Here’s a Question to Ponder.

[Vic Piano]

There has always been a lot of talk (post) on this forum about how to get maximum horsepower performance, etc. out of a Flathead and those post tend to relate to test of speed rather than endurance. While these posts are, without a doubt, very interesting, my questions are simply theses; First, How many of us are building our cars/trucks to race rather than to drive on the street, what’s the ratio? Second; just how “warm” do you want your Flathead(s) to be to drive them regularly? Third; how much so called speed equipment (bolt on) do you regard as “eye candy) over the assumed increase in performance provided?
I've got nothing against racing but my preference is to build our Flatheads "slightly warm" to perform as daily drivers with an occasional long distance road trip, and a little "bling" never hurts. Vic

[36tbird]

Flatheads cry for bling. In my opinion, the 3 prettiest production engines are the flathead, the Y-block and the Chrysler Hemi. Polished up Offys and those kind of racing engines get my eye, too, but they are not production engines.

Bling on a flathead can be as simple as acorn caps and they look great. Kahuna's engine comes to mind.

My current ride is my '36 pickup: 8BA, Muncie, 4 speed, 8" with 3.0 gears. I have a 3 deuce on it but only the center 48 works. Bubba's mechanical advance Chevy with a Petronix sparks it. With that gearing, she is a bit sluggish off the start but it cruises great. I have a 409 Chevy water pump and the block is modified for the full oil filtration system. Cannot remember the cam, but it is a mild one that lifts Johnsons. I plan on optimizing things like trying to add a vacuum advance and she seems to run better with a little bit of choke, so I guess I may need bigger jets. But heck, right now she runs well, sounds loud and seems pretty dependable, not requiring a lot of attention.

[Tinker]

I'm a driver, if I mess with it to much then I'm working on it and not driving it. Like the look of stock heads and even the single carb. Little touches are nice.

Also, I do like the dressed out flathead. I'll probably have to have one someday.

[richard crow]

the more changers you do the worse they run . if you want a good smooth quiet runing flathead leave it stock alm heads are ok three carbs with the two blocked off look good & don,t dround the eng with fuel. put the money in an over drive you get good road driving & milege duel exhaust & headers ok .chevy valves chevy dist. wild cams 80+ bore jobs the gain ain,t worth the pain. jmo i am an old fart

[sanborn]

I may not qualify yet since I am still building my 40 PU; but, I want my flathead to give the impression of "Hey, look at me". So that means a liberal amount of "eye candy" with a good sound.

BTW, how do you like the 409 water pump---I am thinking about the same thing!

[flatjack9]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

I built mine almost 20 years ago. It's a 276 with a Winfield cam and Holley 4 barrel. I used stock heads and then put on a set on aftermarket Thickstun head covers. I have barely touched the engine in all this time. It's in a 39 so the only time you see it is if the hood is open. The engine I'm buiding for my 32 will have more eye candy because it will be more visible with open hood sides. It will also be a lot "nastier" because it will not be driven as often or for any long trips. The engine for my 36 roadster will be a stocker as it is a restoration. So I think I've got all the bases covered. Build it to suit your needs. All my engines will retain the older look with generators and engine driven fans.

[36tbird]

sanborn, I found the 409 set up on the 'bay, nobody else bid, I bought it cheap and on a whim. It is working well but I never ran this engine with a stock set up to compare it to. On the '36 p/u it places the engine fan in the lower 1/3rd so I added an upper pusher electric fan. I added an idler pulley in between the crank and water pump pulleys to ensure belt contact with the water pump because I kept the center mounted alternator. I am thinking of trying a fan mounted on the alternator to place it in the higher original position and do away with the pusher fan. On your '40, it might place it more optimally.

[David J]

In MY EYES this is the perfect flathead . I allowed the biggest help you can give a 33 you intend to drive a bunch - a 34 intake setup . Besides it was already there . I do agree a dressed up flathead is at the top of the list on the neat-o-meter . Equaled only by Boss 429 Fords & 426 Hemi Mopars . Never did a modified flathead so it's time ta shaddup .

[JonC]

I'm building my 59AB not for racing but certainly to make me smile when I put my foot down. The motor may not be the fastest but it does have 3 carbs and nice set of sharp heads L100 cam and is balanced and will have a set of headers with duals to sound good. The tranny is a three on the tree but I do have a quickchange for the underside of the truck, of course it's all pieces right now. The point is racing a flathead is not realistic unless you are willing to tear them down on a regular basis and I am not. However I do like to think it's got some balls when I do get a little foolish at times and maybe look pretty cool in doing it.

[jim1932]

Mine probably don't count cause its a 4 banger, but I would feel the same if it was a v-8. I want to make my car as duarable as possible. I want to be able to drive it from DC to Tahoe (or maybe times Square to Tahoe).

[Mike51Merc]

I never understand the guys who always talk about maximizing HP on flatheads, as if they were going to build a street racer for occasional cruise nights. I can see a few guys building a few for racing, but I believe alot of guys get disappointed with their attempts at high hp, both from dependability and from the end results.

To me, looks and dependability matter. If I wanted a stoplight racer, I'd do an engine swap.

[51 MERC-CT]

Originally Posted by Mike51Merc

I never understand the guys who always talk about maximizing HP on flatheads, as if they were going to build a street racer for occasional cruise nights. I can see a few guys building a few for racing, but I believe alot of guys get disappointed with their attempts at high hp, both from dependability and from the end results.

To me, looks and dependability matter. If I wanted a stoplight racer, I'd do an engine swap.

My sentiments exactly. Good grief, who does anyone expect to beat with all the modifications. Today some 4 cyl. cars with half the displacement are putting out as much and in some cases 2-4 times the HP. (would be embarissing to have your doors blown off by one ) I learned back about 1955 not to waste my time tying to gain HP. Would install all the outside goodies and keep the internals stock for nostalgia's sake.

[Bassman/NZ]

I've had many flatheads over the decades, some in stockers, some in hotrods. All of them have been essentially stock apart from carbs and headers, and the one I've built currently is no exception. However, I once had the opportunity to have a squirt in a 39 coupe set up for racing but still street legal. Man, that thing could honk when the revs got high enough, but it was pretty rude in traffic.
Further to this discussion, I guess it doesn't matter how much torque and hp you're putting out, performance is still limited if you're running the flathead trans and rear, especially the trans with it's inherent slow shifting.
This is as much bling as mine's gonna get.... I'm already getting stick from my hotrod mates for having too much chrome...

[Bill in Al]

Bassman,like you I have the Chrome Dome and now my '41 will get the Chrome Nuts!

[Kahuna]

I built my car with 3 items in mind: Power, Reliability and Economy
POWER: I built the baddest, nastiest flathead I could with a cam that everyone said is too wild, and blah, blah, blah. Yes, I want a stop light racer!
RELIABILITY: I see no reason that a modified car/engine can't be just as reliable as a stock one. I want to be able to drive long distances with out worry.
ECONOMY: My rear axle ratio is 4.11, behind the 4 speed transmission I installed an overdrive that, when engaged, drops that to 3.20

[Pete]

Why is it the ones that know the least about horsepower, reliability and economy are the ones with the biggest mouths??
The sad part is, they seem to gather the biggest following and their drivel becomes gospel.

[2935ford]

I have had a bling'd out 8BA flathead(looked great, ran fair) and now after doing more research I'm after better performance, low maintenance and less $'s involved which means less bling but hopefully suffers nothing in HP for my 59A 276, w/221 heads, 4bbl, Max1 cam and Merc crank. It will be a much more "stock" looking engine but any flathead motor already has the "cool" factor.

[cuzncletus]

There seems to be some kind of automatic mental connect between low horsepower per cubic inch and dependability. This would rule out a lot of small cars with 2 or more HP per inch from seeing over 200,000 miles, which a lot of them do with boring regularity. As bad as gas is these days, it's better than it was in the early 50's. More compression will not compromise durability. Isn't one of the benefits of aluminum heads that they run cooler, the ancient bug-a-boo of flatheads? Metallurgy has certainly improved a lot in the last 60 years. Pistons and rings from aftermarket suppliers would, in my mind, be superior to NOS Ford parts. We've got a better handle on camshaft design and eighty years of experimentation has to have taught us something. Did a good clean up of ports ever hurt an engine? Ignitions are arguably one of the biggest boosts you can give a flathead. Look how far those have come and how much more reliable they are today. Are headers an automatic evil? Many of today's mods are horsepower for free as far as stress on an engine goes.

At a certain point there is going to be a corresponding drop in reliability with an increase in performance. The question is where do we stray out of the grey area. As for Pete's comments, I'll admit I'm new to flatheads but I've put a lot of miles on some fairly strong street engines. I doubt if I've got a following or anyone takes me for the gospel so my drivel should be pretty harmless. But there are some folks on this chatline who don't just talk the talk. Poke and prod some. You'll get them to lay their cards down.

[Kahuna]

Actually, I wish Pete would comment more about a lot of this stuff, because he has a bunch of experience, not only with cams (he ground mine), but a lot of racing also
Jim