When is it time for a "SBC"????

Hey now, I never denied being cheap and lazy myself

 

I didn't read every post, but I'm sure someone already mentioned using a Ford 302. I mean, why not keep it all Ford? I'm an AMC/Rambler guy, and manage to keep older ones all AMC related (usually use a 4.0L Jeep six, which is a modified 64 Rambler 232 anyway!). AMC V-8s are getting hard to find in most areas though, but Jeep did use the AMC 360 through 91 in the Grand Waggie.

If that 46 were mine I'd pull a late model 302 from a Mustang or T-bird, EFI and all, and drop that in. Heck, a 4.6L mod motor should fit under that hood!

 

there's nothing like a good running flat head !
I think I have the best one ever

I wish I new who rebuilt it before the customer that bought the 51 merc that only had 500 miles on the rebuild brought it to me for a clip and a 350/350 in the 80`s
he dosen`t know what he missed out on , but I thank him

If you ever see my car with a sbc I am no longer with ya`all

 

Small block chevy!? Of coarse not. You have room for a big block chevy in that. May want to swap the rear end too though

 

When you can't afford the sky high prices of a flathead or hemi!

 

You can break a Chev too. A guy I know had a beat to crap '76 Monte Carlo he was using as a lot car for a while and it threw the rod on the #1 cylinder right out of the oil pan. Still ran and drove, but it was hard to keep oil in it.

I would say if you want a good flathead in your car, instead of just throwing one in, fix the one you have now as others have suggested, then you've been through it and know just what you have. Another used motor is going to be a bunch of potential unknowns. You might not catch every internal metalurgical flaw, but at least once you've been in a motor you have less unknown issues to worry about.

And FWIW, the flattys sound way cooler than the SBC.

 

Agreed. Flattys are cool. they sound like no other but Try and walk into autozone and get a part for it. If you want a driver I say go for it. But definitley try and keep it more traditional looking. You dont want to puke ever time you open the hood

 

Ya know if I'm going to drive it on a dialy basis I'm mpretty much a chebby guy. They really aren't much more dependable than anything else but that's just me.

So let me give you some real world advice.

Doesn't matter if its an SBC or a Rolls or anything in between. If you are running a used mill you're running somebody elses used up crap.

Anything you decide to put in there you should at the very least tear down for inspection first. Then while you got it apart make it right, that may involve nothing more than a gasket set or as much as a complete overhaul. You're throwing 50+ year old motors at a car that you've spent a ton makeing it look good.

The truth is that cosmetics is a buy product of mechanics. Always make it run and handle right then worry about how cool it looks.

Don't take this personal bucause its not, this is just an observation: the majority of rodders spend a ton trying to look cool and never ever consider the mechanical part of the project.
After that you hear you can't drive a flatty powered car or a whatever powered car. or you can't drive a hot rod as a daily when they have never ever made it right to start with.

Anyway getting back to it you can build the flatty and it'll be as dependable as a hammer. The operative word here is build it, its gonna make you dirty but when you're done it will be truly yours.

 

OK, here's my take on the whole deal. Any ford newer than '34 is just too damn heavy for a flathead, IMHO. I'd slap a smallblock [or a caddy] in that heavy beast in a new york second.
Now, that said, send me the remnants of your flathead for my 34.

 

That is what most people forget. Just remember,you are messing with old used engines. Old used engines of any make will have problems. I have changed more sbc's then flatty's.

I say put a new crank and bearings and run it. Then while it is still runing, rebuild a flatty.

 

NEVER My 37 chevy p/u will never have one of those motors in it and its a chevy,if something ever happens to the 235 it will get a 261 but never a sbc.

 

Personally, I've been called "cheap and easy" before... but I like to think of myself as more a "thrifty and accommodating" kind of guy.

But if you're a hot chick, you'd be surprised what a bottle of Mountain Dew and a Papa John's pizza will get you...

~Jason

 

I was talking with povertyflats about this a week or two ago - seems like folks will go for a 30-year-old motor that someone hit with Easy Off and a spray bomb paint job over a totally rebuilt motor in need of paint. Psychology sells, I guess.

I mean, even after you've been totally honest and pointe out that the one is just a "spray bomb rebuild", they'll still go for it.

What is the deal with that?

~Jason

 

All this talk of which motor to use is giving me a headache. Thats it. Im pulling every motor out of all of my cars and im just not going to use motors anymore. That way noone can give me guff about it....... Or maybe ill put my flathead in my 2003 Tahoe........hmmmmm....

 

I heard CVS Pharmacies are now carrying tune up kits for the small blocks.

If you put the chev in it it'll never sound as good as the flatty did though.

 

An old guy at the store I buy my groceries at has a couple of old cars. He always giving me hell, asking when I'm gonna paint my car. We started talking about cars and he whips out some old black and whites. He bought a 58 Chevy new (with the 348 and the tri power). One of his pics is a 31 Ford. What do you think car in the old ass yellowed photo had in it for a powerplant? A small Chevy, and he had this car before he bought the 58 brand new.

 

MacChevies are always the way to go if you want the easy way out, and want to look just like everyone else.

 

Small blocks give the best bang for your buck by far,I will never use a flathead as I can not afford one built as I would want it. Put the small block in and you will go faster, for a lot cheeper.Once its in you will not want to go back.

 

For me, its time for a SBC when I find a flathead in any car I own. Running or not, I can't pull that shit out of my car fast enough and then I sell it cheap just to make sure it goes away.

You can call me a quitter or lazy. I really don't care, its my car. I think flatheads can look and sound cool as long as they are in someone else's car. I don't know a thing about flatheads and I don't want to learn. If someone wants to school me on flatheads, I just stick my fingers in my ears and say "la la la la....." unil you stop. Thats how ignorant I am.

In all seriousness, If I had the money to build a period correct engine, I would rather build an early OHV powerplant such as a Y block, hemi, olds, caddy or nailhead. Spending big dollars on a flathead is like beating a dead horse.

When I installed a SBC in my rx-7, the rotary guys bitched about me not being unique. They all seem to quiet down when a stock 350 blows the doors off of their heavily hopped up rotarys.

 

uh, what was his question again...I think it was something along the lines of making his car reliable for the cheapest amount possible, not doing the most unique, awesome, never done before stroke of genius.
if you've got a sbc readily available and it's the cheapest, most reasonable offer, drop it in and drive the thing without worries. keep your engine with the broken crank and slowly go through the whole thing meticulously and make it like damn near new again. then swap it back in when it's done.

no, someone on here will still be all pissed off at you for not building your own stuff how they want it done. by the way, can I have the engine and trans from your tahoe? I need to replace the toasted 305 and marginal 700r4 in my '56 sedan.

before you guys give me shit because I have to replace a 'broken sbc'...I unknowingly ran the thing without enough coolant and cooked the engine, it was my own stupid fault. that thing has certainly run its' course reliably many times over, I have no idea how it's lived trouble free for 12+ years. I'm either replacing it with another sbc or a used genIII sbc.

 

My latest ride, a 56 Plymouth suburban's engine is very tired. Thought about going the sbc route, but held out and found a rebuilt shortblock I am installing this winter. I am glad I didn't do the sbc, although I love the motor and its ease of build, so many cheap parts and adaptability. Plus since it is a Mopar thought it would be cool to keep it 100%. Nothin cooler that a flatty, had a 44 Ford with a built flatty that ran super and was always reliable!! Your car--your thing. Just get it back on the road and drive it. Good Luck man!!--Sololobo

 

That's why putting a new crank in a otherwise fine engine that the car is already set up for is the way to go.

I don't understand why people think swapping a engine is simpler than just fixing the motor that already fits in the car.

SBC = yawn

Shawn

 

I had a truck with a flat head in it, I yawned a lot driving that thing, I was bored out of mind waiting for that thing to get up to speed. My next truck was a chevy with a 292 inch 6, it seemed like a rocket by comparison.

 

I'll second Shawn's Yawn. SBC... who cares, especially if it's not a GM car.

You work hard hundreds to thousands of hours and then drop a 350 with a 350TH tranny. That power train is a bout exciting as a Briggs and Statton powered lawn mower. Why not invest the same effort under the hood. How many cars have you seen at shows when you look under the hood it's the same as the last 10 you saw? Chrome and polished parts on a SBC and you just gace the engine compartment 4 seconds of your attention.

If one is to transplant an engine of a different manufacturer... classic Hemi in a Model A, 440 in a Falcon, etc. You are moving UP the food chain, not down. Since when is buying reliability the answer.

Well now that I have offended may, my current project is building a 265" Chrysler falthead six, including supercharging, fuel injection, long tube headers and a custom ground cam. Still don't have a final car to plug this into. Maybe I should drop it into a '55 Nomad to balance things out.

N B R

 

Hasent this SBC thing, been beat to death yet?

your car your money

the next guy that says i should run this engine or that engine , gets to build it maintain it and pay for it..

Make mine Chevy powered anyday..

this engine war has been going on forever..let it die.

 

The answer to the original question is; When you're done worrying about what others think about your choice.

Don't ever forget, that the flathead Ford was the SBC of it's day. Unfortunately it's day is over. You can have more HP, and lighter weight with the SBC, and if you choose the 350, rebuilding costs are less. Other SBCs cost a bit more than the 350, and the prices triple when you go for a Flathead, Studebaker, Olds, Nailhead or other ancient motor.

While I like I-6 chevys and I-4s with 5 speeds plenty, my current Studebaker has a 350 Chevy and automatic cause that's what I picked to build it with.

 

let,s see that flathead 6 ? what,s relly boreing are people who talk about whats boreing sbc is the best way to go but there are other ways like putting a hemi in spent all you money so some jerk can say cool

 

I agree and disagree with shawn here. Cheapest fix, replace the crank, then drop in the motor. Most parts availability, SBC. Whether it's boring or not, if I have to be broken down somewhere, even if it's right next to an auto parts store, I dont want to have to order a part for something oddball and wait a week for it to arrive. I want to fix it now. Perhaps while he's driving his patched flathead, he can contemplate his options more. Perhaps build a spare flatty to drop in just in case, or get all the parts he needs to drop in a SBC. No matter what, it's his car, and his qestion had nothing to do with "What motor will make my car cooler?" It was basically "Whats a good, cheap, easy fix thats smart for me now in this situation?" SBC is good and cheap, but not as easy as a crank crop in for an engine that already fits.

Bottom line: what do you want to get out of your car? The answer is whatever you put into it. My .02

 

When is it time for sbc?...when you have a chevy!!!!

Why are you thinking of sbc over small block ford? 302 for econo. 351 windsor for a little more power. Od auto or 5 spd od. 4:11 f0r mileage and perfomance. Sbc and sbf are equal hp, torque and $ but really is yuor choice. Dont let anyone tell you how to do it. Tell them get thier own car.....bob

 

Use a SBC only when you run out of Ideas.