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