Morton and Brett OHV Dodge cylinder head information wanted

[Guest Fast Four Special]

I am in pocession of a Morton and Brett cylinder head for the early Dodge flathead four cylinder engines. I have read conflicting information about the number of intake ports available on these heads. The head I have is a two port (intake), which is described as their "Indianapolis Head" in their January 1929 "Blue Book of Speed". Does anyone know definitively whether they produced both single and dual port heads, or just the one dual port style like I have?

Also, I have race results from the 1931 Indy 500 which show that a Morton and Brett car ran and finished 36th. Since Morton and Brett built heads for Chevrolets and Fords as well, can anyone tell me if this was indeed a Dodge engine that ran in '31?

I have gathered as much information as is availabe via the internet, and have also obtained an original 1929 Morton and Brett Blue Book of Speed, but any other information that you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Edited February 16, 2013 by Fast Four Special (see edit history)

[Guest Fast Four Special]

Additional photos

[Guest Fast Four Special]

Additional photos

[Guest 1930]

Boy this is an interesting topic, I hope that there is more added to it, thanks for the info/photos.

Not that this is really my cup of tea but how many pages are within the booklet, have you scanned them all? Are copies avail. I do find it interesting to see the evolution.

Not to steer you away but every so often I look at the posts within the general discussion area of the AACA and get the feeling that you may find alot more answers/info there that might help. Seems like alot of guys there have a wide or broad range of knowledge.

Edited February 16, 2013 by 1930 (see edit history)

[alsancle]

I can add nothing other than to say that is cool.

[Manuel]

If M&B made Ford bits as well. Why not try some of the Ford sites too, eg the T and A forums and vintage racing/speedcar sites etc. There may be info on the company and its activities etc.

There seems to be a lot of interest in the old speed merchants now as some of the old Ford people are reproducing their parts.

HTH,

Manuel in Oz

[Guest Fast Four Special]

The Morton and Brett heads reunite with the manifolds and Winfield carbs for the first time since...

[keiser31]

AWESOME setup!!

[Manuel]

Wow. Looks impressive!!

[Guest Fast Four Special]

[Guest MidTNDawg]

Probably of no real interest but my Dad raced a Model T Ford which the dealership where he work had tricked out. He told me it included an overhead valve head with a down draft carb set-up. Said it was hard to lose with the car.

Edited February 24, 2013 by MidTNDawg
typo (see edit history)

[30DodgePanel]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]179730[/ATTACH]

Fits like a glove ! Very nice

So what speeds and figures are you guys hoping to achieve with this setup when it's all finished ? Can you fill us in on your hopes and goals with it, are you going to race it or build for show ?

Congradulations, thats one heck of a find !

[Guest Fast Four Special]

A gentleman in California was planning on using this head on his Bonneville car last year, but found some pretty significant porosity and a crack when the car was started. The head was on loan to him from a mutual friend, who asked us to bring the head back to Montana to pressure test it, and come up with a plan to save it.

When I picked up the head, I discovered the owner had the rest of the original M&B motor sitting on a shelf in the back of his shop. I traded a '29 Desoto roadster body for it.

The plan is to send the head to a vintage race specialty shop to have the crack and poroisty repaired. If the repairs are successful, the head will be returned to California so it can be run on the Salt on Rich's Bonneville engine. The runs will be mostly for exhibition purposes, as the Vintage OHV records are most likely unachievable for this low compression head... and no one wants to risk destroying it.

After that, I hope to reassemble the complete M&B engine and put it in a '28 Dodge Speedster that I am building.

[nearchoclatetown]

What class would the engine be in with the M&B head? Would it work on a fast four engine or just a plain vinilla DB?

[Guest Fast Four Special]

Yes, the M&B head will work on the Fast Four block, which is the same basic architecture of the earlier engines, but with different port configuation and 5 cam bearings.

An OHV head on a Fast Four would put it in V4 instead of V4F (F ~ as in flathead). Those records are pretty steep. 172+ in FMR, 154+ in GMR, 169+ in FR...

There are some pretty exotic combinations in those classes, like OHC motors with 4V Subaru heads, and other crazy stuff.

The M&B could possibly be made competitive, but it would require custom pop up pistons and rods to get the compression ration up to a reasonable level due to the massive (and I shoiuld add, poorly designed)combustion chamber in the M&B head. You could probably run it at the lower compression ratio in the blown (supercharged) classes, but the risk of destroying the rare head would be too great.

Eventually we would like to build a V4 engine, but it would be with either a hemi head of our own design, or a modern high tech head retrofitted to work on our block.

[30DodgePanel]

Fastfour,

I don't know if you've seen this but the body (if your curious) was a "Model B Turtleback" . Sold originally for get this ... $65 . I do see a Dodge Morton & Brett car at the bottom right of this link but haven't been able to come up with anything concrete as per your question if Dodge had an engine in the 1931 race.

Morton & Brett, Elvin D. Morton, Jack Brett, Speedster, Model T, Morton and Brett - Coachbult.com

For folks viewing that may be curious of what the car mentioned that ran 36th in the 1931 Indy 500 here is a pic of the driver and his mechanic. Records show they ran an impressive 104 mph in qualifying, keep in mind the winners ran around 98mph average so this team would have been in the running for sure if not for the thrown rod on lap 7.

Courtesy of 1931 Indianapolis 500 - Indianapolis 500 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Edited February 24, 2013 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[nearchoclatetown]

So a real OHV, like a '28 Chevy , and a aftermarket conversion both run in V4? Would a Sesco be in V4 too? 172 would be getting it done with a DB.

[Guest Fast Four Special]

So a real OHV, like a '28 Chevy , and a aftermarket conversion both run in V4? Would a Sesco be in V4 too? 172 would be getting it done with a DB.

Yes, V4 stands for vintage four. American made engines built prior to 1928 with OHV. It does not differentiate whether it's stock (like the Chevy you mention), a period OHV conversion (Frontenac, Riley, Cragar, M&B, etc.), or a modern interpretation of one (a modern OHV or OHC head retrofitted onto a vintage block, or a homebuilt interpretation of one).