Ford flathead six engine family 226, 254
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- Опубликовано: 2 май 2024
- Today on what it’s like engine episode Wednesday I mean Friday lol.. anyway, we’re gonna be taking a closer look at what the Ford flathead six was like Ford was right to the party on the flathead six he kind of froze over and away because Ford didn’t want to make a flathead six but with company such as, but not limited to Plymouth Dodge Chrysler De Soto Hudson Nash gramham Hupmobile chevy Pontiac auburn as well as others offering the flathead six ford caved and offered a flathead six.. this is another case in point where the consumers control the market. This engine replace the one 36 in.³ displacement flathead V8 often called the miniature ford v8. Ford would produce two different displacements of flathead the 226 which was produced from 1941 through 1951 and 254, which was produced from 1950 through 1953 the 254 was an industrial engine that could also be found in the bigger series trucks.. where the 226 was available in cars and light duty trucks. Enjoy this episode. =)
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"Heroes And Villains" by The Beach Boys
Yeah buddy congratulations =) I’m impressed no one got name that tune for the Essex episode. It’s a Bob Seger song.
I worked at my dad's auto garage summers from say, 1965-1975 ... and NEVER saw a Ford flathead six! I saw lots of Chrysler/Plymouth flathead sixes, Rambler flathead sixes, even Ford flathead V-8s, but _never_ a flathead six. If you asked me 15 minutes ago if Ford made a flathead six, I would have said (incorrectly) "no."
This is a lost and mostly forgotten engine over shadowed by the V8.. but stock to stock this is the better engine.. I got to drive a 52 ford with 226 six it had great power but doesn’t rev high he made it a point to tell me that =) one of the hardest things I ever drove non sycrho transmission had to double clutch and rev match and go the correct speed to get it to shift he made it look so easy when it was my turn I go he just laughed I never drove anything like that before or after like that and it was a 52
@@What.its.like. To this day I'm driving a manual transmission, but I've never driven an unsynchronized transmission. Even though I think I'm "good" at driving a stick, I'm sure it'd take a LOT of practice to get to where shifting w/o synchros would become anything close to, um, "automatic."
Some of them are easier than others. For instance, I drove a 1946 international KB six with a five speed transmission that was non-synchro, and it was easy to do as long as you double clutched it. It was more forgiving than the transmission, the transmission, the plants and stars had to be perfectly for you to get it to engage proper. The window wasn’t nearly as big as it was on the international transmission, the five speed international was very interesting to say the least. The shift pattern was and it only went 55 miles an hour whereas his Ford would go a little faster than that so they were further spread apart.
Ford never built the flathead sixes in Canada but a few did sneak across the border. I saw about 4 vehicles equipped with them. All lighter vehicles in Canada used the 239 V8 while medium duty trucks used the 255 Mercury engine or the 337 Lincoln engine. I always thought Ford wasted their time building sixes but that 300 was a good one.
Good video. I remember the flathead six in our 1948 Ford F-6. Dad picked it up used, we removed a sheet metal 18 ft. “shop” (support truck for logging company) which turned out to have been built by Boeing’s Renton plant. Then we built a 16 ft. bed with stock racks. Four speed tranny and vacuum two speed axle. At one point, Dad bought an old ‘52 Mercury, thinking to swap in the flathead V8, but it turned out to be cracked so we stuck with the six until replacing the truck with a ‘48 Dodge one ton, then a ‘56 International S-164 which had four speed and a nicer electric two speed axle (I still have that truck). Sure would like a nice ‘48 Ford pickup.
Awesome story thank you so much for sharing those memories =)
I’ve been a Ford man my entire life, and I’ve only seen one of those flatheaded in-line sixes… and I’ll take the ‘48 F-1, the 1st generation F series which debuted the year of my birth. Thank you my friend for videos you produce of the esoterica of the automotive world. 👍
Thank you so much for the positive vibes.. I personally love covering cars and engines that don’t get the time of day to try and keep the information out there for anyone who wants it.. happy you dig this episode =) great choice
Thank you for featuring the 'other' flathead Ford engine. My Dad and Grandad claimed it was a better engine than the V-8. Illustrated auto ads were amazing. Truly a lost Art form. Take care Jay!
Thank you for digging this episode this one is a lost and mostly forgotten engine =) I would love to cover all the engines that never get talked about.. only issue is information is sometimes hard to find..
Inline sixes are in someways better than vee eights.
❤❤❤❤❤ great video
Horse power knocking on the door of the old Flathead. In fact, it was probably a better engine than the V8 It would have run forever, and it probably still is somewhere.
The only thing wrong with it, from that era's perspective, is that you couldn't hot rod it - you would break the crankshaft in two. You couldn't keep it at 4500 RPM. It had a frequency problem at that speed, a speed that it couldn't rev to in stock condition.
WYR #1, the '46 Wagon ... makes me want to watch "Dark Passage," so I can see Lauren Bacall driving her '46 Woody Wagon.
@josephgaviota: Lauren Becall a really great actress. I mean Lauren Bacall excuse my incorrect spelling.
WYR= 49 Ford and the 42. I'd take the 49 because it was the car I came home from the hospital in when I was born. The 42 would be a very rare car, as production stopped after WW2 started. That 61(?) Rambler Ambassador had a unique grille/nose. I remember seeing them very occasionally when they were newish, and they were quite distinctive, compared with the Rambler Classic. One of those with a 327 V8 would make a pretty cool and fairly fast car.
Great choices thank you so much for those memories
Totally agree the 42 is rare never saw one
I want to eventually do that ambassador really look for a wagon one year only super rare I’ve also been looking for a 57 Rambler rebel I would really love the feature that this year I wanted to feature it last year, but I couldn’t find one.
You mean after the US joined the war. It had been going on for a cpl of years by 41. 42's only produced from Sept to Dec that year so ya, very rare.
Beautiful good machine useful ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I love flathead engines :)
Awesome personally I’d take this over the ford flathead v8
@@What.its.like. yeah I think making a turbo set up will be easier too
I'd pick the '46 Woody, and the 51, although I really like the '42 also, but the '51 would be my first choice of all of them. The advertisements were so great!😎🤟
Totally agree I hope to have a studio one day I’ll frame all the stuff that has been given to me I do all these episodes at the kitchen table lol
Great choices I didn’t make that one easy lol
"49 Ford for me. Milestone car for sure. And the coupe for sure. I'd drive it right now.
Awesome choice =)
1st group: The '41 P'up is just a beautiful piece of styling
2nd group: That '48 P'up is the one, primarily because my best friend in h.s. drove a restored version 3 spd manual in gorgeous ochre yellow!
Hi Jay! You know I always LOVE these engine episodes! It's really a shame how the excellent Ford Flathead Six is overshadowed by the Flatty V-8. The WYR's are very hard this time, since they are all cool!! #1 would be the 1949 and #2 The 1941. Automobile advertising has the BEST artwork of its time! Glad you received all those COOL brochures!
I’m so happy to get those ads I love classic ads just the way they did them American realism in watercolor happy you dig this episode great choices
Too Hard to chose, Sir!
They All have their merits!
Haha I know right it wasn’t easy this go around
I enjoyed the episode. I'm guessing a lot of these were in military vehicles in WWII. I'd choose the 1941 Pickup and the 1948 Pickup.
I would think the same used in ford jeeps perhaps I’m not that up on WWII or vehicles of war but sweet choices happy you dig this episode =)
@@What.its.like. As I understand it the Government made Ford produce the Willys Go Devil engine for their jeeps. I looked it up and the 226 was in staff cars and the GTB which was a 1-1/2 ton military 4x4.
For WYR, it's the '41 Ford (especially if it's a Woodie Wagon, and it's a tie between the '42 and the '51 Ford...the '42 wiuld be rare and the '51 was the best of the Shoebox Fords.
I liked the advertisements at the tail end of the video. My late mother drove two of those cars...the '61 Pontiac, and the '64 Rambler.
Sometimes people will send me things I love sharing it with you guys one day I would love to have a studio and hang everything that I get so you guys can see it too.. totally agree with you. Those advertisement pieces were stellar.
Choices were hard, especially if you were a Ford enthusiast, but great choices nonetheless =) happy you dig the episode
My 51 F1 has the flathead six in it. Runs like a top, and is still strong for what it is. Dread the day I need to find parts. When that time comes I may just convert it over to a 300.
Awesome question do you have the synchronized transmission behind it or the crash box non-synchronized unit I will say that is the hardest transmission that I’ve ever had to privilege of driving
Look up the history of Isky cams and you'll find that he started with this engine, succeeding in making it fast when no one else could. It's easier and cheaper to cast and machine an inline 6 than a V-8. Ford was probably thinking about the many people wanting high fuel economy who would not buy a V-8 too. Kind of seems strange that they didn't try to go for an OHV configuration from the start which would have gotten more sales in every market.
WYR I like the 'shoebox' Fords, so it's a 49 for me. And I love the early F-1's too so it's the 48, even though the 42 is super-rare and you'd have the only one around.
Back around 1988 I watched a guy graft a late 60's or early 70's Pontiac front frame section onto his 48 F-1, an almost perfect fit to frame and the body too. IIRC he had to fab the front body mounts and bumper brackets, but it was the slickest resto-rod upgrade I've ever seen done; everything looked factory.
Awesome thank you so much for sharing that I’m hoping next week the engine episode is going to be on an engine manufacturer. I’ve been trying to do Kohler, but their history is very complicated in the sense that they were in business to make anything that there was a market for, and how much of the story do you? Do you tell the whole story or do you just tell the part of it because they’ve offered a vast array of different products especially in the beginning.. I would love to cover Wisconsin, Continental Briggs and Stratton. I also thought about doing early Harley Davidson the twins it’s just I don’t know where the draw the line do you talk about a specific type of engine or do you talk about all of them Indian four
@@What.its.like. You can do an overview of engine manufacturers, but to cover every (or even most) models would take hours and days. Maybe do the overview, then cover some of the oddest applications their engines were used for. That should be an interesting and popular approach.
You could change a head gasket @ a red light.
Back when things were simple
WYR: 1949 Ford and 1948 Ford. Heck, the two of those might be all you'd need back then. That 6 making 212 ft/lbs of torque barely off idle is a real stump puller. Thanks as always ~ Chuck
With overdrive they would be perfectly adequate even today.
I was thinking the same thing =) a pretty good over looked over shadowed engine
The 254 cid motor was probably a really good everyday driver. Peak torque at 1200 rpm makes for a great around town experience. No need to rev up the engine to get results.
You weren't supposed to be able to get the 254 6 cyl in passenger cars, but that being said, my uncle had a 53 Ford with, he said, a flathead 6 when I was a little kid. I wonder if he put a 254 in it, as the new for 52 Ford overhead 6 was only 215 cubic inches.
It was really hard to find information on the 254. I wasn’t sure if they offered it in passenger cars because by then they had the overhead valve engine which was considered superior to that even though that one had more cubic inch displacement.
Another great video, Jay. I really enjoy your engine histories/summaries. And I'll take the '46 and the '42 Fords.
Thank you I’m happy you dig this episode =) I love doing them especially the engines that don’t get the coverage
Great choices
I must confess that I did not know that Ford ever made a flathead 6 during those years, I was only aware of their somewhat famous flathead V-8. The other two major car makers low priced entries, namely Chevrolet and Plymouth, didn't even have a V-8 engine until 1955, the year that all American cars being sold finally came equipped with them under the hood. So that is my automotive lesson for the week.
Anyways, in regards to WYR I will definitely take that beautiful '46 Ford Woody for my first choice, and then for my second one it would have to be the '42 Ford Tudor sedan. You don't see too many of those around due it being an abbreviated year for the car industry.
I love covering the lost and mostly forgotten.. sweet choices =)
wyr 1941 Ford pick up
wyr 1951 Woody
Flat head 6 simple and dependable.Thx Jay
Awesome choices and your welcome happy you dig this one =)
51 Ford first
All others 👍
Great Episode
Happy Motoring ✌️🤠
Hahaha nice choices =)
Our ‘51 6 would start on the coldest morning when many others wouldn’t.
I’ve heard they were a good engine
I would be happy with any of the choices but I prefer the ‘41 in the first set, and the ‘42 in the second. I had a ‘53 half ton with a flat V-8 in the late 70s great work truck.
Awesome definitely didn’t make the would you rather easy today
I would take the 42 2 door post. Would enjoy correcting people who would try to say that it is a customized 46.
Awesome choices =)
The 226 is the 6 cylinder that funk was putting in ford 9n, 2n, and 8n tractors.
Im more in favor with the 49 ford ! I actually helped a ww2 vet getting the car out behind 10 other cars ! Was solid and all original !
Great story awesome choice
'46 Woody! '51 Wagon! Is there a reason everyone went with overhead valves instead of staying with flatheads? I've never worked on one, but it seems that the flatheads are a much more easier engine to work on. That could also be because it doesn't have all the modern crap attached too, I guess. It just looks less complicated. I remember, all too well, changing the plugs on my Grand Marquis' 460... it was a bear! Woulda been so easy to have the plugs right up top!
Ohv was the next big thing they say they are the more efficient design but I think that flathead should make a comeback as a turbo charged unit some got great gas mileage 32 mpg hwy in a 51 studebaker champion
@@What.its.like. Problem is, it'll be shoved into a crossover or SUV... They just announced Chevy is cancelling the Malibu. I do NOT understand why American car companies refuse to keep making sedans. Every single import has sedans/coupes in their model line-up, along with crossovers and SUV's. The last gen Taurus was an awesome car (albeit a bit small for my tastes) but it was reliable, looked great and you could get AWD. But nope. EVERY time I take Luigi in for servicing/repairs they start on me about "upgrading"... sorry, going from a Grand Marquis to an Explorer or Expedition is NOT an upgrade for me. It's going from a solid 4 door sedan to a damn truck. And now, GM follows suit... Stupid stupid stupid. Just forcing folks into Hondas, Toyotas, Volvos, Kias, Hyundais, etc... edit: oooops, sorry about the rant... got a little off the subject. Sorry, J....
I totally agree there are a few nice new cars but to me the best cars have already been made it’s just finding them
Jay, no one got the song last night, because no one "CAN" get it you're getting so "TIGHT" on how much, and how "LOUD" you put it..... The other day you had GREG KHIN, Jeopardy....> Dude, I was Young, went to see him in CONCERT, back in '82, have all of his tapes, and I couldn't have got that, it was so LOW, and so MINUTE........I wished I could've heard yesterdays, I'm a big "BOBBY FAN" too, KNOW all of his songs.............I think I'd have recognized it, however you put it so "DIM" and so "SHORT" it's really impossible, and pretty well "frustrating" for me to get that far in your shows......... I always love your content. Sincerely, Marcel , in Yuma, Az
@@PS-js9oh ahahahhahhaha
I have to make name that tune, hard a lot of people use software to get the names so I’m not just trying to stump people anymore. I’m trying to stump software which is really hard to stump software but I’ve done it a couple times the song in this video was a Bob Seger song I might sing it at the end of tonight‘s episode. I was going to sing it at the end of yesterday‘s episode, but I didn’t. The main line is the name of the song.
I was born way too late. They don’t make music like they used to make music. There are a few good artists now but a very few and far between most people don’t even sing anymore most of its autotune. The only reason Taylor Swift is as big as she is is because there are way more people on the planet and there was back then … I’m gonna leave it at that. I’m pretty sure that my audience isn’t the Swifty crowd..
Hahaha
I didn’t get tonight’s episode done and instead of scrambling to get it done for 11 o’clock. I’m just gonna wait until tomorrow 1926 wills st Claire
@@What.its.like. Well, that's alright, relax, have a beer, and figure out how to make it simpler for us NORMAL people to get the music. I've not heard of anything like what you've said before, that there is some software that gets people the answer so quickly
Never knew Ford made a 226 .. Kaiser Fraser and Willy's Jeep ran a Continental 226 which was a great smooth running engine.. Lots of torque, but don't over rev it .
,Gleaner combines used flathead Ford sixes too
Awesome information. Thank you so much for sharing that.
This Ford 6 was a good engine when used as intended, but the hot rod crowd tried to soup it up and found a problem - the crankshaft had a frequency problem at about 4500 RPM that would break it in two. Stock, it couldn't rev that high, so it wasn't a problem for regular passenger car light truck duty, but you couldn't use it as a hot rod engine. Also, the 52 Ford overhead 6 came in at 215 cubes and 101 horsepower. The 223 version with 115 horsepower debuted for 1954.
Great information and insight thank you so much for sharing =)
I'm always amazed at how information the audience has. Very cool.
Love this community =) they can provide so much more information because they were around these machines. I’ve done this long enough to know that not all the information that you find out there is 100% factual. I’ve had lots of bad information.
For example, the Leeland Lincoln engine every source that I went to on the Internet, said that the first two engines have three main bearings. The last one has five finding an old shop service manual after doing the whole episode it brought the light that all of them have five main bearings , there’s a lot of misinformation out there and it just sucks for someone like me to try to decipher. What is and what is fiction.. the other thing that really sucks a lot of sources like to round numbers why they can’t give the actual numbers is beyond me
A fella had one of these in a boat and wanted it to go faster, so he designed and made a camshaft which would go past the deadly RPM so quickly that the crank didn't develop the resonance which broke them. Soon Ford car owners were asking him to make that cam for them. His name? Ed Iskendarian (Isky Cams) 😎
@@What.its.like. You are absolutely correct. NEVER rely on the Internet, rely on PRINTED MATERIAL, like shop manuals, that were written when the machine was new. Computer nerds don't know about much more than computers and cell phones.
1949 Ford Coupe, and 1951 Ford Woody
Awesome choices
I would want the 46 wagon, but with no place to put it, (you wouldn't want to leave a woody wagon out on the street all the time), I would have to take the 49 coupe.
Yeah most definitely you’d have to have a climate controlled environment to have a wood bodied car
Hard to pass up the truck. All 3 if I had the money.
Yeah hahaha I didn’t make that one easy if your a ford fan
I didnt know about these and heard henry ford didnt like 6's either.
Henry Ford had a six cylinder that powered the model K one day going to do an episode on that in 1906 I think that whole car almost cost him…. or did cost him his original company and I think that’s why Henry Ford kind of held a grudge against six cylinder cars
I'll take the Ford. And the Ford.
Haha =)
All of them ,
Awsome
WYR - the '41 and '51 Fords.
Sweet choices =)
WYR: All of them.
Awesome =)
They were pretty snappy bunrt rubber low gearing friend had a 47 drop clutched said I'll show you more burn you ever saw 💥 bang fordys junkyard it's new home 25$ 😂
Crazy story a friend of mine has a 52 Ford with a 226 in it but non-synchro transmission. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever driven. He made it look so easy you had to rev speed match and double clutch for it to engage. I have driven vehicles where you have to double clutch no big deal but you have to do all three of those and it has to the moon in the stars have to be aligned perfectly for that transmission to shift. lol it looks so easy when it was my turn. He laughed a lot.
@@What.its.like. jay Leno on his rides does a griind now and then so your not alone on that one ps the trans exploded reminds the video kids chained the rear on police car (am grafitti ? Thanx for your reply 😍
When the new flathead six was dynoed, it produced more power than the 239 v8. So Ford didn't publish HP numbers for the 6.
I believe it..
1951 ford woodie
Sweet choice
First 1949 Ford second 1948 Ford F3 1 ton pickup.
Sweet choices
They're call "brochures"
Yes.. =)
41 Ford Truck
42 Ford
Awesome choices
46 - 42
Sweet choices =)
🥝✔️
In someways the inline six is better than the vee eight.
I would take a flathead 6 over the flat v8. Seems like it would handle added power better.
I totally agree =)
Actually, no. If you hopped it up, you would probably break the crankshaft, as it had a frequency problem at 4500 RPM. Stock, it didn't rev that high, but souped up, it could.
But stock to stock it was the better option brine didn’t have the cooling issues the flathead v8 had.. also I’ve heard it’s possible to build a flathead v8 but costs a fortune to get a lot of power out of one
@@What.its.like. I stated that stock, there was nothing wrong with this engine, and no, it didn't cost a fortune to get a lot of power out of the flathead Ford V8, as there was a vast amount of speed parts out there, just like was available for the Small Block Chevy in later years.
@@jamesbosworth4191 great information =)
Chevy and Buick never made flatheads.
Chevy made an overhead valve 4 Marquette had a flathead 6
@@What.its.like. One should also remember Chevy made an OHV V-8 for the 1918 model year, it was in someways similar to the 1955 engine.
Yep covered that one =)