$10,000 flathead??

Jimmy Stevens built and tunes the EFI flathead in the Costella - Yacoucci - Pappas - Stevens car, their goal is to ultimately go over 300 with a turbo.

Probably a bit over $10K in parts and $300k+ in labor spent by pop to develop this power over the years, first in his record holding street roadster (pic) and now the EFI in the Streamliner(which will be running at the Bonneville '08 World Finals).

 

I have quietly been collecting parts to build a stout 276ci. flat motor.

Some stuff I bought for 1/2 price when guys realized what it was going to cost them to build the same motor.

Ex: Weber flywheel for $150. Doug King main caps for $50. Bearings: real cheap. Ross pistons on E-bay, equally cheap. Hi-flow top notch SBC valves, Merc. crank: free You get the point

I've also bought Navarro stuff from Barney in the early '90's.

I've learned a lot from guys like Barney Navarro, Tony Barron & other not as famous but equally as importnat guys on this board and Fordbarn and will be finally building (what I'm pretty sure) will be a 180+ street motor.

If you are not in a rush, you can collect the parts and save yourself some coin.

If you need the motor tomorrow, you are going to pay what ever retail is.

Flathead are the only choice in for a hot rod motor (IMHO of course).

Keep your eyes open and beat the bushes. The stuff is out there if you can wait it out.

If not, it is money well spent.

Keep 'um runnin'!

 

Damn, I have some seriously exotic engines - none of them Ford flathead and I guess in retrospect I got off real cheap. But then again I did buy them in the 1990s before this hobby got to be such a cubic $$$ pissing contest.

If you want a high dollar flathead, ask Art Chrisman to build you one - beautiful work, but his prices $$$$care me.

I agree with 5window on the street po$er/gold chainer front. But when it comes to racing the gloves are off and it is an entirely different game. The old racing adage is "How fast do you wanna go - how much money you got?" and Bluto is absolutely spot on - the last 2% costs as much or more than the entire first 98%.

 

I don't get the point of an EFI flathead. What's the point of using a 70 year old engine, and putting modern gee-wizz technology on it? The bragging rights would be to have all pre-muscle car era parts and build more power than the next guy.

 

I guess the point to why I'm building a supercharged port injected flat head is the same one that makes any hotroder build anything from a dumpy ratrod to a classic 32 roadster. I just wanna do it.

 

There's not a lot of things I just sit and watch while keeping quiet but this whole post did............For a while

 

This one was done by H&H that we put back in an old race car.
300 reliable hp. Fun.
Wil
www.sakowskimotors.com
LA / Wilmington N.C.

 

In the end I decided that this was the engine for me, so hopefully very soon it'll be on the high seas bound for Blighty!
As soon as I get it, it'll be of for a bit of dyno testing to see what fuel it will reliably run on (10:1 compression, still not sure about av gas) and what sort of horse power it'll pump out.
I'll post again when I know a little more and thanks for all the help so far!!

 

Theres an Ardun for sale in Sweden for $25000
http://www.blocket.se/vi/17591457.htm?ca=23_9_s

Lars

 

Do a search about av gas, there was something recently about it that explained the chemistry etc. It's really for planes for a reason and there's more to fuel than an octane figure. Good luck with the engine.

 

M

Your gona need all the HP you've got get up 'that' hill

Keith

 

I think some here need to remember we are still talking 'racing'

 

Very good point. I've often thought we (folks that love to nostalgia race) are a bunch of idiots. We could all just go buy a Hondas with nitrous for less and almost no work, but we dont. You can buy a set of highly superior Vortec heads for less than a set of camel humps, but we dont. So your logic is sound and should be followed by any logical person, but thankfully won't be.

 

Also a very good point. I get asked all the time how much horsepower the flathead in my roadster makes. And my stock answer is; "I have no idea. If I was concerned with horsepower, I wouldn't be running a flathead."

It's not about the steak, it's about the sizzle.

 

We have no where near $10k in our motor; but of course we built it over 10 years ago. Why did we build a flathead - one turn of the key says it all. Some of you have probably heard our car; all you have to do it look at the smiles on people's face when they hear a good sounding flathead - there's a lot of motors out there, but nothing that sounds like a well-built flathead!!

 

This logic escapes me. Don't you know that the first guy who showed up at the lake with a 21 stud A V8 was using the "Latest gee-wizz technology"? As was the first Model T with an OHV conversion. So just what's your point?

 

Must be the nostalgia racing guys don't watch the classifieds I've had a flattie on there built by Clay Smith originally in the late '40s for a hydroplane ( drhotrodmd has a video of it running on here ) it's priced way south of $10 k and have had almost no interest.

 

Anybody want to guess on how much is invested in this one?

 

Back then the flathead was all they had. I'm just saying, if you're gonna use electronics and all that, why not use a late model block and heads, instead of limiting yourself with the weakest link in the chain, i.e. the outdated design of the flathead.

 

In the case of Ron Main, he wanted to have the first Flathead to go 300. In the case of Rick, he wants to have a flathead faster than Ron. Isn't this pretty much the same as it's always been? If you don't get it that's proubably why your not out there doing it with them. Hardly anyone is. Not me.

 

Buy one of the new alluminum blocks. That would eat most if not all of your 10k I bet.

 

I can't believe that no one has mentioned Vern Tardel!! Windsor, CA. Certainly builds some of the best flat heads around and has the keys to the "French block" storage bin so he could certainly build you a great engine. Vern's engine in his Bonneville car made 432 hp at the rear wheels on the Flowmaster dyno last year. I think it is 276 inches with a 6-71 blower on alky. You might want 10,000 pounds and not dollars though.

Rex

 

This thread makes me think that a PHR "Engine Masters" style dyno showdown specifically for Flatheads would be very cool. That would be very telling right there in showing what the real numbers are. I'll throw my hat in the ring I promise. I could'nt hold a candle to most of you guys but it sure would be fun competing! What about it guys?

 

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it all ads up fast

but they are soo cool and sound soo good

 

gary at dutchman fab in new york 631 589 4550 hes real good with flatties

 

Aaron:

You ain't kidding. You've got some rare stuff on that mill. Looks like Tattersfield heads and a (crap, mind fart on the intake-Alexander maybe?).

You've got about $3,500 retail right there alone.

Sounds great.

 

hahah yea . Its got a lot of goodies inside too. . STill not really fast But it sounds awesome with straight pipes out the rear..

Yea the heads are tattersfield BRONZE

 

Fontana makes a 300 horse 4 banger. Runs on Alki

 

When I ever get off my butt & build mine (I've got most of the parts), I'll bet I've got 300HP and well under $10K...we'll see though as it will get dyno-ed - other projects to sort through before the engine.

 

Hey Aaron you still have all the cool stuff lol

"Doc" Parsons