Test starting the Mighty Flathead

After finally getting some free time to work on this, I rigged up some basic plumbing to run coolant in and out of the engine, added oil, figured out the timing, and with help (Thank You Mr. Powell!), got the plusses and minuses of a 6 volt positive ground system straight. I used a 6v battery to run the coil, but a 12v to turn the engine over (since the engine's new, and fairly tight). With KRF as the videographer, and FLF as a witness (well someone was going to have to speak with the coroner!), and a somewhat oddly rigged column of fuel, plus a bit of starter fluid, it fired up. Ok, so it's not Academy Award material, and KRF's not in film school. We're amateurs here, and yep, we did try this at home!

Why did I do this? Since I'm nowhere near any sort of completion on the chassis, but have had the engine back from the rebuilder for about two years, I felt it was important to know for sure that it would run. Further, what you see here is a basic stock running Merc. 255. Later, when I've added headers, and aftermarket heads, it should still run fine. But more experimentally, when I add a never before tried sidedraft intake manifold (one I think we're going to have to fabricate), plus hopefully a pair of sidedraft Webers, at least I'll know that it was a running engine before I made the changes.

I ran it here on two occasions both about a minute or so and though I did have a leak around the one top hose (forgot a clamp for it and that's what FLF is worried about when she sees coolant), I didn't see any other real problems. At least for testing purposes.

Next step? Pull the gearbox off, pull the engine out and put it on a stand, and start disassembling the chassis. The way forward means going back a bit...