I was wondering from those who have or had a Ford Flattie, whats the ones to look for, ones to stay away from,common problems, easiest hop-up's what to spend money on and what not to spend it on.It's going in a 28 A Sport Coupe, with a 47 ford trans and Tourque Tube Rear. We have a 70's sbc and adapter for the trans but was looking for something a little more vintage, it seems the sbc would be the easiest but nothing worth while is ever easy, or so I'm told....Why are we using the other parts listed its because its what we have.....
Quick of it...(do a search too) 59A's and 8BA engines are the most desirable. (24 bolt heads) these have affordable speed parts and improved internals. get ready to spend alot of money to rebuild one. Be very careful even buying a used one that runs let alone one that doesnt. They are prone to cracks and many will run hot due to corrosion. Lots more info but your search will help. You have alot to read and learn on thes engines. We all do>
What Petejoe says. If you don't mind getting dirt under your finger nails, and living on bread and water to afford to pay for parts, then go for it. From experience you need to really have a good look at used parts - speed parts can be anything from a month to 60+ years old, and some of it shows it. But a nicely built flathead is a thing of beauty, and will get across country at a rate where you get to enjoy the scenery!
And a smallblock Chevy is far more likely to break that trans or rear than a flathead ;-) Go to http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_home.htm for most of the information you need to identify parts.
1. get a good block 2. get a good block 3. get a machine shop who understands flatties 4. don't buy cheap repop parts - buy the good stuff 5. get a good block 6. be prepared to spend in excess of $5000 before you can lite it off. No matter what ANYONE sez, flatties tended to wear out rather quickly back in the day (60,000 miles to a full rebuild) and late flatties tend to not like undleaded fuel, so burned/warped valves are pretty common. The likelihood of finding a good runner is pretty slim, so bet on a full rebuild. I've just finished one, and it took two blocks to find a good one (ive heard the average is three) and the machine work alone was $1200 - without new valve seats or align boring of the crank. If I'd gone whole hog, the machining bill would have pushed $2000. Flatties are cool as hell - but they ain't ceap to build. Take the cost of an SBC build and multiply by 2.5...
Yhea I've been searching and reading ALOT about these for a long time, just it seems that all I have seen seems to be about the upgrades and such, which is fine if you have one. But this is the stuff that alot of the posts/articles don't tell is what to look for when buying one, what to avoid and such. I think what I might do is put the sbc in with a multi-pot intake and this bitchin set of torque tube headers I built for now, and keep a good eye out for a block and go from there, cause if I'm gonna throw money(seems like lots of money) I wanna do it right.I usually don't scrimp on my engines when I build them, learned this lesson the hard way along time ago.Thanks for the input, guys great stuff as always....
Most importantly though above all be patient. Be prepared to learn, don't be afraid to ask questions. Make friends with lots of old timers, you are going to need them. It is going to overheat at the worst moments but try to keep your cool. I mentioned this post to Whiskeyrunner (one of my flathead heros) and his quote was "they are fussy". He drives a 21 stud nearly everyday.
The 1952 & 1953 flatheads (EAB's and EAC's) did not have the hardened valve seat inserts like the earlier engines. This causes problems with the modern unleaded gas. You can get new hardened inserts put in but the machine work gets expensive (at least for me). I just find it easier to find skip these models and go with a pre 1952.
Super! Thanks guys for all the help...I'm learning more and more everyday about these engines. I just wanted to get 1st hand info. Great stuff Thanks Again, Ryan
dont mean to hijack but I just bought a 52 shortblock. how do i tell if it was upgraded with the hardned valve seat inserts? guy i got it from didnt know alot about it
I just bought a 40' 346 Cadillac flathead. The cost to rebuild could be anywhere from 3-5k for a stock motor. There is no speed equipment available and its the smoothest running flathead made. Most oldtimers have told me most problems are cooling "buy a 5 core radiator" It don't have to be a ford to look killer and run great
No need to worry!,get the cam and valves set up correctly to start with.Then when runniing use as good a quality of gas as possible( no alcho etc ) and to every 100 liters of gas ..add 1 liter of ATF. yes,thats right! auto trans fluid. I first heard about this years ago.In Europe there are lots of seriously expensive old cars ( Mercedes ,Ferrari ,maserati etc ) that don't get used enough and the ATF keeps the valve seats ,combustion chambers, etc really clean.It burns clean and you won't notice anything apart from the fact the engine will run longer between valve jobs. You'll notice that if a flatty is parked up for a while, the valves stick.The ATF stops any of that.When oil change times come,I put 250mls in the sump,do about 150 miles of running then change the oil.the oil stays cleaner longer because there are no residual deposits of shit laying in the sump to contaminate the new oil.In fact I did this to an engine lately which had been sitting for a while but ran OK.The oil was jet black ,next change it was cleaner.By the third change 5000 miles later, it was still brown and almost clear.And no,it won't damage bearings etc ,afterall it doesn't do that in a tranny does it?
The myth of unleaded fuel burning exhaust valves is overstated. I've run both overheads & flatheads w/o hardened seats for ages on unleaded fuel (since 1980 when it became unobtainable in the states) w/o any issues whatsoever. No sunken seats, no burned valves/seats, no worn guides - nothing. Long hard miles too. But...it's like trying to tell someone which oil to use....like changing a religion.
can you put a turbo 400 trans behind a 47 flat head? im thinkin not caus of the casted bell housing. any help would be cool
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