Difference between an a and t block?

[Jonah D'Avella]

What is the difference between a Model A and a Model T engine blocs? And how would you get coolant leaking into the cylinders?

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Coolant in the cylinders? Bad head gasket or cracked block or cracked head.

[DanTreace]

Easy to tell bare Model A block vs Model T block, the Model A has oil filler on opposite side. Model T block oil filler is on manifold side. Lots of other difference.

Model T

[Norman Kling]

I can think of three causes of coolant in the cylinders. One would be a leaky head gasket. Another would be a crack in either the head or the block. The other, if you have an aluminum head would be corrosion by electrolasis.
To check, first remove the spark plugs and look down with a flashlight. You might be lucky and see which cylinder is getting wet. That will help you narrow down the location of the leak.
Remove the head and examine the head gasket, especially around the cylinder which has the leak. Sometimes you will see an area blown out near one of the holes in the water jacket. Two common causes of blown head gasket. 1. Warped block or head surface. To find this, check to see how flat the surface is with a straight edge. Try this in several angles. If you find the location you can have the head or block re-surfaced. This is easy if the problem is with the head, but if it is the block, you will need to pull the engine and disassemble it. Then machine the top surface. If not too bad, you can use a sealer from an auto parts store for the purpose of sealing the gasket. 2.To fix a crack, some good welders can weld cast iron. If you do weld it, you will need to machine the surface flush with the surrounding area. For long cracks, you can drill a hole at each end and insert a bolt then grind off the bolt flush with the surface. This will keep the crack from spreading.
A crack in the area between the exhaust valve seat and the cylinder is quite commonly caused by overheating the engine and boiling out all the coolant. Then before it cools the radiator is filled with cold water. The sudden cool off causes the metal to crack. If your engine overheats and looses coolant, let it cool off completely before adding water. To fix this type of crack, The crack must be fixed and the valve seat removed and replaced with an insert. The cylinder should be bored out and sleeved and bored to match the size of the other cylinders.
3. If you have a hole corroded in an aluminum head, best fix is to replace the head.
After you find and fix the crack, install the head gasket and torque to specs. Start in the center and tighten down in order from the center out to the sides and from the center toward the ends. Do this in stages so you don't over tighten one bolt and crack something. I like to do about 25 ft lbs on each bolt, then starting in the center and go to 30 ft lbs on each bolt and follow by 5 ft lbs each time till I reach 50 ft lbs. Then install coolant and start the engine and warm at fast idle. Do not drive it yet. Then if an iron head check the torque and tighten again to 50 ft lbs. If an aluminum head after heating the engine, let it cool completely before re-torquing. Then drive around a bit until you are warmed up and torque again. Keep doing this until it holds the torque. Be sure to change the oil, because usually when you get coolant into the cylinder, it will go down into the crankcase contaminating the oil.
Norm

[Norman Kling]

I thought of two additional ways water can get in the cylinders, which probably don't apply to your case. One would be if the engine is out in the rain without any spark plugs. The holes around the spark plugs are like funnels when it is in the upright position. The other would be if the engine were used as a boat anchor.
Norm

[walber]

Differences between the engines for a T and an A? Except that they are 4 cylinder flathead engines built by Ford, everything is different. Other than possibly a few bolts, nothing is interchangeable between the two. Yes, an A crankshaft and rods can be modified to fit in a T block but that requires machining of the block and crankshaft and special pistons.

[Jonah D'Avella]

What kind of carburetor system did the A have?

[DanTreace]

Similar system to T, but larger carb, and intake something like the late T Vaporizer, since it mounts to the exhaust manifold to preheat fuel vapor for best combustion. Ford-Zenith carb.