Editing Ford flathead V8 engine (section)

===239===
[[File:1953 Ford V8-B3 flathead (Sunliner).jpg|thumb|'''V8-B3''' engine in a 1953 [[1952 Ford|Ford Crestline Sunliner]]]]
Ford introduced the {{cvt|239|cuin|L|1}} V8-99A engine with {{cvt|3.1875|by|3.75|in}} bore and stroke and 6.15:1 compression in 1939.<ref name="Street Rodder, 1/85, p73" /> It produced {{cvt|95|hp|0}} and {{cvt|170|lbft|0}}.<ref name="Street Rodder, 1/85, p73" /> This was done to provide a more powerful engine for the [[Mercury (automobile)|Mercury]] cars, which Ford Motor Company started making in 1939. It was used in Mercurys in 1939 and in Fords in 1946. This engine is very similar to later versions of the 221 engine. As the V8-09A in 1940, compression, power, and torque were unchanged; in 1941, the V8-19A compression and power were static, but torque rose by {{cvt|6|lbft|0}}, while the 1942 V8-29A increased compression to 6.4:1 and power to {{cvt|100|hp|0}}, while torque stayed the same.<ref name="Street Rodder, 1/85, p73" /> Postwar, it became the V8-69 (suffixed "A" in Fords, "M" in Mercurys), with compression 6.75:1, {{cvt|100|hp|0}}, and {{cvt|180|lbft|0}}.<ref name="Street Rodder, 1/85, p73" /> For 1947 and 1948, only the designation changed, to V8-79 and -89.<ref name="Street Rodder, 1/85, p73" /> The 239 was redesigned in 1948 as the 8RT for Ford trucks and in 1949 as the 8BA for the cars. It had higher 6.8:1 compression, but performance was unchanged.<ref name="Street Rodder, 1/85, p73" /> The 1950 V8-0BA boosted torque by {{cvt|1|lbft|0}}, the 1951 -1BA by {{cvt|6|lbft|0}} more, while in 1952, as the V8-B2, compression climbed to 7.2:1, power to {{cvt|110|hp|0}}, and torque to {{cvt|194|lbft|0}}, then to {{cvt|196|lbft|0}} in the -B3 of 1953, its final year.<ref name="Street Rodder, 1/85, p73" /> The 1948 to 1953 engines have a revised cooling and ignition system. Collectively all 239 engines are referred to as "100 horse" engines, although the horsepower was increased in 1952 to 110 horsepower in cars and 106 horsepower in trucks. This engine was used in Ford's transit buses during the most productive years of the company's short stint in the transit bus business from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s, most notably in the 1939&ndash;1947 version of the [[Ford Transit Bus]].

The latest iteration of this engine was used from 1948 to 1953 in the U.S and till 1954 in Canada. It was initially designated the 8BA (see above) in automobiles and the 8RT in trucks. 8RT remained the truck engine designation throughout the entire run from 1948 through 1953 in the U.S (1954 in Canada). The engines were essentially identical. Earlier Ford V8s had the unique Ford designed distributor driven directly from the forward end of the camshaft, which was an inconvenient location for maintenance. This final flathead used a more conventional distributor driven at a right angle to the crankshaft and located at the right front of the engine where it was readily accessible. The water inlets and thermostat housings were moved to the front end of the heads, and the 21 studs and nuts that attached the heads on the old engine were replaced by 24 bolts.