Guest shadetree77 Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 I came across an old Ford cylinder head recently at a junkyard. Specifically, it is a 1948-1953 8BA flathead. I bought it with the intention of making a "wall hanger" out of it as it appears to be rusted beyond use. So I have come up with the idea of fully painting and assembling the head with spark plugs, wires, dist. cap, coil, etc. and mounting it to a painted board to hang on the wall in my shop. I don't have any experience with the flathead V8's and there is only one thing on the cylinder head that no amount of google searching has provided the answer to. What are the two ports in the center of the head used for (yellow arrows on the picture below)? My best guess would be hot water outlets for a heating system. So I need to know what these are and what type of fittings and hoses/tubing go into them. Lot of trouble over a wall hanger but I'm picky about accuracy! Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auburnseeker Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 They are for the temperature gauge sending unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest billybird Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 The rear one is for the temp. sending unit. The front one was for a heater hose. If the car was not equipped with a heater, then a steel or brass plug would go there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiecowboy Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Yep, my flatheads have a sender in the rear port and a brass plug in the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidAU Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 And if you want to be really pedantic, the temperature sender on the right side (yours) has a single wire contact on it and the one on the left head has a double contact on it. The wire from the single one goes over the engine to one of the double terminals and a wire from the other double terminal goes to the gauge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiecowboy Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Awesome! I'm restoring a 49 F3 pickup at the moment and was wondering how that worked exactly. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shadetree77 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Awesome. Thanks for all the answers guys. I worked on it some more today. I had to figure out a way to mount the distributor cap and did some painting on the coil and various other parts. I think it's going to look pretty good when it's all said and done. David, what type of wire comes out of the sending unit? Are we talking regular old electrical wire or something like a metal encased wire? I have been accused of being somewhat pedantical at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidAU Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 (edited) Regular lighting type cloth covered wire. A greeny- grey color with black tracer from memory but they could be different on different models.I have also seen some with a thin loose black plastic tube around the wire but I dont know if that is original or not. Edited September 20, 2012 by DavidAU (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gil#12 Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 I have a 1951 ford truck flat head motor and would like to know what modern automatic transmission can I use. The motor is goin in a 1953 ford car. I been told that a c4 transmission from a mustang would work? Can anyone help me out. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dei Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Robert,Here is a shot (not real clear) of my spare 52 flathead that was supposedly taken out of a dump truck. It shows the temp unit and where the hose would be attached on the passenger side atleast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dei Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 And here is the current tired engine in my truck showing (look closely) the temp wire and the heater hose connection with shut off.Yes it is dirty (and not show worthy) but using oil like it does and another motor to replace it, haven't put the time into cleaning it up...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlLaFong Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 I have a 1951 ford truck flat head motor and would like to know what modern automatic transmission can I use. The motor is goin in a 1953 ford car. I been told that a c4 transmission from a mustang would work? Can anyone help me out. Thanks.You need an adapter kit. Google is your friend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gil#12 Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Yea I found out there is an adapter for it,but its kinda expensive im in a tight budget rigth now. Hey, there is a guy who has an automatic transmission for my 1953 ford. Are they anny good, or are they slow. Im afraid to be in people's way thats why I wanted to go with a C4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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