Unknown FORD V8 engine

[Paul Dutton]

The French were making and using the V8 up into the 70's,

[Harlé Sylvain]

Hello
It's not an french army engine,(marmont and cargo) it has the distributor on the side like the 49US engine, maybye an ford poissy, it has the helmet distributor,like yours but a normal carburator.
This engine looks more as an industrial engine?

Cheers
Sylvain

[Lynn Eades]

It is an industrial engine. It has a governor on it. It appears to have military style filters on the electrics.
Maybe from a gen set or saw mill?
The GEFA will be the "give a way" to someone who has access to the various engine models.

[Frantisek Nachlinger]

Thank you all for your replies.

So is it a US made industrial engine?

Do you think it would fit a cab 13 Ford? It seems to be in nice runnning condition, it would save me a lot work on the engine-wrecks I have...

Frankie

[Tony Smith]

It's a French made Ford engine, from a Matford Truck.

Wikipedia

That sidedraft carburettor is an interesting item, first I've seen for a Ford. It looks easy to change it over to a regular 3-bolt downdraft (Holley for CMP or Solex for UC).

[Frantisek Nachlinger]

..hmm hmmm.... so a post war french engine... if I decide to put it to the truck, the sidedraft carburetor will be for sale

...does anybody know what could be a realistic price of it?

[ajmac]

If it is free to rotate by hand that's great but without seeing it running you don't want to pay top money. I sourced a low hours generator set Flathead which seemed fine, easy hand rotation etc. On strip down the block was cracked and so was one of the heads. The head was scrapped but the block was repairable.
French flatheads are well known for being a strong block casting, but I am not sure at which point Ford France moved to the improved blocks which were used up to the end of flathead engine production and spare production in the 70's.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by ajmac

French flatheads are well known for being a strong block casting, but I am not sure at which point Ford France moved to the improved blocks which were used up to the end of flathead engine production and spare production in the 70's.

The most widely-known "French Flathead" engines which have seen a bit of a fabled cult following in the States are the SIMCA V8s that were fitted to the SUMB trucks. These are a very different design to the US/Can/UK built Flatheads in that they are a latter-day redesign that incorporates a hybrid of features from the "classic" pre-war design and the 8BA design of the 50's. Some weak points have been improved upon by the SIMCA engineers, and modern ideas applied. If you were to be honest, SIMCA is not technically Ford France, and could even have claim to be called "Chrysler France"

Not to detract from the Matford engine, but it does not feature those improvements and is a more faithful copy of the original engine, warts and all.