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Opinions on Continental engines?

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Pajamafied John

Member
Just wondering what everyone thinks of continental engines. I have one on a TO-20 that is wonderful but see other later Massey Fergusons with later iterations of Continental engines both gas and diesel. Does anyone have an opinion either good or bad? Wondering if the other models are as good,
 
Parts are becoming an issue.

Early Continental 4 cylinder engine blocks were prone to cracking between cylinders 2 and 3.

Dean
 
The long stroke overhead valve engines produced a lot of low end torque, but I would agree with Dean on internal weaknesses.
 
Some were good some not so good and some you'll want to run away from as fast as you can. Parts can be an issue and some of their later motors were badge engineered (a foreign motor with a Continental sticker on it) The one they made for Airplanes were, well some were good and some not so good (notice a pattern here?). Here is another case were a successful business failed to identify changes in the market they served in time for them to develop a strategy to identify and serve a new market niche or identify a suitable partner to merge with. The problem with mergers is usually the best in the business with strong viable operations don't merge, it's the weak businesses facing serious challenges and they usually merge with other businesses that are weakened. All the competition from Asia didn't help either.
 
The 6 cylinder flathead 226 was one tough old engine. Ran my sawmill with one for years.
It was in a Massey Harris 101 SR.
Richard in NW SC
 
AS has been stated, the variability of design and application fitness should be taken into account. SOme are good IH sp125 combine engine and the IH 350 diesel. (I defend the diesel because it had efficiency and lasted well, though tough to start) others worked well and produced good power. Jim
 
well the continental in the massey 44 special was pretty good as it seamed to last. the massey 44-6 had the flathead continental which was a very smooth running engine but it had no where near the power as the 4 cyl engine. drove and used both tractors and thats my analysis. its like everything gets improved with time.
 
Do you have a specific model in mind? Other than the H model engines (used in M-H 44 tractors) a lot of the engines were good in there day, but parts for some are a little hard to find especially the lower production models diesels and some of the larger 6 cylinder OHV engines which were popular in military applications.
 
The TO 20 and 30s cracked mainly because the stupid engineers figured they didn't need a temp gauge.Same with the 8n although they were a tougher engine and would stand the heat a little better.
 
I had three Z-134 on MF forklifts and they seemed to be good although were bought used and took much abuse for 14 years. I now wish I had gone diesel
 
I rebuilt it in 1978 and I honestly can't remember. It made the sawmill hum through some big logs though.
Richard
 
I see MF 50's 65's 150's etc. come up for sale with the Continental engines. I believe I have even seen a diesel or 2. Was wondering if they were worth having. Mostly Ive heard good things about the Perkins diesel in Massey Fergusons but not much on the continentals.
 
The Graham-Paige car company did a lot of development to Continental flatheads that they were free to use once Graham went under in 1945. Our 1929 837 Limo has a straight 8 that cracked the block, but after repair runs quite well with mountains of torque. My 1939 Graham "Supercharger" has a continental 6 with an aluminum head and a supercharger.
By the late 30s they has gone to nickle-steel blocks and valve seats that were simply cut into the block. They continued to put these engines in forklifts for many years, still a source of parts to collectors.
I am sure any post-war flathead Continental you find is a child of this design, and parts exist if you look in the right places..
 
Does a contential F186, 6 cylinder, 1200 rpm engine installed in any tractors? If so, and if anyone has a need for one with few hour it is FREE for the asking. Lots of NEW spare parts.
 
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