Originally Posted by
Bob Parmenter
Doing a hp/$ calculation on a flathead Ford is never going to be a sensible formula. Choosing to run a flathead is done for emotional reasons..............so open the wallet and let the money fly.
That said, if the 8ba shortblock is actually rebuilt well, with good parts, $1500 is a decent buy. The questions come up that are critical to a flathead. Did they really test the block properly for cracks, did they really clean the water jackets properly to avoid overheating problems later, and are all the parts correct for the block. The .010 boring is a mild cleanup for these, unless really rusted bad inside they can go out to .125 over. A '51 block should have the hardened seats already if that's a concern, the '52-3 didn't. An extra $8500 seems a bit steep to finish it out, but without seeing a bill of materials who knows. There are lots of ways to get the parts to finish it off that won't cost that much, but I don't know what you're going for. If you're shooting for lots of bling, yeah, that's more expensive than paint. It's easy to end up with $1200 or so in a two x two intake system, $600 in heads, $300 in ignition, another $350 or so for a lumpy cam, and so on, so I could see $4k to finish easy, but 85 ? BTW, if you go this route, stay away from Speedy Bill's fake Strombergs.............they don't have a good reputation and aren't that much cheaper than a pair of professionally rebuilt originals, or the very well made reproduction out of England.