Hey All, So I've been working on this 40,000 mile tudor I acquired and I'm trying to eek a little more power out of it. I've been thinking about converting to a dual carb intake... thoughts?
Sounds like a good plan. Not going to turn it into a screamer, but you might eek out a bit more speed. Plus, it looks cool when you open the hood....There were literally dozens of manifolds for this engine and things can get a bit pricey. Roll with it. Post up a pic of the '49 and welcome by the way.
Realistic expectations is all I can say. By power, what do you mean? Compared to what? I find my 1951 Coupe with the stock carburetor, distributor, headers and dual exhaust has plenty of power. This is all subjective, but it gets up and goes...and can easily do hwy speed, 60-70 mph no problem. In short, it's not a powerhouse but I do not feel underpowered in the least. It’s really easy to make a lateral move or worse by going to multiple carburetors. There’s more too it. See the Vacuum vacuum thread. Technical - Vacuum or no Vacuum ? | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com) I bet most late flatheads with dual carburetors do no better than a well tuned stock set up. A lot, do worse if the distributor issue is not matched properly.
One thing that has always stuck with me is from the 1961 Popular Mechanics encyclopedia on Hot Rods. The Hot Rod section started with something like this. I find it simple and profound. The first step to have a hot rod is a well-tuned stock engine. Most cars are ill tuned from the factory or may not be tuned to optimum performance. Before any modification, get the car running perfectly. Let this be your foundation. Other things should be looked at too. Brakes, wheel bearings, are they dragging? Tire size, too tall? too short? too wide? Rear axle, enough lube? Clutch? Transmission? The car is a system. It has a 100HP engine so brakes dragging...stuff like that can have an effect. Like the '61 encyclopedia says...get the car perfect as you can stock and then go up from there.
I Suppose I'm just looking for a bit more get up and go. Right now it's a single carb, single exhaust, and I'm getting around to a bit of work that needs to be done. The engine was massively overfilled with oil and run for a bit, so the head-gaskets blew... Ideally I just want a bit more pulling power! Not that i expect an insane amount of power from a flathead...
Thats good. Because flathead horsepower is an oxymoron. Heed F-One's advice before spending the serious coin.
Thats good. Because flathead horsepower is an oxymoron. Heed F-One's advice before spending the serious coin.
The best thing you can do with one of these stock engines is make sure your compression is up to standards. At 40,000 miles it could be ready for a valve job and wouldn't hurt to install new rings, too. Those components didn't last as long as they do now due to the oils and materials available at the time and you're about at the point recommended for a "major tune up' which covers what I mentioned. Before throwing a lot of money away, do a proper compression test first of all. With the heads off to do the valves you can see if there is any significant cylinder ridge. That can tell you a lot. With good compression and a finely tuned ignition system you should have all the power you need for every day use.
I had a '50 Business Coupe and I presently have a '51 Club Coupe. Both were very mildly souped up with headers and duals. Both of them had the stock 3.73 rears and period tires. Both like to run. While not "neck snapping performance, both had that steady pull. You can tell it's a V8. The engine was massively overfilled with oil and run for a bit, so the head-gaskets blew... Yikes! This could be hydro-lock and it can do damage, but it could be something much worse. If the head gaskets blew or the block is cracked, water could have filled the engine displacing the oil into the cylinders. In other words, it could be a crack that caused this. Was there water in the oil? If lots of water then oil came out of the oil drain plug, this is bad Ju-Ju. Have you changed the oil and Head Gaskets? Is the engine running now? Have you done a compression check? Has the engine been timed? You time then straight up...Pointer on the crank dot at low idle. These can be really sensitive to point gap. With all that said, tuned up it should decent performance even with the single exhaust. Gear ratio can have a play in this. 6cylinder cars and overdrive came with 4.11 gears. These will be snappy down low but they will top out quick. To answer your question.... After the engine is tuned up and running well, these are the steps to hop-up a late flathead (8BA)... 1. headers and dual exhaust...this is a pretty big improvement 2. more compression, either aftermarket heads or stock heads milled 3. A mechanical advance distributor. Before you add carburetors, you have to change to a mechanical advance. 4. Induction 2x2s do well but as said, the distributor issue. A small 4bbl does good too. 5. Camshaft to take advantage of compression and induction. 6. 4" crank... 7. bored out... 8. Ported and polished 9. 3x2s.... Some of these can be skipped but #3 cannot be skipped.
I agree with F-one. A lot of performance can be gained by converting to dual exhaust with free flowing mufflers and high compression heads. Compression is key to making horse power. A relatively inexpensive and easy way to go. I have never had any issues with the stock distributor when making these two changes. As mentioned, point dwell and correct timing is critical to getting the best out of these things.
So, I completely flushed all the oil, there was no water in the oil at all... I compressions checked as well and each cylinder is running about 90. This was 6 months ago, and the car has been running fairly well until about a week ago when white smoke began to spew out of the tail pipe...
I'm glad you mentioned that...now. I agree with F-one as well. Unless you're into looks, mill the factory heads.
White smoke, eh? I think you have a bad head gasket if the smoke (steam?) is heavy. White smoke can come out when the engine and outside temperature are cold due to condensation but should clear up as the engine and exhaust system get warm. If it is oil smoke it normally wouldn't happen suddenly but should start small and gradually get worse.
It sounds like you may have a sick engine. Don't panic. It could be a lot of things. It could be nothing... Here is a quick and dirty diagnostic test... When the engine is cold and not running, open the radiator cap and take a big sniff. You should smell coolant/antifreeze. If you smell a strong odor of gasoline or exhaust, this is a clue.....Ok, with the cap off, crank the engine and let it idle for a few minutes. It may be best to have an assistant here, but you may can see this through the windshield under the open hood or you can stand to the passenger side and pull the throttle directly at the carburetor. Rev the engine up. If it blows coolant out the cap like a volcano...This is another clue. What you are checking for is compression gasses getting into the coolant system. If the coolant smells of gas and blows out an open radiator when the engine is revved, you have a bad head gasket or a crack. Sometimes a bad gasket or crack does not show up during a compression check. White smoke... This could be several things. The simplest is contaminated pipes. Since the engine was overfilled with oil, some of this oil could have contaminated the mufflers and pipes. After a few minutes the pipes gets hot and this starts to cook off. Hopefully this is your issue. Broken rings... The white/blueish, smoke could be from rings letting excess oil into the cylinder. Washed out/cylinders.... If the carburetor is in need of repair, it could be flooding into the engine, washing out the cylinders and contaminating the oil. Lately some of the Ford 94 kits come with the wrong power valve and it dribbles gas causing a rich condition and washing out the cylinders. Condensation in the engine... The engine may have lots of moisture in it. This is common for engines that only run for a few minutes and never get really hot. Over time, a lot of condensation can accumulate. There are other things, but this gets you started. For the contaminated pipes or moisture accumulation.... Simply run the engine. As long as it's not hot and has oil pressure, you should be OK. For the over rich.... Rebuild the carburetor or send it to a really good builder. Rings.... A wet test is squirting a little oil into the cylinder before the test. Do a compression check again. Do a wet and dry compression check. If the compression really jumps up from the wet test, that's rings. Blowing water, with a strong odor of gas in the coolant .... Head gasket or crack. Eventually it will run hot as it will blow all the water out the overflow. As long as it's not filling with gasoline or running hot, I would run it for long sessions to see how it does. P.S. Make sure the oil cap screen is clean and that the road draft tube is clear.
Before I was sure the headgasket waas blown, I rebuilt the carb as well as retimed the engine. It's not running rich and, before the headgaskets blew, I would take the car for at least a 45 minute drive each day, although it was commonly a touring car. I live in Seattle, so I'd take it from island to island in the san juans. I plan on finding some free flowing headers as well as dual exhaust to spice up the sound. So much love is going into this project and this forum is fantastic!
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