Thread: Vintage '32 Ford Highboy

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NTL: Congratulations on finding a good flathead block. My dream is/was similar, but I bought three flathead blocks that all turned out to be cracked in one way or another. Then I have had to take a low buck approach and settled on a '29 instead of a '32, then my wife said I had to have fenders and then I settled on a SBC 350 instead of a 383. The compromises go on and on and "there are a lot of compromises on the road to my horizon", but I am not quitting on my roadster quest. The "C-4" is a Ford automatic trans for which Speedway has adapters; there is also a larger, sturdier C-6 from Ford. Before I gave up on flatheads I had a rebuilt '39 Ford three speed and I believe that for a pretty price new Zephyr gears are still available (see adds in Street Rodder), BUT(!) since I recall breaking several Ford three speeds with just a mild 59AB in a '47 convertible, why build up a strong engine that will just break a stock transmission; so if your clutch leg is still good (I had a left hamstring pull two years ago that converted me to an AT!) you can look into some of the non-Ford 4/5-speed stick shifts. I am writing mainly to alert you to the fact that I have a 4" Merc stroker crank with rebuildable rods, used standard pistons (3 3/16") and a flywheel I am trying to sell to a flathead fan for $250 plus shipping, but maybe you already have a 4" crank. In studying the SBC literature following my retirement 15 months ago I failed to realize that you have to gear them down a bit due to the shorter stroke. Even the 383 has only the stock stroke of a 59AB so the 4" stroke gives more torque at low rpm, say below 1500 rpm when the AT torque converter is just starting to catch hold with the SBC 350. Thus one might think that you should use a 4.11 rear gear with the 350, but actually the Camaro people are quite content with 3.42 rear gears and I am going to try to run a 2.79 rear gear for a while to give it a try. What I am trying to say is that the thinking about rpm range and gearing that I used to think about and maybe you are familiar with is different if you go with a C-4 or C-6, but of course a 4-speed stick shift should be good for mileage as well as better control if you like the clutch action. Well just chatting. I am a little disappointed that I am ending up with a mild SBC-350 due to financial limitations and a reliable, but inefficient, TH350 trans. Actually the modern rodders say that with a power brake in a Model-A frame there is no room for a clutch linkage under the floor. Maybe the '32 has more room for both brake and clutch and of course there are firewall mounts for the clutch or hydraulic clutch linkages. Well let me finish by saying that there are several true experts available on this Forum and they have been quite helpful to me, at this point I think I will need more info from this site to complete my '29.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder