Again, if you do decide to build a flathead the 4" Merc stroker crank will add a lot of torque and I have been trying to unload my crank to someone who would appreciate it. If you want a reclaimable 4" Merc crank with rebuildable rods let me know and I will let you have it for less than a new one is from Speedway. By the way, the Speedway catalog shows a lot of parts for flatheads, but I do not know about the quality; it would seem that if you can find a good block (????) the rest of the parts are available. I can throw in a Merc flywheel that can be chopped to your specs too. The main problem is to find a block that is not cracked. As Bob said a lot of the blocks have been bored at least once and then they tend to crack either from core shift or overheating due to rear ratios that were much higher than are used today, 3.78:1 was standard and a lot of street rods routinely used 4.11:1 and as Bob said that overworked the engine. On the other hand, maybe there are still a few high dollar original blocks left from the "French surplus" site, but you could buy a very good crate 383 SBC for less money than one of the French blocks.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder