. Newc

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

But they are 5 lug on 6 7/8. The ford tonners from '38-'47 used a five lug single type wheel on all four corners, on a 6 7/8 center and had hubcap clips. You saying I can mount a hub from a pre-72 on my rear axle and go seemlessly to a standard 8 lug wheel????

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

That's some pile of iron you dragged home!

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

Hi; No- I replace the entire diffs with a 8 lug '72 and older. There are some 8 lug drums that will fit that '47 axle ['48 thru say 52?] Newc

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

Specially when you consider they were stored in a nice dry metal building less than 2 miles from me. I was told that the PO sold his home and shop, bought a big sailboat and today is living in places such as Tahiti. He had a lot of blocks to get rid of and junked 13 of them and these are the ones he kept. Eventually he gave them to his son in law, a decidedly tri-five chevy guy and a professional mechanic. Upon visual inspection I found the guy knew what to throw away and what to keep. Perhaps best of all is he considered all flatheads as 'boat anchors' (gasp) and the price reflected that. That complete 59ab and the six have proven to be solid, good running engines.

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

Do you have a part number of the Bosch coil?

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

I can look it up, but I bet someone beats me to it. Lets just say that the day after I brought this thing back to life I went down in the morning, pulled the choke, pumped the throttle twice and the very instant I hit the start button it roared to life. I have tinkered with old engines of all types for over 50 years. Cars and trucks, tractors, outboards, antique marine and stationary engines, you name it. To me a hot spark trumps all. If the mixture is too rich, the engine starts and smokes black. If the mixture is too lean, it starts and runs poorly, missing and sputtering. The bosch blue and probably the other brands of 'super coils', produce the kind of spark I like. Fat blue spark and audible and jumps like 3/8" when all is good. Edit: Looked it up. Looks like they are all made in Brazil now, but according to a site called 'Bus Depot'there are ones made in Brazil for the German market, and others for the Brazilian market. They sell the ones for the German market and at 49.95. I got mine on amazon. The box mine came in has a number of 9 220 081 083

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

I'm guessing you are looking to make a good solid motor. The split fenton exhaust manifolds or very rare, almost impossible and probably not worth any gains. Well you can split the exhaust if you can weld cast iron also. It sounds good, but not sure it makes it moves down the road any better. :)

Not much for the flat 6s or the 223, but just thought I'd add.
https://cliffordperformance.net/store


.

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1634289787

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1634289792

My friend bought this 1942 Ford Super Deluxe Tudor Sedan powered by the 90 HP Six, and drove it over 4000 trouble free miles before shipping the car to Australia. Nothing wrong with these Ford 6 Cylinder Engines. They are under rated.

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

They sure are under rated as is the Milage Maker I block 6.

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

I notice in the '42 photo the battery sits on the left. Does the G six have the starter on that side? Yesterday I made a heavy wooden cradle with engine mounts. It is long enough to build transmission mounts at the rear. I have the 11" clutch and stamped steel BH and a 4 speed from a '49-50 F3. The tranny was on a V8. Will this bolt right up?

Re: Reviving a proper six
 

You need the six cylinder bell housing, they are different from the V8 units. The transmission is the same on the later H and M series six cylinders (you may hear different but only the G series had different transmission cases). The six bell should be dirt cheap, everyone seems to want the V8 just for the exhaust sound.


You should build a flathead Ford six powered jailbar tonner, you will enjoy it. Also, I really like Ford six cylinders...