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I hope this helps GLOVER-FUNK 6 and 8 CYLINDER CONVERSION KITS John Bauer sent the photo shown below of his three tractors with engine conversions. Left, is a 1950 8N with 215 C.I. 6 Cyl. OHV Ford, Funk Conversion (Funk SN 5155) with Sherman 3-Speed; Center, is a 1945 2N with 226 C.I. 6 Cyl. Ford, Glover conversion with Sherman OD. This is one of the first 50 tractors converted with kit parts made by Funk before Funk started selling their version of this conversion kit. Right, is a 1951 8N with 255 C.I. V-8 F-6 Truck Engine with Delbert Heusinkveld kit, Sherman 3-Speed and Ford power steering. John also wrote this about the Funk Brothers and their conversion kits: The Funk Brothers’ business of casting and machining grew rapidly with the outbreak of WW II. When the war ended, Joe Funk ‘hit the road’ looking for customers. They heard about a Ford dealer who was installing 226 Ford industrial engines in new and used Ford tractors. Ollie Grover had already installed about six engines with hand-built adaptors before Joe Funk showed up at his Milford, IL dealership. What the Funk Bros. didn’t know was Ollie had taken out a patent on the process of converting the Ford industrial engine to Ford tractors. After receiving the first of the Funk-supplied parts, Ollie saw an ad for the “Funk Conversion to double the power of your Ford tractor”. Ollie said “after our lawyers and theirs got together, ‘we was partners’”. The Funks would sell west of the Mississippi, and Glover would cover the territory to the East. There are some differences between the Early Glover and Funk kits. The Glover used an aluminum sheet-metal hood extension while the Funk used a cast-aluminum extension. Also, the radiator in the early Glover is about 3 inches shorter than the Funk version. After the first 50 Glover kits were sold, the Funk kit was sold by both Glover and Funk. I (John Bauer) was lucky enough to buy this early conversion (I did know it was a Glover when I bought it) and doubly lucky to work with Bud Koch who sold Fords and Glover conversions when they were new. Bud told me that Glover would get a Box Car full of engines from Ford and everyone would turn out to unload them quickly so they didn’t have to pay the charge for cars sitting too long. Bud told me that they sold a number of those 6 Cyl. conversions with creeper transmissions and trenchers installed. This combination was one of the first trencher units a farmer could afford to tile his fields. My second conversion is a 1951 8N with a 1953 255 C.I. V-8 F-6 truck engine. I’ve had people tell me at shows that Ford never used the 255 engine in trucks, but I worked for a landscaper for 11 yrs. and it was their truck they scrapped out that the engine came from. In fact, I was the last person to drive that truck and the first to drive the tractor with the V-8 engine in it 30 years later. I decided to be a little different and install power steering on this one along with a Sherman over-under. It is a nice unit to “play with” as it has a Funk governor ass’y. on it. The third conversion is a 215 C.I. OHV 6-cylinder, Funk conversion, SN 5155 stamped on the aluminum hood extension. Everyone I have talked to think the OHV 6s were started at SN 5000. When I purchased this tractor, not only was the governor pumped full of solid grease, but an alternator had been installed with no belt to the governor. The owner tried to run a rough-cut field mower with it. Without the governor working, it is difficult to drive on the street, let alone working it. A repro battery box from Dennis Carpenter and a used air filter from Dwight Emstrom (he still hasn’t found the correct air filter cup), new 3-point lift arms a repro proofmeter and a rebuilt 8N generator with new wiring and it will be ready to show. My trailer only holds two tractors - which one to leave home? I’m always willing to talk “Old Fords”.
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