The Ford Barn

skip · 08-20-2010, 08:16 AM

At The Door County Maritime Museum Classic and Wooden Boat Show a fellow brought in a Ford Flathead V-8 on a pallet. The engine was pulled out of a boat. It was fitted with the following strange items;

~A stamped steel oil pan designed for a vee drive shaft. I'd guess 20 degrees. This allows the block to be at 20 degrees with a horizontal flat bottomed oil pan.

~A cast aluminum in take manifold to bolt to the canted block but allows the one barrow carburetor to sit flat and up right. Like it would in a car. I believe a fuel pump also mounted 'square to the world' on a slopped intake manifold landing that was flat.

~Cast iron jacketed water cooled exhausts bolted to the three exhaust openings in the block. Looked like both cooling water and exhaust meant to expel through a transom. These castings did have a name embossed on them. Darn if I can remember the name.

~Two water pumps, they looked normal with the exception of an added street el drilled and tapped on the discharge side of the pumps. Hoses lead to exhaust manifold to fill the exhaust jackets.

~A cast bell housing that was fitted with an exposed cone shaped clutch on an arm that pushed the cone 'IN' to engage. Pulled it 'OUT' to disengage from about six fingers that made contact with the cone. Fingers were on the input side of the reduction box shaft.

~A driven reduction box. Ratio unknown. Had an arm on it for Forward-N-Reverse. Output side had a keyed shaft with a disc for six bolts. I assumed the matching disc was for the prop shaft going to the cutler bearing and stuffing box.

A neat set-up. The guy wanted $600.00 for it. Said he never heard it run. Didn't know if it ran and the engine had a distributor 'tween the water pumps; well kind of 'tween the pumps that looked like a spider. What a rat's nest. He did sell it at the show.

Anybody have additional knowledge? skip.

FRANK PKNY · 08-20-2010, 09:55 AM

Back in the 60's I had a Papst hydroplane racing boat . It had a similar set up but with no transmission , it was a direct drive and had six straight up in the air pipes for exhaust. Wish I had a photo of it as it was real cool. It also was a screamer, did about 85mph. Had a mallery dizzy with alum heads. You had to shut the engine off and coast into the dock. It was kinda old when i got it and leaked a lot. Before fiberglass era. We would soak the planks by running h2o with a hose into it when sitting on the trailer for several days prior to putting it in the water. We sure had a lot of fun with it. Wish I had it now . About 1965 we junked it and gave the mechanicals to a neighbor who loved flatheads, don't know what he did with the stuff. Frank pkny

51 MERC-CT · 08-20-2010, 10:18 AM

Used to work on one that belonged to my employer back in the 50's. The biggest problem was the water pumps which had rubber impellers. It would occasionally pick up debris, shredding the impellers and then over-heat. The solution was to install steel impellers which became available as a fix.

lucky · 08-20-2010, 12:15 PM

I have an old Century double plank mahogany boat.

It hs an Grey Marine engine with Borg warner Velvet drive.

Needs to be repowered, I think it is an AMC 327 engine with different carbs manifolds and maybe heads.

Wish it had a flathead engine but guess it would be kind of short on powemarvin

Chris Nelson · 08-20-2010, 12:30 PM

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Back in 1960, I had a 17 ft. speedboat built by a Boeing engineer in 1936. It had an 85 hp Ford flathead, but it was cracked from freezing. My buddy and I found a 53 Ford for $15 and took the engine out of it and bolted all the parts together. The exhaust manifolds were jacketed and it used twin Jabsco pumps with rubber impellers. It had a reverse gear that was, I think, a "Jones" brand. We spent many hours water skiing on Lake Washington, in Seattle.

It would go about 35 mph and threw a great wake for jumping on a single ski.

08-20-2010, 08:16 AM	#1
skip Banned Join Date: May 2010 Location: Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin Posts: 408	V-8 Marine conversion for flatty At The Door County Maritime Museum Classic and Wooden Boat Show a fellow brought in a Ford Flathead V-8 on a pallet. The engine was pulled out of a boat. It was fitted with the following strange items; ~A stamped steel oil pan designed for a vee drive shaft. I'd guess 20 degrees. This allows the block to be at 20 degrees with a horizontal flat bottomed oil pan. ~A cast aluminum in take manifold to bolt to the canted block but allows the one barrow carburetor to sit flat and up right. Like it would in a car. I believe a fuel pump also mounted 'square to the world' on a slopped intake manifold landing that was flat. ~Cast iron jacketed water cooled exhausts bolted to the three exhaust openings in the block. Looked like both cooling water and exhaust meant to expel through a transom. These castings did have a name embossed on them. Darn if I can remember the name. ~Two water pumps, they looked normal with the exception of an added street el drilled and tapped on the discharge side of the pumps. Hoses lead to exhaust manifold to fill the exhaust jackets. ~A cast bell housing that was fitted with an exposed cone shaped clutch on an arm that pushed the cone 'IN' to engage. Pulled it 'OUT' to disengage from about six fingers that made contact with the cone. Fingers were on the input side of the reduction box shaft. ~A driven reduction box. Ratio unknown. Had an arm on it for Forward-N-Reverse. Output side had a keyed shaft with a disc for six bolts. I assumed the matching disc was for the prop shaft going to the cutler bearing and stuffing box. A neat set-up. The guy wanted $600.00 for it. Said he never heard it run. Didn't know if it ran and the engine had a distributor 'tween the water pumps; well kind of 'tween the pumps that looked like a spider. What a rat's nest. He did sell it at the show. Anybody have additional knowledge? skip.

08-20-2010, 09:55 AM	#2
FRANK PKNY Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: POUGHKEEPSIE NY 12601 Posts: 1,016	Re: V-8 Marine conversion for flatty Back in the 60's I had a Papst hydroplane racing boat . It had a similar set up but with no transmission , it was a direct drive and had six straight up in the air pipes for exhaust. Wish I had a photo of it as it was real cool. It also was a screamer, did about 85mph. Had a mallery dizzy with alum heads. You had to shut the engine off and coast into the dock. It was kinda old when i got it and leaked a lot. Before fiberglass era. We would soak the planks by running h2o with a hose into it when sitting on the trailer for several days prior to putting it in the water. We sure had a lot of fun with it. Wish I had it now . About 1965 we junked it and gave the mechanicals to a neighbor who loved flatheads, don't know what he did with the stuff. Frank pkny __________________ [email protected]

08-20-2010, 10:18 AM	#3
51 MERC-CT Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: East Hartford, Ct Posts: 5,898	Re: V-8 Marine conversion for flatty Used to work on one that belonged to my employer back in the 50's. The biggest problem was the water pumps which had rubber impellers. It would occasionally pick up debris, shredding the impellers and then over-heat. The solution was to install steel impellers which became available as a fix.

08-20-2010, 12:15 PM	#4
lucky Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Central Kentucky Posts: 43	Re: V-8 Marine conversion for flatty I have an old Century double plank mahogany boat. It hs an Grey Marine engine with Borg warner Velvet drive. Needs to be repowered, I think it is an AMC 327 engine with different carbs manifolds and maybe heads. Wish it had a flathead engine but guess it would be kind of short on powemarvin

08-20-2010, 12:30 PM	#5
Chris Nelson Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Poulsbo, WA. Posts: 356	Re: V-8 Marine conversion for flatty Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) Back in 1960, I had a 17 ft. speedboat built by a Boeing engineer in 1936. It had an 85 hp Ford flathead, but it was cracked from freezing. My buddy and I found a 53 Ford for $15 and took the engine out of it and bolted all the parts together. The exhaust manifolds were jacketed and it used twin Jabsco pumps with rubber impellers. It had a reverse gear that was, I think, a "Jones" brand. We spent many hours water skiing on Lake Washington, in Seattle. It would go about 35 mph and threw a great wake for jumping on a single ski.