Tomorrow.... Complete from oil pan to carb including starter and generator (currently disassembled) plus some extrtas (another '38 block and crank and intake and ignition parts)...

Q 1- Is it worth anything if everything is ok?

Q 2- I'm trading my S&W Chiefs Special 45 ACP for this pile of stuff...

Any opinions?

{Rick, what you gotta have for the shifter? I have several 3 speed rods that I might be able to make work... time will tell.}

It's worth something if someone is restoring a 38 Ford.

I'm not sure if a 38 is still a babbitt pounder but if it is it's big money to do and and you can't do it at home.

It would be worth more if its a 24 stud.
When I showed the post to my buddy whos into flatties, he said around here it would be worth about $100 - $150 max.
He also said to check the block by the valves, thats usually where they crack

Thanks Chuck and Greg.

24 bolt is a better setup? I'll call the guy and see about the condition...

I dunno if I wanna drive 120 miles round trip just to turn him down....

Y'all think this style flathead is only worth about $100 to $200 bucks...

The .45 is worth about $450... And as Gres mentioned, I'm not likely able to put together a babbit crank engine here at my place, and the 24 bolt flathead is a better motor...

I guess it's only worth something to someone restoring a 38 or someone building a hotrod flattie like the man said...

Oh well, glad I asked, thought I could have built it and made a couple dollars on it... Maybe even put it in my 46 Willy's CJ2A... That would have been cool Don't have the time for that though...

I practically gave away my '49 Ford with a flattie, it's worth what you can get. I personally would keep the ACP. As for the shifter, you pay the shipping & it's yours if I can find it. Should be in the unmagic trailer

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You can't condemn the bad if you don't commend the good

Gary, All I can tell you is what my buddy said they sell for around here, and hes very aware of the prices in this area.

The 21 stud is a smaller cu in engine then the 24 stud, thats all I know personally about flatties.

Sounds like the gun is worth alot more then the motor.

Plus, you can use the gun when we invade Canada

I thought this was over.

57 Ford Custom 300 2dr
390 FE,
Holley Street Dominator, 750 DP
Cruisomatic
3:55 Trac Loc

OK, but I only got 50 rounds... Canada has 56 people... What am I going to use when I run out of ammo? I lost my broken pencil and 3 ring binder...

Quote Gerry:
"I thought this was over."

Sorry Gerry, it just slipped out

1936 is when they went to bearing inserts. Actually it was mid 1936. The 1936 blocks with 'LB' cast into their bellhousing area use modern bearing inserts instead of babbit, and are desirable among those rebuilding early 21 stud engines.

I'd love to have a couple LB blocks, as dad has a 1934 Phaeton and a 1935 Cabriolet.

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Mike Burch
66 mustang real street
302 4-speed 289 heads
10.63 @ 129.3
http://www.mustangworks.com/cgi-bin/moi-display.cgi?220

I thought I was gonna have to correct you for a moment since I did a 36 V-8 babbitt pounder. Musta been early....

What is a babbit pounder and why can't it be worked on at home?

Older engines didn't have bearing inserts like modern engines. Now in saying this I'm going on memories from 50 + years ago when I watched an older mechanic pour babbit in an engine. I won't say this is the right way to do the job but it's what I remember him doing. The block and caps had a lip on the edges and he heated the babbit in a small furnace, the babbit I think it is a mixture of lead and copper, and poured the molton mix into the the block and caps. After it had hardned he used a knife to scrape the babbit down even with the lip on the block and caps. I don't think you coudn't do this at home it would just be wiser not to. When  I read what I remember and just wrote I wonder if this is what was done and if so how the engines ever stayed together.

57 Ford Custom 300 2dr
390 FE,
Holley Street Dominator, 750 DP
Cruisomatic
3:55 Trac Loc

I did a four popper from a "T" some years ago. Found an old man in Kansas that could do them & he said he had business from about everywhere. It's tricky

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You can't condemn the bad if you don't commend the good

No bearing inserts. They pour the bearing material (babbit) into the caps after they are removed, and allow it to harden. They they pour the bearing material into the block and allow it to harden. Once both have hardened, the caps are installed, and the block is line-bored and honed.

Of course, before this is done, the crank needs to be measured and possibly turned.... and the block bored to provide the proper clearance.

When re-doing the engine in dad's 1934 Phaeton, we found the babbit had partially cracked out of one of the bearings. After checking around and trying to find somebody set up to do babbit, it was $600+ to get the job completely done. We ended up finding a rebuilt engine an old acquaintence had stored away for a good price.

I'd still like to locate an insert bearing 1936 'LB' block to rebuild for his '35.

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Mike Burch
66 mustang real street
302 4-speed 289 heads
10.63 @ 129.3
http://www.mustangworks.com/cgi-bin/moi-display.cgi?220

I did a 31 Buick Straight eight about 10 years ago. I called Pittsburgh Crank and they said about 3 grand to do the job, which included grinding the crank, fitting the rods, and rebabbitt mains and rods.

A bit pricey so I contacted a shop in Harrisburg PA. They said they could convert it to inserts for way less. I told them I would bring the disassembled engine to them so they could have a REAL good look before they commited. They had a REAL good look and said, "NO Problem!"

Several months go by. I call. Oooooops! There IS a problem! Turns out the mains are all different sizes, progressively larger front to rear. That means I'd have to buy SEVEN SETS of main bearings and pull one from each set!

I told them to forget it and I'd come and pick it up. When I got there they said they'd already turned the crank and converted the rods! I asked why they did that before they knew that the mains would be such a problem. Duh, I dunno.....

They wanted to charge me some absurd price for something I could have had done locally in Gettysburg. They settled for half and I took my shit.

NOW I had to humbly call Pittsburgh Crank and tell them what had happened. The guy was cool and said they could do just the mains for me in the original babbitt. So they did and that was that. In the end the hassle just wasn't worth. I saved a buck or two and in the end the engine was perfect but it sure was a pain. I shoulda just given the whole thing to Pittsburgh and let the customer bite the bullet.

I'll definitely keep that in mind!

Thanks Greg and Mike.

Here's a 1930 DeSoto Straight Eight. The engine had been rebuilt somewhere along the line so I just did a re-ring and a basic valve job. There was enough shim left in the bearings so I was able to snug them up a bit. Say what????? Snug up the bearings???

Why, of course.....

Take a look at the pics. The first thing you might notice is that the rods won't fit down the bores. Keep going and you'll see the poured babbitt on the big end of the rods. When they do these they put a few layers of brass shim stock between the cap and rod. Then they cut the babbitt. As the bearings wear you can drop the pan and remove shim to snug up the bearings.

Procedure is as follows. Remove shim and rotate engine til it gets tight. Then put one back in. Sometimes only remove from one side of the rod to get it "just right"......

And that's all I got to say about babbitt pounders............

I think I'm gonna leave off these babbit having engines....

There is a Babbitt St. near the Preston Tucker home (where he designed the Tucker Torpedo car). Oh never mind, just useless information.


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Are these a piston that the rings don't have the familiar cut in them that instead there is a groove that the oil travels through to oil them rather than the space in the rings?

Trying to remember some engine my dad was telling me about that he had never seen and the rings were one piece or something odd like that and the oil traveled up a groove in the piston. I probably have it all wrong as I have sometimers badly. I'll have to ask him again.

Greg, my 40 Chev was a babbit motor and that's how I "adjusted" the bearings on that too. It had brass shims and a "dipper" oiling system so the caps had scoops to scoop the oil from the pan. It was crude, but that car would cruise at 65 all day.

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What a picture! How old is it?

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You can't condemn the bad if you don't commend the good

I could photoshop that Buick (???) fender out the pic and say it was taken in 1941!

ha ha, I'm laughing so hard....

That photo was taken in 1976 right after I got the thing reassembled and running. I sold it a month later and moved to Ohio where I immediately bought a '53 Chev to restore and a '62 Comet as a daily driver.

Chevy
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