Flathead ????

[bigdude]

Ive got a 40 with a flathead that I dont know what year it is. The dist is in the front at about a 45 degree angle,anybody know?

[GPster]

First stab would be a '49 to '53 because of a distributor. The earlier ones had a distributor on the front of the block that drove right off the end of the cam and had the 4 wires coming out each side and it was all tangled in between the generator/waterpump belt. Now next point would be where the top radiator hose comes out of the heads. the early heads had the hose coming out of the top center of the head and the later heads had a thermostat cover and hose connection bolted on the top front of the head. To carry this one step further look at the back of the block and how the transmission bolts to it. If the car still has the stock transmission it would be for column shift linkage  and a closed driveshaft. If the tranny is for a closed driveshaft and floor shift than it's earlier than '40. If it's for floor shift but open driveline then it's for a '41 or newer truck (til '49 ?). If it's open drive shaft and for column shift with the shift levers on the side of the trans than it's a '49 to '53 car trans. Now in-between will straighten some of this out. If it's got an early trans bolted directly to the back of the block then it's an early block. If there is a 4" deep bell housing between the block and the trans then you have a late engine bolted to an early car trans or the mid-way truck (or Mercury) trans. If you've got a full bell housing between the engine then you've got a late model flathead with a later model trans. There were a lot of ways to bolt this stuff together and because of the age of any of it pieces of it might be valuable to somebody. Your description is rather minimal to nail this down and my description is not 100% but I had some time before lunch. GPster