Thread: Flathead Newbee Needing Direction!

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thanks for the help

As the guys mentioned, building a flathead is not as straightforward or easy as building almost any other engine. I have a friend named Tony DiCosta, who owned Hot Rod and Custom Supply for years. Tony is one of the best flathead builders around, and built the one for Don Garlits car and the Total Performance T Bucket. Let's just say he knows his stuff.

Tony told me one time out of every 10 blocks he looks at to build, only 1 block will be acceptable because of stress cracks and other problems. Flatheads were known to have some issues, and these led to the early end of a lot of them. Years of sitting hasn't helped the situation either.

Tony had $ 9000.00 in the motor he built for the T bucket, so building one is not cheap. I know flatheads have become the current rage, but if it is any consolation, when the first OHV V8 engines came out, most of us couldn't rip the old flatmotors out fast enough. Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs were replacing flatheads in almost everything you could imagine.

I agree that a dressed flathead is really pretty, but you have to remember you are dealing with 75 year old technology, and they simply aren't as dependable as later engines.

I know some flathead devotees will counter this opinion, and that is ok. I do like them, but just thought all the cards should be on the table for you.


Don

though $9k is way to much for me. i also have read of one being built for under $3k. im not looking to build this high horse power DOHC blown motor. i just would like to try to build a simple one. if only to say that i did it and it would give my truck that old look tha i longed for.

I had to go out earlier and had to sign off but here is some inspiration in a car I saw at last year's Richmond NSRA meet (2005). It is in a very nice fenderless '34 roadster which looked to be steel. Note here this engine uses a triple carb along with an alternator. The old Ford mount for the long generator in front messed up most triple carb installations but with a modern alternator there is more room for three carbs and thus you can install progressive linkage so that the engine runs off the center carb at low throttle but opens all three when you put the pedal to the metal. I think the engine in this picture represents some big bucks but it really looks good. As I see it the only way you can build up a flathead as I said before and others have agreed is to find a good block. All the other parts are expensive but available; it is the good block that is the key ingredient. Maybe it is easier to find a '49-'53 block and I only favored the 59AB because I think the cast bell housing to be stronger. Another problem that you might ask around about was a horrible condition called "clutch chatter" caused by a worn combination of flywheel face, throwout bearing and clutch. Everything could be fine in forward gears but in reverse, especiallly backing up an incline, a worn clutch could go into violent bucking where the whole car would oscillate throughout the drive line and loosen every bolt in the car. This was especially troublesome in a convertible; my '47 would shake your eye teeth out in reverse! All those unpleasantries are gone with an automatic trans, assuming your universal joints are in good condition. Anyway here is a picture of an engine that is just what you want, but I would not be surprised if there was $10K sitting right there. One other thing worth mentioning is that the Ford flathead had only three main bearing webs compared to five in a SBC and there used to be a girdle kit that bolted down over the main bearing caps to add strength but even then probably a modern dose of nitrous or some sort of blower can more easily destroy the bottom end than is the case for a SBC. Frankly, if I had unlimited money I would look for a '55 Dodge Red Ram hemi engine which is similar in size and displacement to the flathead with hemi heads but there were fewer of them built and so harder to find, but that would be my answer to a non-cookie-cutter engine. I say this because the ultimate setup for a flathead would be ARDUN heads (the original hemi heads) and rumor has it that they go for $30,000 or more if you can find a set. There was an engine shown on the FORUM a year or two ago with ARDUN heads but the archive seems to have been messed up somewhat so all you can do is search on "ARDUN" and maybe there will be some pictures of the ARDUN heads. So after seeing that you will understand why a hemi-head Dodge Red Ram engine might be a cheaper engine than an ARDUN-Ford setup. Here is a link to a picture of an ARDUN setup; 175 HP seems small today but to folks of that time most cars were running around 100 HP so a bolt-on 75% increase was fantastic at that time.

http://www.oogabooga.ca/oogaboogapag40.htm

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Where is the picture of the '34 with the flathead? I will try to upload it again. OK there it is, now that is beauty! One other point I notice in this picture is that it looks like there is a dipstick for an auto transmission peeking out there? That would solve any clutch chatter problem.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

you say that this motor cost 10k ! WOW well i guess ill start by just hoping to find a good block and go from there. if any one has any more pics please post thanks