flathead or sbc 350? which do you prefer?

I never owned a flat head and I do not know what makes you happy. I will give you my 2 cents

I had a freind in high school get his flathead running good in his 50 ford panel. He drove that thing pretty regularly. One of the Rolling Bones cars has a flathead in it. It probally has a billion miles. That being said...I do not buy the myth that flat heads suck. I do know that they are more expensive to purchase and build than a small block chevy.

I have a 38 Ford Truck that has a 283, 3 speed and a 40 banjo that I am building. I bought the 283 for cheap, looks good and if I do not beat the crap out of it the banjo will hold up.
The wire wheels are temp. going to run 40 ford steel wheels 7.5x16 at the rear with 5.0x16 up front

 

well, if you think about it, it'll prob cost you about the same amount in machine work, the rest of the parts are all available in many different horsepower producing ranges, and you can mount just about any popular modern transmission to the old flatheads, so my choice would be a reliable old flathead. with the rads out there, you don't have to worry about overheating, all the machine shops install larger modern engine bearings, and the internal parts now a days are all computer design and built with professional knowledge behind them, not as they were back in the day, so again, i'd highly recommend a flathead!

 

In this vote, I vote flathead, you just can't beat the sound/looks of 'em. But there are several other options that have a lot more WOW factor to them than a sbc and are still reliable. There r still a lot of parts out there for Y blocks, nailheads, and caddy engines.

 

I think the biggest factors are preference and what you're going to do with the truck. I just drove back from texas in my 53 merc and it has a 76 ford 302 in it. Fuel pump died and I got one at O'reillys. $23. Back on the road in 15 minutes. Thats what I opt for . Driving it. A lot.

 

327 ATLEAST Why the F does anyone put a 350 in anything? RACE engineering has spacers to put 283 cranks in them to make them 302's......

 

I run my mostly stock 239 Flatty everyday and weekends. It's my daily and pulls around the heavy ass shoebox it's in. Drive it on the highway, in town, everywhere. Stop, go traffic it never goes over 160 degrees. The only reason it's ever let me down was a fuel pump went out. It's driven around 30 miles a day. That's over 200 miles a week. I've had a 350 and I had more problems with that then my Flatty. Not very fast but sure sounds great.

 

Blondes or Brunettes...To me, it's whatever is available at the moment.

 

265 sbc

 

I'm with the Blown Mopar dude.....evrybody has a SBC for a simple reason...they are dependable....nuff said.
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I'm in love with a bitch I can't stand.

 

^Me too^


I thought about a flathead for my model a but I decided I'm not ready to baby the drivetrain. I want a car that makes me feel younger. Not a grumpy old geezer that flames everyone for blowing my flathead powered model a's doors off

 

Couldn't be said any better! Can I use this as my Signature?

x2

 

well you did it. Nice going.

 

Don't install a SBC or your thread will die?

 

I have 350 sitting next to my buid as we speak and thats as far as its going. I chose to stay without valve covers( flathead 6) just to be different. At least I can look under my hood and say it took a little fortitude to stay with a stock eng. I am putting a 9" under to get away from the 513 gears that is an eng. killer , high RPM( 3000 red line)and 40 MPH speed. You can tell at a show who has sbc under the hood, as most wont open the hoods.
A ride with a Flathead doesn't need to do anything-- they all know when you pull up from the sound purring nice and gental--not the chevy with gobs of cheap chrome and billet crap and a want to be fast cheap thump-er cam. remember you stirred it.