I've got about a dozen other Flathead books, most of which are long out of print. But, I can't hardly wait for this one. Should be really good! I pre-ordered it about a month ago from Amazon, and it won't be out for a couple more months. What I noticed though, is the book due out in August is by Mike Herman & Tony Thacker. But, another book with a publication date of about a year ago, was written by Mike Herman & Kirk Jones. I can't see Mike publishing two books on the very same subject, and I can't find the older book available anywhere. Anybody have any other details? I know Mike and Kirk are on the board...maybe they'll chime in too.
bad enough messing with motors with half the valvetrain missing, now you want them with half the pistons and rods gone??
Yeah, almost exactly the same. The Herman book is 'How To Rebuild & Modify Ford Flathead Engines' and the Bishop/Tardel book is 'How To Rebuild & Modify Ford Flathead V8 Engines'. Different publisher. I have that book too. It's a good one.
Got it in the mail a week ago, and I just finished it. Highly detailed inspection, teardown, and rebuild of a mostly stock 8BA. All color pictures! Plus hi-lites of the rebuild of the Flathead in Ray Evernham's 'Woody Lee T'. Good read!
It's mostly on 8BA except for some history. Treatment of machining work is excellent, and of course most procedures apply to earlier engines so still useful for traditional hotrods. Modification not discussed very much, editing was a bit sloppy...some pics seem to have the wrong caption, some history a bit muddled, but emphasis on the machining decisions and operations is a very useful addition to the literature. Still reading it. For desert island library, I would likely go with Ol Ron's (Ron Halleran) book for the text and the Bishop/Tardel book for the astoundingly well photographed porting instructions, endless good pics in general, and emphasis on the hotrod 59. Ron's book contains a more compact mass of information backed by experience than anything else, but it was written so long ago on such a low budget that the illustrations are downright wretched. It may be the onliest one that really covers both overhaul and hopping well. There are a bunch of flathead books now on the market, a number of early ones available in reprint, and some great old magazine articles like Don Franciso's 3 part flathead builds in 1951 and in 1956 in HRM. You really cannot have too much information, especially when you realize there are different schools of thought on what is useful for rodding.
BRUCE LANCASTER: "There are a bunch of flathead books now on the market, a number of early ones available in reprint, and some great old magazine articles like Don Franciso's 3 part flathead builds in 1951 and in 1956 in HRM. You really cannot have too much information, especially when you realize there are different schools of thought on what is useful for rodding." I agree the Tardel/Bishop book is very good. The Frank Oddo book is too. Joe Abbin has three books out now. A Ford & Merc rebuilder's guide, a performance book with street and race combinations, and one on blown Flatheads. I haven't seen the Ron Holleran book, I'll have to check it out.
Ron's book is the most compact and full book there is...covers enough to rebuild one, covers basic rodding. Pictures were mediocre, now they are worse because of reprint process...so Bishop Tardel really helps, as well as being a great book on its own.
The Jalopy Journal
