I've asked some of the guys I work with and I get the same reaction like on here. I've even been offered an LS2 to put in it.
How about a Y-Block if you want to keep it all Ford? Still more $$$ than a Chevy, but cheaper than the flatty. A well dressed early small block, a generator and a clutch fan, no alternator or electric fan crap, and your car will be just like they were "back in the day". Here's a couple threads to look at by JeffreyJames; http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=416175 This one starts right off with flathead pics, but there are lots of others. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=483165 I'm not knocking the flathead at all, I love 'em, but if you are on any type of budget, you may have to save up a LONG time before you can go cruising. I have three flatheads, a Y block, and an early Hemi, all on the back burner because the half dozen or so SBCs I have are just too affordable to not use now. I have a nice intake with six Holley 94s to fit SBC I have planned for my T roadster; how would something like that look under the hood of your car?
you have soo many options, keep the flathead in the garage, dont just toss it or sell it, you never know when you'll have extra money to get it rebuilt?
That wouldn't be the way to go unless you plan to keep the hood shut(those plastic engine top covers are pretty ugly), and spend a fair amount of $$$ sorting out the computer and all that bullshit. It would run great and get good mileage, however. But a lot of hassle.
Get your car running on a budget, then slowly work on the flatty. Buy a part every payday or so. It may take years, but someday you'll have a nice flathead to put in a lightweight hot rod.
i dont know how it is in the land down under, but in southern california you can find sbc cheap, and there are a lot of them around here.
What the fuck are you talking about? I've put hundreds of thousands of miles on Chevy small blocks, never worn down a cam lobe. I'd put an aftermarket performance cam in there anyway. Never had one smoke before 100,000+ miles. And no consistently throwing money at them either. Maybe you got a lemon? If you can get as much power per dollar out of a flathead as a 283 or 327, please show me how, I'd love to rebuild one of mine for that kind of money.
Hell, I have a $1000 '87 Chevy pickup with a leaky radiator and bad temp gauge. I overheated it several times(my own fault), to the point where it flat stopped running on the freeway. Towed it home, filled it back with water and drove it again. It had water running out the cracked head when I drove it into the garage to replace the engine. Another one, '77 GMC, beat 350 who knows what year, my bosses 18 year old son over revved the shit out of it, broke a piston and bent 5 valves. It was still driving(not very well) when the engine was replaced. These were extremely abused high milage work trucks, not freshly rebuilt, well maintained high performance pride and joy vehicles. It's very hard to kill a small block Chevy, I(and many of my friends)know first hand. And if you can kill one, it's no big deal, there are millions of them, affordable and powerfull. That's why they took over hot rodding in '55.
yea i dont know what he's talking about sbc sucking so bad? all the ones i have had have lived for a longtime. shit my old boss was to fucken cheap to change the oil in one work truck. the thing had 200,000 miles and it wouldnt quit! my buddy bill sold his old shop truck to on of his workers, it had 350,000 miles on it, and its still running today! its the guys daily driver to and from work.
Small block Ford is too late model for my taste. Not as pretty, no vintage speed parts, less bang-for-buck than SBC.
I think if it were me I'd go ahead and pull the flatty out and see exactly what it needs. Yes they can be pricey to build but not always. Then consider the time and labor to change over to any other motor as opposed to an R&I of the flatty, they (not original to car engines) seldom just bolt in, there are typically motor mount issues, oil pan clearance issues, amongst other things to be worked out. There is a chance your flatty might not need alot of expensive machine work and parts. Its at least worth checking into you said yourself its gotta come out anyways.
Are you sure you even need to pull it? Is it locked up, have you tried to put a breaker bar on the crank pulley and turn it by hand? Shit, you may get lucky, and get it running while still in the car. Stranger things have happened.
Flatheads are cool but expensive. If its bang for buck a flathead will not be the right choice. What about a y-block or a MEL ?
Your responses show restraint and thought regarding the all too often argument of flattie vs. sbc (or any other OHV v-8). Thanks for not being so narrow minded your thinking is clouded.
I still have my flathead in my 53 ford mainline. It was rebuilt about 15 years ago and i have driven the crap out of it it has a 3 speed with overdrive transmission from a 70's ford van and the stock rear. It just loves the highway and cruises along at 70-80mph with no problems. We took it on our honeymoon to the poconos in Pa. I actually broke the speedometer on that trip. I have never had to do a thing to it. It has never over heated even on the hottest of days and all you have to do is click the key for a second and it fires up all the time.
Put an OHV of your choice in it and drive the hell out of it. They have been building 50 Merc's with SBC in them since the 50's!! Save the Flatty for another project when you have some extra cash or sell it off to pay for the SBC. Bob
Hi.If it was my 50 Merc and I´d want to customize or hot rod it in a traditional manner I´d look out for a nice early 283 and go for 301 cui, 4speed , 3 to 6 carb setup or maybe a 331 or 354 Hemi. All engines will cost money to build. If I wanted a stocker,I´d rebuild the flatty to stock specifications and enjoy a nice cruiser. Anyway, if you decide go the OHV route ,then I´d save your Merc flatty for your future hoodless roadster project, hahaha.... it´s never too early to start a new project Chris
Real hotrodders in the 50's put Olds or caddy motors in their customs .Racers used small blocks, when they blew up you could replace'em cheap. Flathead with a T-5 out of a Ranger.
Well documented pros and cons of a flathead ford, and small blk chev for that matter. inexpensive-accessible-making decent power-somewhat traditional in this application=Small Blk Chev expensive-potentially cracked-no neck snapping power-very traditional=Flathead Ford. I like Cadillac, Nailhead, or Olds for this application. Choice=Yours
I thought the backbone of hotrodding was making what you had go faster, mostly by scrapping up every penny you could find and spending it on the car. Sometimes that was a little and sometimes it was a lot. Larry T
A Flathead will never win a horsepower-per-dollar contest. Are you really going to need or use lots of horses? For what, street racing? I also know that if I swap a high HP mill into a 60+ yr old car, I'll end up in some kind of trouble sooner or later. "Bang for the buck" can mean different things to different people. I don't race my Flattie, I cruise it. It has plenty of power to run with modern traffic, including cruising at 75-80 on the interstate. It runs smoothly, needs very little maintenance, and I'd consider it reliable even in the long term. It has great looks and a sound that is undeniably second to none. Bang for buck= priceless.
Flatheads look cool, no doubt, but they are ancient technology. Spend a fortune on the flattie to improve its performance and you might get 150 - 175 horsepower out of a radical but streetable engine. A stock 1959 Chevy 283 with a 2-barrel carb put out 195 reliable mild-mannered hp. A decent set of heads and more carburetion easily puts it in 250 + range. Same with 289 and 302 Ford small-blocks. If you plan on running power steering or A/C in the future, the later model engine is a better choice regardless of cost. Even the most famous custom Mercury of all time, the Hirohata Merc, had a later model OHV engine...
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