re build or buy

[demingboy]

Boy I am up against it now. I have a 51 ford 8BA that runs pretty good. only has 60 lbs of compression so I know I am headed for trouble. Two ways I was thinking about going as I believe I have a decent block. One the rebuild parts is about 1700. Other is what I want adding a scat 4 inch crank. The kit they call balanced which includes pistons and rods. Parts here are more towards the 3,000 to 3,500 mark.
Here is my dilema.
I found a motor way far from home that is a merc. Confirmed by crank measure.Has new rings Is still apart and I have seen clear pictures of top and pan rail. Reaaly nice,no cracks from head bolts to cooling passages or anywhere else. Guy is telling me got lucky as crosshatch still visable and no ridge. Plasti-guaged bearings and they showed alomost no wear. 30 over on the pistons.
Sounds like a great deal but I am a liitle worried cause no other new parts. I more or less believe the guy as he is an older race car guy and answers all my questions.
Motor is 3,500.00 plus shipping. I know its a crap shoot and doubting my abilities as a re builder I am leaning towards buying it. Shipping is gonna be another 5 to 6 hundred.
Man these cars can eat money lol. Whatta ya think?

[Hot Rod Reverend]

IMO, I would stay away and build my own. Of course, I am the nut job who just sent a host of parts to Tim McMaster (the Y Block guy) to have my crank, pistons, rods, etc all balanced for a hopped up 312 I am building up. I tend to be the guy that likes to know what I have, and I enjoy the part of the actual build in the garage as well. Paying $3500 plus more for shipping for an engine that you have not even laid a naked eye upon can be a crap shoot for sure.

[craig]

Unless you can get someone to mag the block, I'd stay away. We all know a flathead is famous for cracks and you won't always see them without magnafluxing them

[Ole Don]

Even Magnaflux won't always find the cracks. My 8BA was magnafluxed while I watched, and said to be good. It was decked, bored, had pistons fit, the the seats ground. On exhaust seat on the last cylinder, a crack showed up right through the seat. It was successfully repaired with plugs. I was lucky that day, and had a grin all the way home.

[darrell]

its getting so flatheads really are a thing of the past.a friend last winter thought a set of rings would fix his up.3 blocks later...

[Dobie Gillis]

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Back in the day if your flattie wasn't cracked you had won the lottery. Seems the late blocks were more prone to it than the 59A and earlier. I had one fixed about 30 years ago, same issue; a crack through an exhaust valve seat and down into the cylinder about 3/4". A previous owner installed a seat but didn't address the crack.... I took it to a shop that repairs industrial castings and the guy fixed that crack and all the "part number" cracks in the deck between head bolt holes and water holes. Then my machinist sleeved the cylinder. We bored it .080. I sold the car this year after putting tens of thousands of miles on it with no issues. My theory on cracking is that the foundry methods of the time weren't up to today's standards. The guy who fixed the cracks said he found hard spots and soft spots when he drilled for plugs. That suggests that the alloy (pretty much just plain 'ol gray cast iron) wasn't mixed very well before it was pored into the mold. The "hard" and "soft" spots expand and contract at different rates and amounts, promoting cracking. Think of it as Ford's internal stress relief mechanism. Most cracks are repairable, about the only ones that condemn a block are in the main bearing webs.

Here's a pretty good vid on the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7dDZgflHKw

[rotorwrench]

Nodular iron wasn't widely used to the mid 1950s so the flathead V8s missed out on improvements like that. The ones made by the French for the SUMB military trucks were the only ones that had the good casting technology in them. Tod Buttermore has been working some on a replacement flathead block but he is still busy with the model A blocks & heads lately.

Any 8BA family block will work. I still see used Mercury cranks out there. I paid $200 for the last one I bought. The crank and the pistons are the only thing that makes them a 255. A person can find the oil pan and clutch housings out there. The EAB cam is as good as any for a torque motor to drive around on the street. Scat cranks are pricy. The manifold can be altered for GM style 2GC carb or aftermarket types are out there for any carb a person wants. $3500 skins should by a good running engine. I wouldn't pay that much for one that's an unknown.

[Dobie Gillis]

Motor City Flathead was involved in a project to cast new blocks with some improvements. They did produce one prototype aluminum block and put it in a '34 coupe which showed up at Honest Charlie's Speed Shop in Chattanooga (Coker Tire). This was years ago and I've heard nothing since. Motor City is no longer in business.

[rotorwrench]

If anyone can do it it would be Tod. He made some new 351 Cleveland 335 blocks and sold the patterns to another outfit so he could concentrate on the older stuff. He's already made high compression heads for the model As and has a model A engine out there running with one of his cast iron blocks. I just hope he gets to the V8 at some point. He is still building up his foundry and machine equipment to what he needs. Many have tried and not succeeded to get production going on a flathead V8 block.