New Flathead Engine

[Henry Floored]

By the way another huge improvement would be longer head bolts that reach much deeper down into the block. That, I think, would be a much better head gasket clamping situation.

[Ol' Ron]

I think some minor improvements in the original would be good. A littke more meat in the deck and main bearing area, and maybe a small oil mod for full flow oil internaly. all this inan 8BA style block that fits all. The Mark Kerby block was over kill for a mild street engine.

[Ralph Moore]

I work on heavy trucks, and can tell you there is a major difference in the quality of parts, and the ones from China are crap, yes I've bought China parts for my own daily driver, because that's all that's available, but I would rather spend $ to have Henry's V8 repaired, than buy new Chinese junk.

[Ronnieroadster]

Originally Posted by Ol' Ron

I think some minor improvements in the original would be good. A littke more meat in the deck and main bearing area, and maybe a small oil mod for full flow oil internaly. all this inan 8BA style block that fits all. The Mark Kerby block was over kill for a mild street engine.

Ron your describing the French flathead block its engineered perfectly with a lot more nickel for strength. The bell housing may be the 59A design but what I find is most guys want the 59 block.
Now if someone came across the French patterns that would be a perfect block.

[Ol' Ron]

Ron, yes I know that. I might like 1.6 intakes as well, However the 59 block is not a fit all, where as the 8BA with the Merc or truck bell housing will.
Might want 3 5/16 as standard bore.Then 3 3/8 x 3 3/4 would be a nice inexpensive engine. I guess we can all dream. Take care.

[colin1928]

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[BILL WZOREK]

My Question is this, Did the Chinese come over and say we will cart you Flathead Blocks!
Or did ( IS ) some "AMERICAN" entrepreneur gone to them and say will you cast us some flathead blocks?
The Chinese reply We can and if you are not worried about Quality we can do it real cheap !!!
AMERICAN entrepreneur reply ~ GO 4 IT ~
Who is to blame The AMERICAN that can only see more $$$$$ in his pocket or the Chinese that are trying to get up to speed with the rest of the world and KEEP THERE PEOPLE WORKING.
Either way inferior workmanship is " CRAP "
When a Chinese sends crap our way it sucks!!!
But when an AMERICAN knowingly imports the " CRAP "
It's kind of like getting SH** on by one of our own.
We have to Demand that Quility can be imported & CRAP can sit on the docks.
Remember this is America & if any of us want they can open a U.S.Foundry and produce any and all the Quilty Widgets you want.
I think the last bullet that was shot after the Gerat war was the one the SHOT OUR SELF IN THE FOOT WITH.
saying to buisness NOT IN MY BACK YARD get out AND NEVER COME BACK !!!

[Bored&Stroked]

Originally Posted by Talkwrench

"So I expect we shouldn't use those Scat cranks and eagle rods either. I just put MOPAR disks brakes on my truck everything except the seals came from China, they came from Mexico."

SO true Ron, just cant seem to escape it..
I look at labels where I can, but ..Pfft??!

I agree - part of the problem is our own . . . and even though it pains us to NOT buy American at times, the price/value choices are a bitch.

Lets talk rods: I used to run 21A Ford 'stroker' rods on all my engines - by the time I buy a set, have them refurbished and have them ready to run . . . have about $500 in them. With that said - one still has to know how to set them up and a lot of folks don't. I'm still using them - but I bet I'm one of a few out there?

So along comes all the H-beam style 'Carillo Copy' rods - can buy them any place in town for about $500 . . . so, we buy them and we look the other way as there isn't a reasonable choice that competes, bearings are available for cheap, etc..

I'd love to have Crower, Oliver or Carillo rods in all my engine builds - but we're talking anywhere from 3X to 5X+ the price of SCAT, Eagle, etc.. Hell, I'm in a mental quandary right this moment - just bought a huge cube Arias Hemi/BBC engine to help out a friend (he's going through tough family times - he needed the money and I wanted him to be able to keep his daughter with him). It comes with a brand new set of K1 7.100 inch H-beam rods. Guess what, I'm going to throw them out (sell them) and buy a set of Oliver rods for 3X the price because the K1 rods are not worth betting on for 1000+ horsepower, should never have been purchased for this engine . . . but somebody wanted to save money.

Problem is there is nothing in between that fills the price/value gap - would I pay $900 for a set of 100% USA manufactured Flathead H-beam rods . . . sure would - nobody makes them. I'm left with few choices - unless it is a very high dollar full-out flathead race engine, I can't justify stepping up to custom billet rods for about $2000 and a billet crank for another $3000.

Same with a block - we've been hearing about USA 'new and improved' flathead blocks for the last 10 years . . . nobody has brought one to market, let alone at a reasonable price. So - the door has been left open for competition from ANYPLACE to fill the gap. Would I love it if DART made a true new and improved one that was 'affordable' (would still be $3000 at a minimum) - but how many would they sell?

If somebody manages to cast a nice block in any country, and then we machine it here (with workmanship and quality), at a reasonable price - the professional engine shops and many builders would use it. They'd probably also spend a lot of time trying to ensure it "looked" like a Henry block.

I would LOVE an aluminum flathead block with good ports, thick deck, strong mains, bigger bore . . . would probably save up for awhile just to have one. But, not if it is going to cost $12K for one.

Okay - too much coffee . . . time to head to the shop and check the main bearing clearances on my 32 FlatCab engine, using a 4 1/8 Merc Crank, 21A rods and 42 Ford block. Crap - sure wish it was 330 cubes instead of 284! But then, all I'd do is grenade the Zephyr tranny and banjo rear end sooner . . . so who cares.

B&S

[lonewolf]

Originally Posted by BILL WZOREK

My Question is this, Did the Chinese come over and say we will cart you Flathead Blocks!
Or did ( IS ) some "AMERICAN" entrepreneur gone to them and say will you cast us some flathead blocks?
The Chinese reply We can and if you are not worried about Quality we can do it real cheap !!!
AMERICAN entrepreneur reply ~ GO 4 IT ~
Who is to blame The AMERICAN that can only see more $$$$$ in his pocket or the Chinese that are trying to get up to speed with the rest of the world and KEEP THERE PEOPLE WORKING.
Either way inferior workmanship is " CRAP "
When a Chinese sends crap our way it sucks!!!
But when an AMERICAN knowingly imports the " CRAP "
It's kind of like getting SH** on by one of our own.
We have to Demand that Quility can be imported & CRAP can sit on the docks.
Remember this is America & if any of us want they can open a U.S.Foundry and produce any and all the Quilty Widgets you want.
I think the last bullet that was shot after the Gerat war was the one the SHOT OUR SELF IN THE FOOT WITH.
saying to buisness NOT IN MY BACK YARD get out AND NEVER COME BACK !!!

Well said a perfect example is the CRAFTSMAN tools we all used and loved are all chinese crap that i refuse to buy. If everyone sticks together and refuses to buy chinese crap they would start making more stuff in the us

[Robert Dip]

OK guys.....let's look at this. China crap is out....don't get me going on this subject...been there, done that, mega dollar high performance engine parts are great....IF....you are trying to set a new record at Bonneville ( French blocks are out anyway ) or the magic 1/4 mile. BUT....for most of us, being just a fun hobby and trying not to empty our bank accounts, since the wife controls the finances and keeps giving us the evil eye????....I'd rather take on the challenge of digging up a rusty/dirty Henry block and do what the guys did way back when it was great fun. I know it's always a touchy situation for the professional engine builder, in the fact that he prays for the engine to perform in a reasonable manner for his customer. BUT....what's the fun in buying a 'Crate Flathead’ engine, if it 'ain't real'. YES...the wish list is a mile long on improving this block, BUT...this is not what most of us are made of. Ron Sterbank builds a flatmotor in his home garage, does things to a junk block, re-routes exhaust passages, machines his own heads from a block of aluminum ( he keeps telling me that he is such a lousy machinist ) and has the fastest unblown dragster running Hilborn injectors and some Nitro.. and has a blast doing it. I don’t believe I need a 400 inch flathead producing umteem HP…I just want to have a great engine that sounds the way a flathead does and give me enough torque to chirp the tire a wee bit…..and YES….do not want to granade the L-Z tranny and banjo rear end. Are we having fun yet??

[Henry Floored]

Guys I hear ya'll but tell me if you could buy brand new Ford branded Flathead short block with big cubes and airflow to match for say five grand. Then put your cam of choice in and the pretty external bits that many guys already own, wouldn't you be tempted? Maybe for that special project we all have bouncing around in our heads? I know I'd be interested.

[linechaser32]

1949 ford flathead. Complete carb to pan ,fan to bellhousing $800:.hear it run. Must be picked up. [email protected]

[aussiesteve]

Originally Posted by linechaser32

1949 ford flathead. Complete carb to pan ,fan to bellhousing $800:.hear it run. Must be picked up. [email protected]

Since this is an ad,put it in the classifieds

[Henry Floored]

Well while we stand back hemming and hawing about the idea of a fresh Flathead engine, The recently bankrupt General Motors is conjuring up all sorts of crate and junkyard engines which often find their way into our beloved Ford engine bays. No one complaining about that? Courtesy of our tax dollars I might add. So lets not ever make progress and turn all this business over to Gm.

[Bolts]

Even if they do make an engine I will NEVER buy one. In my opinion, everything made in China is CRAP. Disagree if you want to, but I've had enough of it.

From poison dog food down to poison pork, you can have my share if you want it.

[trevo]

I purchased a single cylinder diesel 5500 watt generator made in China looks great but almost impossible to start if it runs out of fuel, shakes itself to bits, the wiring in the control panel is at least a guage too light, the voltage regulator dies once a year and as it turns out is totally non compliant with any standard, based on this I would never again buy a Chinese engined anything. Chinese flathead blocks got to be kidding must be a joke.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

In 2o -30yrs we won't be able to moan about Chinese quality as I suspect it will be very good. Remember what was said about Jap stuff back in the the dark ages and now their engineering is up with the best in the world if not the best. Did I say 20 to 30 years.....perhaps 40 years....but then most of us will be dead by then so?

GB

[36tbird]

None of you shop at Wal-Mart, right?

[aussiesteve]

Originally Posted by 36tbird

None of you shop at Wal-Mart, right?

Nope,will not step foot in a Walmart due to their business practices,

[Vic Piano]

I'm not a big fan of Chinese made parts for our cars/trucks but, remember that Ford Flatheads were produced in France, Germany, Russia and so on. A lot of the French blocks reside between the frame rails of a bunch of Fords here in the U.S. I think, if the quality control can be assured, the Chinese blocks could be a good thing. Having said that, I would still look for an actual USA Ford built Flathead before I resorted to a Chinese built block, etc.