Thanks Ted. I'm going to give a 239 I have on hand a little overhaul, the one in my car was a high miler, it has served us well, trips to Montana, Kentucky, New York and a stop at the Henry Ford on the way home. We plan to take it to a friends' place in Oklahoma next summer, I'm replacing both rear wheel bearings this winter, we had one fail in Ohio on the way to a wedding in PA, lucky we saw a car show going on, got help, a good used axle to put in, headed on up the Skyline Drive around Chicago and then on home to central Minnesota.
A guy gave me a good running 239 three years ago, it's now on my engine stand in the shop. I'll put in new rings, grind the valves, check the bearings, a new timing chain, that will be it. I do all my own work, body, paint, upholstery, I rebuild the radios also, we have the 8-tube in the car, all 6 volt, original, heater, everything as was new from Ford. I'm an engineer but still believe Ford did a better job, it's tough to beat those guys.
I also don't believe in investing tons of money in these old cars and I have 6 of them, I like to keep all the numbers in the black, I hate red.
Also... what's the usual to mill off the heads on the 239, enough so the valves don't hit ?? A little more 'go' would be good since the rear is a 3:54, overdrive also so it's geared quite high. We get 20 mpg on the road easily, nice fast cruise. I want the most power out of the smallest CID, the 239 is a good rig.
Thanks again Ted,
82warren in MN (that's my age)
