I found the following information on the French
flatheads on Jim Marlett's web site. It is the
most complete information I've seen so far, and I
thought it would be interesting to the fltamotor
guys.
"Halibrand wants $1500 each for a bare machined
block which seems like a lot to me, but I have to
say, they are BEAUTIFUL! Richard LeJuerrne, owner
of Halibrand, says he bought the entire warehouse
of French military blocks, some whole engines and
bunches of parts. He says he doesn't even know
what all he has. The blocks are in crates packed
in Cosmolene.
They are quite interesting and are not exactly
like American flatheads, although all our
flathead goodies will apparently fit on them. The
first thing you notice is the quality of the
castings. No flash, no obvious core shift, not
eaten up with 50 years of rot. The back ends are
like a 59A style with a cast in bell housing.
Everything else is like an 8BA style including
the water pump bypass and elongated slots in the
rear cooling passages. The basic machine work is
already done on them and they have fresh cam
bearings. The idea was that the military could
clean off the cosmolene, put them together with a
minimum of machine work, and drive off.
The end exhaust ports are much nicer than the
American versions. If you stick your fingers in
those exhaust ports, you can feel that they are
very smooth and round the corner on the way out.
There is a lot of metal on the ends where
American blocks get thin and have that wire that
held the cores together. The French blocks have
no wire. I think there is enough metal there that
if you wanted to move the end ports more toward
the end of the block, they could be milled down
so the manifold surface was flat close to the end
of the block and still have enough meat to hold a
new stud.
The head bolt that goes into the exhaust port is
rather different in these blocks. The hole is
unthreaded where it goes through the deck and
water jacket with the threads starting in a boss
that goes all the way through the center exhaust
port. The deck is free floating in this area. I
don't know how they keep water from leaking out
where the head bolt/stud goes through the deck,
but there has to be a way since the combination
worked for the French. I was told this
arrangement was used to strengthen a weak area in
the block. but I didn't know this was a weak
area. In essence, the cast boss for the bolt
forms an exhaust divider, but its shape and size
may not be what is wanted. There looked to be
enough meat in this boss to allow some carving if
you were careful not to go too deep - it still
has to hold the torque of the head bolt, you
know. A little ingenuity will be required to put
more complete dividers in. It seemed to me,
although I didn't have a standard block to
compare it with, that the center exhaust port was
roomier than those of American blocks. I will not
stand by that statement, though.
Much has been made of the extra holes in the rear
for a distributor and speed governor, but what I
noticed was an extra opening into the oil
passage. The oil pumps, which Halibrand has
separate, look like they are very well made and,
instead of having a slot that the oil comes out
of, have a round hole which lines up exactly with
a passage that goes all the way out of the block.
The passage that goes out of the block is capped
with a threaded plug. I assume that the main oil
line comes off this passage. I couldn't tell if
any other lines intersect it, but it looks like a
nearly full flow oil filter system would be a
piece of cake because the block is already tapped
for it. The rear main gets its oil directly off
the space around the pump just like the old
flathead we all know and love. The oil tube that
runs through the valve chamber appeared to be
screwed in rather than being a press fit. The
block I saw didn't have the oil deflector that
clips over the tube, but that may be because it
was a bare block.
The intake ports are D-shaped with the flat part
of the D on the top. According to LeJuerrne, Mark
Kirby of Motor City Flathead flow tested one and
it flowed better untouched than Kirby's street
port.
The main bearing webs looked stronger to the
people gathered around and I guess I would have
to agree. The center main cap was definitely much
beefier than the American version.
The transfer area of the block has a machined in
relief, so if you think a relief is a bad thing,
you won't like this motor. There is a single
number stamped into each relief and no one I have
talked to so far can figure out what it means.
The number in the block I saw was 3.
I was told that these blocks weigh 30 lbs. more
than the traditional flathead. There was
speculation that this was because of the quality
of the metal used in the casting - maybe more
nickle or maybe cast steel instead of iron. Even
though I could believe the metal is some top
notch military specification, I could also
believe there is simply 30 lbs. more metal in
these blocks.
Among the other things in Halibrand's booty were
rods (looked just like standard 8BA rods to me),
adjustable and non adjustable lifters, very light
three ring pistons, 3 3/4 inch and 4 inch cranks,
and all the other stuff it takes to make a motor.
If your application requires you to have an 8BA
style rear end, then you can't use this engine.
Otherwise, I think it has a lot to offer. I'm
anxious to see what people who have a good deal
more money and expertise than I have can do with
them. The only thing that I have any reservation
about is that bolt through the exhaust port. It
may not pose any problems at all, but I think a
more complete exhaust port divider will be
necessary and, because of the bolt, will be
tricky to build.
Halibrand intends to make the rounds of the major
car shows and nostalgia races, so the chances are
good that you can see one in the flesh
eventually. However, even though Ford produced
millions of flatheads in the '40s and '50s, Simca
didn't cast nearly that many blocks for the
French military. I have no idea what the supply
is except that, even though it is a whole
warehouse full, it can't be infinite."
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Dick J *
* (In East Texas) *
* # 729 *
* C/GRS E/STR *
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