banger, six or flat caddy v8, what should i run?

So ive a little 39 dodge pickup truck thats been turned into a roadster. Ive got the steel for the frame, ford 9" rear end, 40 ford front end, 34 chevy grille, etc. But im still looking for the RIGHT motor for it.

These are cheap, near the same price, thus my options.

1930 model A motor and truck tranny. Runs but smokes black.

a 1954 plymouth flathead six and auto. runs and shifts well.

a 1948 caddy flathead v8, rebuilt 25 years ago and has been sitting, with auto.

 

Caddy flathead, without a doubt. It has the most HP, most torque, and a definite 'cool' factor!

 

I'd stick with MOPAR. The Plymouth 6 is rock solid reliable, and looks old school nifty with some of the speed equipment still floating around out there. Plus it would be something very different from the run of the mill stuff.

 

The cadillac definately isnt something you see very often. Its rebuilt, but never installed and has been sitting for 25 years. I suppose id have to tear it down and put in new gaskets. Im sure the tranny is bad now after sitting that long, so maybe theres an easy tranny adaptor out there.

 

Nother vote for the Caddy.

 

Keep it in the family, I'm for the flathead 6

 

Flathead 6... I think crossbreeding is bad...
Thought about a little hemi?

 

caddy V8. super cool and would be alot more power

 

You can run a Caddy stock 3 speed easily, or Wilcap makes an adapter to a Chevy Automatic, or Ford Fe bellhousing.

How about a huffer on one? Here's a 4-71 intake for a Caddy flathead.

Also, check out Keeper's site, www.flatcaddy.com

For a monster, blown Caddy flathead, check out my build thread:http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=496866

For Cadillac flathead horsepower tricks: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=332457

If you don't go with the Cadillac flathead, I might be interested in it!

.

 

I vote for the caddy 346 because i have one too...they are heavy like 900#lbs heavy...
get the caddy running on a stand and warm it up and see!

 

Caddy V8. Thats my vote. Very cool !

 

My buddy has a dodge straight six with evans aluminum heads and Evans dual intake. That motor turns heads at all the shows. I will see if I can put up some pics.

 

Flatheads Forever, Caddy Hands Down!!!!

 

Sounds great too.

 

Caddy, no doubt...

 

Well it sounds like most here dig the idea of the caddy mill. Its definately a cool looking motor, but i think any hop up parts would be rather expensive for it. I cant get over how awesome that blown caddy looks in that RPU though.

I suppose headers could be fabbed, cams could be ground, all id really need is to eventually find a killer intake for it.

Its just a tough choice for me, theyre all the same price. The A runs but smokes badly, the flat six and auto runs and shifts fine though. The caddy is rebuilt and partially assembled, its just been sitting for 25 years. Which i assume means that it just needs to be tore down, regreased with new gaskets and assembled again.

 

If you don't like the blower intake, you could fab your own.

Here is a stock intake I fabbed into a tri-carb setup, then had Cermachromed.

Second one is a Burrell intake, dressed by Dickster27.

Zibo fabbed a cool set of lakester style headers-search Zibo 40 Ford.

There are more speed parts becoming available for the Caddy everyday.

Of course, you could use the Mopar, and sell me the Caddy!

 

caddy no doubt!!
Buddy..I love that tricarb intake.

today in the shop!
-palle

 

I love the flathead caddy, but put the flat 6 in it.
I did a car a couple years back with the mopar flathead six. definitely cool.
and you can still get parts for them at napa and a couple other places.
turns out that they ran this motor up thru the early 90's in hi-lo.

 

Palle, that's wicked!

I think we may be a bad influence on malaguena! Lol!

 

id love to run the cad flatty, its just cost that worries me.

 

Then run a SBC....

 

Love me some sbc!

 

Well it looks like im running the mopar flat six and auto.

Sorry guys, id love to run the caddy but just cant afford the rebuild right now.

heh, and no chance id be cuaght dead running a sbc.

 

Run the six, save up for the caddy. Of course, if you are like me, you will probably run across another engine you just have to have in the meantime-- I have several engines i had to have, and no home for them yet1

 

No question , flat cad all the way.

 

I am new to this sight, but I love what I am seeing. The more I look the more I discover.

38 Flattie, I have a 1940 72 series formal sedan that I am considering doing up with a blower. There were only 100 made, so I want to do it right and do it different.

Can you help me out with do's, don'ts, necessary prep work to motor when I do it over, any tech information? Frim what I have stumbled over on this site, it looks like you do some pretty cool stuff and have the knowledge to keep me out of trouble.

Should I go with a 371 (I have one available to me) and over dirve it or go with a 471 and underdrive it?

Any ideas / help on an intake and cam?

 

I don't want to hijack this thread, so I'll be brief.

Go with the 4-71. It creates less heat to underdrive a blower than overdrive a blower. Collin makes the nice 4-71 intake, pictured below. You can go with a 4 bbl, 2x2, or tri-power on top of the huffer.

Do at least mild port work, especially on the exhaust-if it breathes better, it will make more power.

Go to a bigger cam-I think something like a Winfield SU-1A, or better yet, a 425 eliminator, like Pete1 grinds. Use solid lifters.

Dual exhaust is a must.

Upgrade to an HEI dizzy. The boost will like a hotter spark.

Instead of the current water pump setup, inject and remove water from both sides of the engine, for better, more even cooling.

Last pics are of my 6-71 blown, inter-cooled, Enderle injected race engine.

 

Caddy hands down!
Cheers.......

 

I see your point on the cost....but when you get the dough go with the Caddy for the cool factor.