what engine have I got

[crashley]

I have a 42 truck with a flathead v8 the distributor ( non crab style) is at the front top and fuel pump is at the rear is this the correct engine when I brought the truck they indicated that the engine may have been out of a mercury
how do you Identify the engine
thankyou
ashley
australia

[46 jailbar]

Hi Ashley, There is a lot of possible interchangeability of flathead engine parts, ie an early engine could be assembled with later parts , all of which can complicate matters when trying to figure out what you've got. All flatheads had rear mounted fuelpump, '48 and later trucks had the distributor as you describe. Those [48 & later] blocks had a seperate bellhousing, earlier models had 'half' the bellhousing cast integrally with the block. This is the quickest way to identify the early/late blocks. If yours has the detachable bell housing, it could be a Mercury, if so it will have a 4" stroke crankshaft, displacing 255 cu in, as opposed to the standard Ford 3-3/4" stroke, which gives 239 cu ". Any numbers cast into the block?, this can be an instant identification. Brian