Just a heads up, a running engine could have some cracks that would sustantially lower the value. It could also have been bored out to the limits in previous rebuilds. Letting you know this as most people consider buying a flathead without recent rebuild papers a cr*pshoot.

 

Yeah, apparently the "rules" prevent me from emailing you back eman, but I got your message all the same. Thanks so much, I'll email him in a day or two after you give him a heads up first. All of you guys are awesome!!

 

Just a personal story, A couple years ago I purchased a running flathead for $500, I went to see it and hear it run (it was still in the truck) I forgot to take my compression testor- That would help find stuck valves etc, but not neccesarily cracked blocks.
anyway I heard it run and I thought it sounded ok, no oil in water and no water in oil. so we pull the engine and long story short it had two cracks from valve holes over into cylinder walls and about 1/3 or more of the way down into the bores.
it had been rebuilt at some point and was fairly clean inside but the rebuilder had done some odd stuff as well which wasn't optimal. here is one of the valve guides that was broken,

no those aren't my hands. lol
so I had some value in the parts from it but the block was no good.

Some people will say that those particular cracks aren't a problem to be sleeved pinned welded etc. but I'm sorry if I'm going to spend that much money and time on the machining and new parts etc I don't want to worry about the off chance that im going to get water in the oil or? so a crack free block is well worth the effort in my opinion.

Last year I picked up 4 flatheads all of which I think had been sitting in the dirt under tarps of some sort? ( I didn't see where they where but speculating) 2 of the blocks had cracks and 2 didn't and one of the engines was a runner and I bet it had been outside for at least 10 years. so there is hope. hopefully like others have said that any moisture getting in the engine is minimal and also hopefully there is not a family of mice living in there, that will ruin an engine quicker than you can say Mouse Urine!

Good luck in selling it.

this poor little guy lost his home!

 

This is good information. If you intended to temper my expectations a bit, mission accomplished! My engine has been stored on blocks these 10 to 12 years. For reasons that are unavoidable, complicated, and boring, I won't be unwrapping it for a month or two, but my son thinks he can find the the engine number, take photos, and move it into my garage in a month or two. My husband rebuilt this engine after getting it "rebored" professionally. He drove it in the '50 pickup for a couple of years before replacing it. It is still low mileage following the rebuild though as he kept it mostly for tooling around our small town on weekends. Knowing zilch about these things, I can't attest to his talent as a mechanic but he did bring home a rusty old ranch truck/varmint habitat that had been abandoned in a field for decades and had it running in less than a month. I am also pretty sure the engine is the original one, because he bought the truck from the 92-year old sidekick of its deceased original owner in the mid-1980s.

 

I still can't get this engine moved so I can't get photos of all sides of this engine. Let me know if these shots provide any clues as to condition, potential value, or if it seems to be original to the '50 F-1 as I believe it is.

Gee, I hope I figured out how the photo posting works. Here goes...

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...ps07a9ec42.jpg

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...psd32bdb92.jpg

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0cca46c8.jpg

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3dce0ae0.jpg

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...ps429e26aa.jpg

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...ps455540b7.jpg

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...ps972d5ede.jpg

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...psd41f83ba.jpg

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...psfe441dff.jpg

 

It looks to be a very good and complete 8BA. It turns over by hand correct? Is that what I am seeing in the pic with the hand on the fan and belt?
Was it running when it was pulled out?

I think the date code puts it at a 49 and that would be correct.
Someone will correct me if I am wrong on this.

 

Yes it was running when it was wrapped up and stored on blocks. I think my son was able to move it by hand. As I recall, he had a bit of trouble getting leverage because of where the engine was. I will double check with him later today.