Who has first hand experience with crazy high winding flatheads ? I have heard stories of north of 7000 rpm. True, or just "stories " ?
Heard a story that Zora Arkus Duntov's first experience of a Ford V8 was in eastern Europe before the war, riding in a friend's 1937 Ford. One time they hit 100 down a long hill. Later he calculated that the engine was turning 7000 RPM. This sold him on the Ford's potential as a performance engine and led to the invention of the Ardun hemi heads a few years later. This was from an interview in which he was asked how he came up with the idea of the Duntov heads.
Most of the rpm storys you hear are a low gear rev up . Maybe and then just maybe there tach hit 7000 rpm. Our Bonneville flathead at the salt ran 4300 at the the one mile, 4300 at the two mile and 4300 at the three mile. I needed 4500 to break the record and never ever found it.............When i hear these rpm numbers i ask was that in high gear (1 to 1) ????
Flathead V8s made max HP @ 3800 RPM which means it should have been able to hit 4500 in stock form. Was surprised to find they all made maxHP @the same RPM from 1932 to 1953.
What is a safe cruising rpm for a stock 100 hp flathead in a roadster Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
"High" winding being a relative term... I grenaded seven of them back in the 70's all in the same '38 Ford pickup. Our company had a row of about a dozen '46- '52 F-6 retired drill rigs in our shop yard. I'd pull the flatty's stick on some alum heads, used dirt racer cams that I bought at Hershey for about $10-$20 apiece then mount my trusty Offy 4bbl intake with an adapter to mount my 500cfm Holley. Most of them ran really good (for a flathead). They all ran the best right before they would blow up...no BS. Onetime I was passing a trucker out on route 81 at about 80 mph... Till I saw a con rod bouncing on the road in my rear view mirror. That truck is still sittn' with the last blown one in it. Great fun at the time... : IMG_0419 by bowie posted May 22, 2017 at 8:51 PM
7000 rpm at 100mph with 600x16 tires as on a 36 Ford car works out to a 5.90 to 1 rear gear. I don't think so!!!
I have seen some pretty extreme flatheads built for the salt that may have rev potential. But they are mostly just flathead in name or at least for anything that we would encounter they are just flathead in name. Billet cranks, custom built heads cams blowers dual mags blowers and injectors. The flathead in this roadster may approach big revs in the proper environment.
What's the fun in that? We had cheap POS cars we bought to drive in winter because of the salt they dump on the roads. We would beat the living crap out of them and come spring time they would beg us to put them out of their misery! Rev, rev, rev -Boom
I have built many flatheads in my life and never heard of one turning 7000. The highest reving flathead I ever had was a 53 Merc motor and it would rev to 5700 and make me real nervous every time I did it. Usually in what I found is getting a flathead over 5000 rpms usually causes an instant pile of scrap metal with a trail of oil under the car and as far back as you coasted.
I don.t think so, Just tales, makes it fun for young folk's to listen too., Bubba said it all. The late John Bradley said no way. With out scattering.
Me? I'd shift my bored Merc a tad over 5...it was scary. Ran great, especially puttering around town.
yep, I have a spare block on the stand in the shop because I KNOW the bottom end is gonna fall out of this....
Sorry man, wrong "Pete". Maybe if someone were to ask this on "The Ford Barn", the real "Pete" might respond.
i've also heard about high-revving flatheads with 180* cranks. they sound like a 4 cylinder, but it eliminates the problem with the siamesed center exhaust ports.
three main bearings isn't the best starting point, however breathing and exhaling is a much bigger constraint. A few Arduns overcame the breathing part and nudged substantially beyond 4500 with the 3 main bearings and welded cranks.
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