Something Unique About `41 Ford Engine

[Shadetree]

I have a good friend that is really into flatheads. When I told him I had a `41 engine he tried to remember that there was something unique about the V-8 engine that year. Does anyone know what he is talking about?

[ford38v8]

Raised deck.

[fordscript]

Factory sleeved. I have one and there is a 'ford' script stamped half on the sleeve and half on the block, right smack on the top center.

[Ol' Ron]

Pull the sleeves, bore 40 thou and use late pistons and you have a 239 engine.

[46ford]

I can't tell the difference between the 221 I just put in and the 239 I just pulled out of the car. Can you really feel the extra 18 cu in?

[JM 35 Sedan]

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Originally Posted by ford38v8

Raised deck.

The intake deck only appears to be raised in the area beneath the intake manifold but actually the area of the deck that is not under the intake is lower than the earlier blocks. Some say this was done to save material during war time. I personally don't know if that is true or not.

[bobscogin]

Was that feature unique to the '41 Ford? My '42 Mercury engine (29A heads) has the "raised" deck.

Bob

[flatjack9]

Late 41 and 42 the same.

[Enbloc]

Originally Posted by Ol' Ron

Pull the sleeves, bore 40 thou and use late pistons and you have a 239 engine.

Is this standard size 239 pistons or oversize?

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

Originally Posted by 46ford

I can't tell the difference between the 221 I just put in and the 239 I just pulled out of the car. Can you really feel the extra 18 cu in?

I've done many of those engines, remove the steel sleeves and bore out to 3-3/16, use std 8BA pistons, use the 59AB gasket set for the right head gaskets, and use the 40-41 heads. You can really feel the differance in the low end torque, taking off and lugging on a hill in high gear. If the rest of the engine is stock, one carb ect. just use the stock cam. You'll be surprised how smart the engine is around town and cruising. Walt

[FRANK PKNY]

Walt you need to write a book. I just love to read your posts!!!

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

Originally Posted by FRANK PKNY

Walt you need to write a book. I just love to read your posts!!!

I'd write a book I cain't spell it,I think IT. Walt

[ford38v8]

Aye-yep, aye-yep. That doesn't sound right....Walt can say it better than anyone can write it.

[CajunCrawfish]

Originally Posted by Walt Dupont--Me.

I've done many of those engines, remove the steel sleeves and bore out to 3-3/16, use std 8BA pistons, use the 59AB gasket set for the right head gaskets, and use the 40-41 heads. You can really feel the differance in the low end torque, taking off and lugging on a hill in high gear. If the rest of the engine is stock, one carb ect. just use the stock cam. You'll be surprised how smart the engine is around town and cruising. Walt

My truck is a 42 and I'm trying to determine if my engine is the original.
. 59 stamped bellhouse with casting number above, some say the numbers are useless.
. 59A heads. Cant see the signs of a sleeve in the head deck but the bore is original size.
. Raised intake deck/surface.
. Circle coolant ports in the head deck. Seems to be a mix of identifications for pre-42 and postwar engines. help if you can.
. Distributor is on the front like the crab with two exits for the plug wires feeding into plug wire tubes.

[IVT1]

I don't go along wiyh the war effort bit simply because the war didn't start till Dec. 41
most all 41 engs. had already been made by then,think about it

[flatjack9]

If the 59 is cast in the bellhousing, it is manufactured starting in 1945 for 46 model year.

[CajunCrawfish]

Originally Posted by flatjack9

If the 59 is cast in the bellhousing, it is manufactured starting in 1945 for 46 model year.

Thanks for the info flatjack9

[Bruce Lancaster]

The 59 marked engine noted by Cajun above is postwar.
On the uniqueness of '41...there is something but I do not know what. In looking at Merc/truck 239 listings, there is a 19A block (1941 number) and a 29A block (1942 and wartime number) noted. Probably there is similar in 221 flavor. What the difference between 19A and 29A I don't know. There is little in the literature because each new block version, 19 and 29 and 59, became a replacement.
One suspicion is that the difference may be metallurgy rather than design...before the war, I think in 1941, be began stockpiling alloying elements to prepare for the storm and auto builders were charged with finding ways to conserve or eliminate the critical imported materials. I bet this is the difference, for instance, between a 91A rod and a 21A rod...

[blacktopbuddha]

I've been told that .040 is as far as these blocks can be bored. Anybody know if there is any truth to that?

Originally Posted by Ol' Ron

Pull the sleeves, bore 40 thou and use late pistons and you have a 239 engine.

[blacktopbuddha]

Originally Posted by IVT1

I don't go along wiyh the war effort bit simply because the war didn't start till Dec. 41
most all 41 engs. had already been made by then,think about it

True, but wasn't it pretty much a foregone conclusion that America would be in the war long before Pearl Harbor happened? Also, a bunch of war materials were already being sent to the Allies before we were involved. It's not like we decided it was time to start making preparations in Dec 1941. The writing was on the wall long before then.