Hello everyone, its been a while since I last posted anything. I bought a 49 F-3 2 years ago, dragged it out of a barn to my friends shop, and ended up leaving my project truck on the back burner due to a career change and the birth of my son 15 months ago. I'm finally ready to get started, 2 years ago we slapped a used 12v coil in and dumped a little gas in the carb and fired the motor for a few seconds off a 12v battery just to see what would happen, and sure enough it fired right up! We shut it off for fear of doing damage to the rest of the ignition system. I'm curious if anybody has any recommendations for prepping this old flathead 6 and getting it up and running. I've only ever worked on small block chevy's, and my friend and I now work very different schedules, so it looks like I'm on my own. I have to admit I'm a bit intimidated by the Ol' truck. The Odometer shows 74,000 miles, and I'm half questioning if there's much life left in the old flathead 6. Any advice would be appreciated, and if anybody lives in the Easton, Pennsylvania area, I'd love to get a bunch of people together for what my late father-in-law and I used to call "shop night" that used to involve a lot of BSing, a few adult beverages, and the occasional turn of a wrench or two. I'll know tomorrow if My old boss is going to let me rent her shop with an overhead lift and industrial air compressor for the winter... Sorry for the long post...

 

Well, here's what I do when an engine's been sitting a while: 1st see if it will turn over by hand or with a little effort using a wrench (if it doesn't turn over at all, even with a lot of effort, disregard the following and plan on tearing it down) just 1 slow revolution. Next change the oil; let it drain half a day if you can, that lets all the separated water out of the oil pan. Disconnect the gas line from the tank & carb(change the fuelfilter) and prepare to suck fresh gas from a portable tank but don't set it up yet. Then shoot a little bit of WD40 in the spark plug holes and crank it a few times by hand to work it into the cylinders. Next, before putting any fresh gas in the carb, check for spark using the proper voltage the engine is set up for. Crank it over a few times to build up some oil pressure. If everything looks good so far then hook up your fresh gas source, squirt a little in the carb and fire her up.

If it fires up and sounds fine, then drive it! Be sure to flush out the gas tank. If not, then start tracing the usual 4: gas, compression, spark, timing.
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I have a 48 F-3 with the same engine that sat for 30 years. I had to pull the head and free up one of the valves but after that it runs great. It is amazing just how strong that little 226 is to be worn out! I am currently rebuilding another 226 that I bought and am just going to swap them out but I have been driving the original one for about 8 months now and except for the oil leaking out and the blow by it has given very little trouble. Apparently the gas tank had been drained and it looked new inside. I flushed it a little but everything came out clean. The thing that just blew me away was the electrical system. Once I added the ground strap from the body to the block everything worked just like it was supposed to. All the gauges worked correctly (even the gas gauge) and the generator and regulator work just like they are supposed to. So basicially all I had to do was rebuild the carb., put in fresh gas and a new 6v battery, new hoses, change the oil, new wheels and tires and new brake hoses and shoes, and have fun driving it about 1100 miles so far!

 

I have a '49 F-2 with the flat six. It's a very good engine although almost everyone I meet thinks it a slow, useless, weak piece of junk and ask why I didn't change it out for an eight. First, this is the engine is the stock,or at least the same type of engine that came in it, the original was froze and I bought a '50. Second, I feel the six is very under rated, it's not as "sexy" as the flat eight but it's a strong and dependable engine. I have been running my for the last seven years after having in and out of storage for about about thirteen years without any major problems except a little blow by. Third, I think it's unique, everyone has an eight, be it a SM or a flathead. Fourth and foremost, I love tooling down the road about 30-35 MPH listening the engine puttering out the sound I remember I listened to thirty some years ago when I was kid and I spent all my vacation time riding around with my dad when he used the truck for his auto repair. I love the sound as I wind out the engine before I double clutch to the next gear.

P.S. If we closer I would like to joy your get togethers. The only problem I see is once you get me talking old Ford trucks it's kind of hard to stop me, just ask my wife and kids

 

Bob, different is cool ! You, too, jboren...Keep that six going...you won't see too many around!

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I'm with Bob. The 6 is unique and underrated by most. However the torque and HP numbers are almost identical to the 239 V8 but the torque is rated at just 1200 rpm (as opposed to 1800 for the 8) which can be really useful in a truck. I was really surprised at just how beefy the bottom end is in the 226. The rods and bearing look more like something that would come out of a diesel. I also like the fact that it does take some talent to properly shift the crashbox 4 speed. I have a very quiet stock exhaust on mine and you can really hear the spur gear whine. It really give the truck character IMHO.

If you are going to pull the head beware head bolt that is between the 2 center exhaust valves has a bad habit of breaking off in the block. I believe it is the only bolt which does not go into the water jacket...go figure. I think it just gets too hot between those two valves and basicially gets welded in there. (I broke mine on both engines even using an impact wrench!) The best way to remove it when that happens it to weld a washer and then a nut on top of what is left of the bolt. The one that is in the truck now had to be tig welded and really heated to get it to come out. That is the only real gotcha that I can think of.

 

Thanks for the reply, I know the motor spins, and we are assuming that the truck is still set up for 6 volts. This brings me to the ongoing debate of which is the better route to go 6 or 12 volt? I'm leaning towards 12v just because of some electronic items I'd like to install in my truck (CD Player, CB Radio). Over the past few months, of reading posts on this site I've seen quite a few posts about converting the generator to 12 volts. I'm interested in running the flat 6, and if I ever replace it I want to get a Flathead 8 cylinder. I'm trying to figure out which is the easiest route for me to go, since my Truck had been partially disassembled by the original owners son, and then forgotten in the barn. We found some of the parts, but some were damaged from not being stored properly, and some are just missing all together. As near as I can tell everything is intact under the hood with the exception of any type of an air cleaner assembly.