Flathead Engine: car/truck vs. tractor

The connecting rods for the Ford V8 engine before 1949 will definately not interchange since the old V8 flat head rods shared one set of two halves of connecting rod inserts that floated in the two rods that shared the inserts on the one throw. The rods turn on the OD of the insert and the crank journal turns in the ID of the insert.

I don't think the 1949 through 1953 rods will interchange either because they are for either the back of the throw or the front of the throw. You can put the left bank rods and pistons in any hole on the left bank and get by with it but you can't put the left bank rods on the right bank. This is because the rods are slightly off center of the piston.

Zane

Sounds like a book worth owning.

" The FORD N SERIES TRACTORS ORIGINALITY GUIDE by Chester Peterson Jr. and Rod Beemer, page 26, says that in addition to the "L" head being half of the automobile V8, the timing gears, intake valves, and other internal engine parts all came out of the Mercury V-8 parts bin. Starters for the 9N and small V-8 were the same. Large Ford trucks and the 9N shared the same rear axle rings and pinion gears."

-Packrat

Mine is the 1951 H series.