The Ford Barn - View Single Post - question for the experts who have seen everything

rotorwrench · 03-12-2020, 09:52 AM

Ford literature "the 1938 thru 41 Ford & Mercury chassis parts catalog" lists the Mercury 239 as a 95 HP engine. The Green Bible has things jumbled. They list 85 HP 221 blocks at 90HP and the 95HP 239 blocks as 100 HP. The G-series 6-cylinder is listed at 90 HP. I think these ratings were contingent on the engines all having the latest parts installed and that really confuses things. The Green Bible is a late post war publication with the last update in April of 1949 so it muddied the water a lot.

When the 1942 was introduced with the 11A advance unit & crab cap distributor and the new 21A camshaft, the ratings went to 90 HP on the 221 with and 100 HP on the 239 with no other major changes that I'm aware of. If it wasn't already confusing it just got more so.

The way I see it on the common V8 engines, the 221 never really got past the 85 HP mark. The 239 was mostly 95 HP up through the start of WWII. Post war, they were all 100 HP till 1949 when the 8CM engine showed up.

03-12-2020, 09:52 AM	#7
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 18,013	Re: question for the experts who have seen everything Ford literature "the 1938 thru 41 Ford & Mercury chassis parts catalog" lists the Mercury 239 as a 95 HP engine. The Green Bible has things jumbled. They list 85 HP 221 blocks at 90HP and the 95HP 239 blocks as 100 HP. The G-series 6-cylinder is listed at 90 HP. I think these ratings were contingent on the engines all having the latest parts installed and that really confuses things. The Green Bible is a late post war publication with the last update in April of 1949 so it muddied the water a lot. When the 1942 was introduced with the 11A advance unit & crab cap distributor and the new 21A camshaft, the ratings went to 90 HP on the 221 with and 100 HP on the 239 with no other major changes that I'm aware of. If it wasn't already confusing it just got more so. The way I see it on the common V8 engines, the 221 never really got past the 85 HP mark. The 239 was mostly 95 HP up through the start of WWII. Post war, they were all 100 HP till 1949 when the 8CM engine showed up. Last edited by rotorwrench; 03-12-2020 at 09:58 AM.