[Patterg2003]

F1 thanks. It is good to know what you paid. I have a 40 Ford & I am investigating building an 8CM 276 flathead.

I was asking about the Canadian heads as some are different & may have better compression. I saw a set of Cdn Mercury C8CM-B aluminum heads & was questioning if the C8CM-C are aluminum. Some of the aluminum heads had higher compression but that may have been just with Ford and not Mercury's. The only way to confirm if the crank is a 4" stroke would be to open it to determine the stroke to make sure that it is not a Ford block under all the Mercury parts.

There is a some thought that the Cdn blocks may have better metal. The odds of a Cdn block being cracked is still high.

The Mercury has features similar to Ford 8RT truck engine in that it has a bell housing that can be adapted to other transmissions, has rear oil sump & with the bonus of the 4" stroke. The Mercury has all the parts to be a good start towards a 276. The only way to be sure of the crank is to pull a head to measure the stroke. A head with compression would be too lucky.

It is too easy to spend a lot of money looking for a good block if it takes buying 2 or 3 to find a builder. Flatheads are expensive enough to rebuild w/o spending a lot up front to find one.

Glenn