Flathead 226 G header question

I’m new here, and have been sent to find “Bubba”. Any help on this is appreciated.
I have a ‘46 226 2- door sedan with a 226 Inline 6 G style Flathead Engine. I’d like to put a split exhaust header on it. Reds sells a header but specifies it’s for the later H style engine. I reached Out to Reds, and they seem to think the G and H, intake and exhaust ports are the same and the header would also work on the G. Any input here? Anyone see why it wouldn’t? Thanks.

Hi Johnshipiii, yes for sure the ports on all the Ford Flatheads Six engines (226 G, 226 H, & even the 254 M (1948 to 1953 "Rouge" F6 Truck series engine) are also the same and they all even use the same intake / Exhaust Gasket number. What's not the same is the car and truck chassis that these engines were installed in. Stock the 226 G series were used in the Fords 1941 to early 1947 cars and pickups also known as the Fat Fender Fords (& Merc's) have a narrower engine compartment not as much as a factor with the inline six's there is plenty of room. These cars and truck chassis and their body's were very semular in those years. In 1948 the F1 to F3 pickup trucks were totally redesigned chassis and body. But the 1948 cars chassis and body continued for one more year basically unchanged. In 1949 the cars chassis and body was then redesigned into what's been affectionally known for many years as the ShoeBox Fords (& Merc's). The 226 H series engines came out in mid 1947 and continued until the end of the1951 models. Here's how I see it If the Reds header can fit in a 226 H series engine in a 1947 car chassis than yes it should also fit the 226 G series engines in the 1941 to 1946 cars as well as the 226 H series engines in a 1947 and 1948 car chassis / body. Hope that helps you good luck on your 46. Bubba22349

Thank you sir!!! Seems, I found the man I was sent to find!

You are very welcome, if you can check back and let's us know how you like them, sound, and maybe take some pictures of them on your car and post them here. Good luck.

I most definitely will! It’s going to be a bit before I get it done. Planning on pulling the engine, doing gaskets, header, complete tune and rebuilt carb on top of a 12 v conversion.

I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me more, possibly much more. Always been a “tinkerer”, but this is my first old Ford and Flathead. I’m sure I’ll have questions along the way. I appreciate you lending me your knowledge and expertise!!!

Any tips on getting exhaust/intake studs loose? I’ve been hitting them with Kroil and PB every few days.

Will be looking forward to seeing how the car comes together, you can start a build thread on the site here if you would like to document your build. Yes your doing good lots of soaking of those old bolts putting some heat to them also breaks the rust loose just take your time if they start to move and turn then that's good and you can keep going. Some times you need to work them back and forth a little bit. But if they freeze compleatly up then stop as the hey will be close to twisting off then start soaking and heating again. Kind of a little curious about how you found out about me too, good luck.

So I bought the car about 6 months ago. Started doing some research and joined a few forums on Facebook and this one. I put this same post on a few of the Facebook forums including: “The Flat Spot”, “Flatheads Forever,” and “Ford Flathead Six”. I kind of forgot about this forum and Someone on “Flatheads Forever” recommended I post on here and look for you. Now I’m really digging this as I like the setup better than Facebook and its easier to navigate. Also been trying to avoid social media as much.

Johnshipiii said:

Now I’m really digging this as I like the setup better than Facebook and its easier to navigate. Also been trying to avoid social media as much.

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Welcome aboard! We hear your above points quite a bit and couldn't agree more. Please give our FB page a like and tell your friends where they can find you now

Thanks for the warm welcome. Another quick question for Bubba (or anyone with input): I’ll try not to overwhelm with questions.

I’m not getting into boring cylinders or grinding cams at this point. With that said, is there a carburetor upgrade you recommend? Or just have the stock one rebuilt?

There were severial performance upgrades even an Aluminum High Compression head plus intakes for two and three carb's. Popular carb's back in the day were the 2V Strombreg thre bolt carb's in severial sizes like the 3 bolt 47, 97, and the later 3 bolt Holley version of carb's that looked semular. There are some newer carb's to like the Rochester 2 Jets used in the 1950's and into the late 1960's in larger bore on the GM cars and Tri power engines like Olds Cutlas and GTO Poncho's Tempest, anyway they are real good carb's plus they kind of have that older vintage look. which carb do you have now?

Holley 847

A pair of the Holley 847's would work good or you could use an adapter and go to a single 2V carb for a mild increase.

Figured I’d throw this on this thread, but can start a new one if need be. I decided to just have the original Holley 847 rebuilt. Getting ready to put it back on the car. It had a 1/4” spacer/insulator. I ordered a new 1/4” phenolic insulator. So once I reinstall any opinions or any tricks for tuning?

It was mentioned I could start a build thread, to document the process. Should I start that under this category or a different one?
Thanks in Advance!

While you doing the short block assembly and degreeing your camshaft, setting the valve lash etc.be sure to find true TDC and check the front Dampner / Balancer Mark is right. Degreeing the cam make sure it matches factory specs or is sliaghtly advanced. You might also want to paint that mark with some white paint to make it easy to see with your timing light. Some G Series Info I have collected is posted below maybe there is something of help. Best of luck.

1941 to 1947 226 Cu. In. G Series Flathead Inline Six's, 90 Horse Power @ 3300 RPM, 180 Torque @ 1200 RPM
3.30 Bore X 4.40 Stroke, 4 Main Bearings, Compression Ratio 6.8 to 1, Cranking Compression 105 to 125 PSI
Holley Model 847 F 1V Carburetor, Firing Order 153624, Normal Oil Pressure is 30 Lbs. @ 2000 RPM, 6 Volt System
These engines respond well to a good multi angle (4) valve job with back cutting of the intakes blending of the valve bowls, exhaust valves can benafit from a slight bevel cut or radius on top edge of valve.

Stock Tune Up Specs in Order
Stock Spark Plug were the old Champion H10, Alternatives you can check out are Autolite 216, 4316, MP4316DP, Motorcraft AL5, AL7CF4 if you can find a Copper Core one that might work real nice. There used to be some nice Mallory and other brand ignistion Coils available.

1. Spark Plug Gap .025 you could try up to .030 if you have a good enough coil
2. Basic Point Setting .014 to .016
3. Point Dwell Setting 36 Degree's
4. Base Ignistion Timing is 1 Degree BTDC Vacuum Line unhooked and plunged.
5. Check that you Carb's Choke Operates Properly. Warm up the Engine Good & look to see the Choke is Fully Open
6. With the Air Cleaner Installed, Set the Idle Mixture Screw to Highest RPM or Vacuum Reading, Vacuum Reading should be 18 to 20 HG. At Idle RPM
7. Set the Curb Idle RPM to 475 RPM (Stock Trans or any other Manual Transmission) if you happen have adapted a C4 or another Auto Trans the curb Idle RPM is set to 500 with trans in Drive & Park Brake Set or have someone stepping on the brakes for you. I usally recheck the above number 6 & 7 settings a least a second sometimes even a third time to see if fine tunes it anymore. You could also try setting the Carb's Mixture screw to the "Lean Best Idle" which after you do the above setting you just turn the screw in 1/4 turn (leaning mixture some) that might give a better idle or off idle take off response.

Check that your Vacuum Advance Canister will hold a steady Vacuum without changing the distributors point advance plate position if not it needs to be replaced? Distributor Advance starts at 1/2 a Degree BTDC with full advance of 9 Degrees BTDC at 1250 RPM. Base Timing is Advanced or Rerarded by adjusting the Vacuum Break Set Screw on the Distribitor Housing. The Point Condesor Capacity is .21 to .25 MFDS. Points Spring Tension measures 20 to 24 Oz.

Thank you sir!!!

I believe Bubba covered all you asked. The only other vender would be Speedway Motors. If they even have anything for your Flathead Six.

Having been to the Speedway museum here, ( im only an hour from there ). I asked too many questions on the guided tour. It seems they have buildings full of old parts There in Lincoln Nebraska. They pull out stuff and change up the displays now and then. The late owner " Speedy Bill " liked, to travel places and drag home tons of parts, cars, and just plain odd stuff. In the museum there is a whole large wall of nothing but different Flathead Ford V8 aftermarket performance and race intake manifolds, something to see for sure... Last year by chance i met a gal , while out on a social night that worked in the parts sales at Speedway. I told her i had this 52 GMC 302 six, that was missing a few things. She said if you call ask the right guys there, they could sell some things out of the archives. Im sure they have many old stock speed parts for the Flathead six. It seems they do have a catalog of just vintage parts also.

Any advice on setting distributor timing, without a timing tool? I’ve read about how to set the 8 cylinder timing with a straight edge, but can’t find anything on the 6.