Thread: High Power Flathead

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"Spend so much money to go so slow", dumbest thing I've heard in a long time.[/QUOTE]

Really? Well let me try to un-dumb it for you a little then. To build a really right flathead (not just one with some aluminum heads, a couple of strombergs, and some hometown machine work) you are going to have a minimum of $ 4K in the motor and more like $ 5K+. Toss a blower on top and the price goes up from there. For that expenditure you end up with an engine that pulls about as strong as a good running 283 Chevy, maybe a little better with the huffer on top. So from a dollars per hp perspective they don't make sense.

On the other side of the coin I "get" why people build them. In fact we have 2 flatheads laying on the shop floor waiting for some future projects, a 46 and a 49. I love em. But I also realize I will have to box them up, ship them to someone like H and H who knows these motors, and spend a few dollars to have them done right. For that money I won't be getting a monster. Oh sure, it will pull darned good for a flathead and the troops will love seeing it at rod runs, but if I wanted torque I would spend my dollars on some OHV that would give more return on my investment.

That's all I am saying. There was a reason most of us older guys grew up yanking flatheads out of 50 Fords and shoving everything from Olds to early hemis in them...........we learned we could get more bang for the buck with the newer motors and get HP numbers the flathead could never attain.

Don

Just to add to Pops comment, in 1966 my car building buddy was putting together a '36 Ford pickup. We went to our friendly local junk yard in Victorville hoping to find a decent flatty (cause they were CHEAP, we were in the Air Force not making much $, and it would be a bolt in). Our buddy behind the counter said "I've got just what you need" and took us into the back room. There in a couple crates was a freshly machined 59ab block, crank, and all the new parts to put it together. Oh, and a pie tin blower to boot.......................$25! There just wasn't a market for that stuff then.

At Bonneville a couple montha ago was talking to a guy with a sweet little 'liner that used to run a flathead V8. It now has a Nissan V6. The guy said he just couldn't afford to build enough horsepower into a flatty any more. The cycle continues........