If you’ve never had the pleasure, here’s your perfect opportunity to view the inner workings of the legendary Ford Flathead V8 in full detail. Bonus: You’ll see a complete overhaul in six minutes. Grab your popcorn and watch this.
Time-lapse engine rebuilding videos are pretty cool, but they’re hardly new to the World Wide Web. We’ve posted them here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, even (check out this entertaining Triumph Spitfire overhaul here.) We’re revisiting the familiar theme because our friends at Hagerty, the wizards of collector car insurance, did such a nice job with this one, distilling a complete overhaul from six days and 40,000 photos down to a tidy six minutes. Also, the subject of the rebuild happens to the legendary Ford Flathead V8, one of the most popular and fascinating V8 engines ever manufactured.
Once you’ve rummaged around inside the venerable 1932-1953 Ford V8, with your own hands or via this fairly awesome video, you can understand why the engine was a favorite with racers and hot rodders for decades, even after the design was technically obsolete. So simple, so straightforward, so durable, with so few components and complications compared to a contemporary V8, the Ford flathead is still beloved today. This example is of the 1949-1953 variety, as identified by its conventional-style distributor and detachable bell housing, and it will be powering a 1947 Ford pickup. Enjoy the video.
A very interesting clip,, and when they started it it was undoubtedly a sidevalve. A noise all of their own,
But painting it Chevy red, that is sacrilege! Black maybe.
Were those things ever painted when new? They all seem to be a big lump of grease and rust normally. And that is the good ones!
When the block was in the machine shop I swear I could smell solvent and honing fluid…
Very entertaining video! Makes it look easy. Unfortunately it takes many hours to get an engine to that point. Thanks for posting.
To answer idn, that particular motor was actually introduced after the truck. The original engine would’ve been a 59AB which actually made its debut in ’45. The color would’ve been a medium blue (Old Ford Blue). The 8BA came out in ’48 in the trucks and ’49 in the cars. It would’ve been red in the trucks (’48-’53) and Old Ford Blue in the cars for ’49, then Bronze for ’50-’51. I’ve had some argue with me about the color of the 59AB, telling me it was dark green (prewar color) but I’ve seen some originals, painted blue. I might add that my own ’47 pickup had an orange engine in it; it was a Ford Reman. Ford did paint the engines in the ’52-’53 cars orange.
Beautiful to see how the rusty old engine becomes this shiny, new beating heart. At the end you just want to be there to start and feel this new life.