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01-21-2021, 11:20 PM | #1 |
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ultimate flathead
volume 50, #2 of "old cars" magazine, just out, contained an interesting article re: an engine put together many years ago and run in a '32 roadster. this was a 239, naturally aspirated with 3 97's and a few after market speed parts. dyno reading was 350 h.p. and rev'd regularly to 10,000 rpms, sometimes all the way to 12k. if you can acquire a copy of this issue, as i say, an interesting story and you can be the judge.
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01-22-2021, 09:54 AM | #2 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
I read that article too, 10,000 on a flathead? Maybe that tach was reading wrong.
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01-22-2021, 10:13 AM | #3 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Somebody had their foot on the dyno beam scale.
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01-22-2021, 10:13 AM | #4 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Anyone selling popcorn? I'll looking forward to the responses about this one...
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01-22-2021, 11:20 AM | #5 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Suspect the key words are in the first post, "this was a 239"
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01-22-2021, 11:41 AM | #6 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
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01-22-2021, 12:32 PM | #7 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Here's the article: https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/featur...ong-haul-deuce
"....Now 10,000 rpm might sound like a lot of fun, but it did present some problems."
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01-22-2021, 12:46 PM | #8 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Getting that kind of RPM's is easy; just use a tachometer for a 4 cylinder engine.
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01-22-2021, 12:51 PM | #9 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
During this time, I once drag raced down Yale Boulevard in Nampa (this was a bout 1963). I tried a full-throttle power shift at 10,000 rpm and the result was a blown clutch, transmission, drive shaft, differential and a broken axle. Witnesses said the front end came off the ground a good 2 feet.
This is part where I stopped reading. I hope this author got an A in their creative writing class. Give me a break... |
01-22-2021, 12:52 PM | #10 |
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01-22-2021, 01:08 PM | #11 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
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01-22-2021, 01:30 PM | #12 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Maybe it's a case of the older I get the faster I was!
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01-22-2021, 01:37 PM | #13 |
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01-22-2021, 02:19 PM | #14 | |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Quote:
The ’55 had an unbuilt 283-cid V-8 so I bought a motor adapter and installed the 283 in my ’32. What a disappointment that was. While I no longer had the heating problem, I had also lost a whole lot of power. It was OK, just not as thrilling as the full-race flathead. Old Cars is usually a very interesting read, but this is ridiculous.
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01-22-2021, 02:35 PM | #15 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Fiction Novel.
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01-22-2021, 02:37 PM | #16 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
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01-22-2021, 02:40 PM | #17 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
.
Give Me A Friggen' Break! DD |
01-22-2021, 02:44 PM | #18 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Tim Ayers: Your comment was fantastic. Liked the 2 feet off the ground.
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01-22-2021, 03:06 PM | #19 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
I guess the old theory about headers not helping performance on a flathead is true. This thing appears to have stock exhaust manifolds.
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01-22-2021, 03:15 PM | #20 |
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01-22-2021, 03:29 PM | #21 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Boy am I glad the guy never raced at Bonneville with so much horsepower and RPM's from that 239 cube flathead the records would be REALLY high and no one would be able to touch them. LMAO
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01-22-2021, 03:30 PM | #22 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
"Was" as in used to be, but now in pieces
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01-22-2021, 04:43 PM | #23 | |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Quote:
Here is a pic of that setup with the tattletale at 9300. Really gets the fans talking after the race. This was a fairly stock 4 banger. |
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01-22-2021, 07:40 PM | #24 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
This is the part of the whimsical story that got my eyes rolling...
"This is a steep hill which goes from sea level to 1500-feet elevation in less than seven miles. I punched the throttle and away we went: 50 mph, then 70 mph, then 90 mph. The numbers stopped at 90 mph but the needle kept climbing around back to 0 again, then 10, 20, and finally 30 mph on the second time around."
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01-22-2021, 07:46 PM | #25 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Sometime after that I was out to Barger-Mattson wrecking yard and found a blown 350-cid Corvette engine in the inventory. I bought the camshaft, heads, distributor, intake manifold and carburetor and commenced to put them on my engine. What a difference in power that made. It still didn’t match up to the flathead I used to have, but it was about 50 percent better than the stock 283. The only problem was that the carburetor was a 750-cfm Quadrajet and while a 350 might handle that, the 283 would not. I ultimately pulled off the intake manifold and carburetor and put a 4GC Rochester in its place, then everything worked like it was supposed to. Later on, I pulled the manifold off again and put a 2GC Rochester carburetor on it as the 2GC was easier to work on than the 4GC. Since I only drive the ’32 about once a year and I don’t do much hot rodding anymore, that is about all I need. When I put the Chevrolet motor in the ’32, I found that, while the flathead with its high revolutions handled the 4.44 differential OK, the 283 did not so, again, I changed differentials and went back to the 3.78 ratio, which the 283 handles OK.
This story is like a car wreck. I can't stop looking at it. This passage is just too good to not share. Even includes the mandatory bench racing equivalent of the cherry on top: The Corvette SBC. Nothing else will do. |
01-22-2021, 08:40 PM | #26 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
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01-22-2021, 08:58 PM | #27 | |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Quote:
One of my favorite Shades stories is when he was driving his '72 SBC powered Chevelle down Rt. 22 in Easton, PA in a race. At 120, he realized he wasn't in fourth. Once he "slammed it" into fourth, he estimates he topped out at 160. I guess this BS works on some folks, but to have such a bullsh*t story published in a magazine is a bit surprising. |
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01-22-2021, 11:28 PM | #28 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Just wondering if it was April 1st? I didn't read the story. You guys provided more than enough info for me.
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01-23-2021, 08:19 AM | #29 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
I read that story and I think he forgot to take his prevagen before he woke up.
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01-23-2021, 10:07 AM | #30 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
My guess, made about 120 HP and started seriously wheezing by about 5000 RPM . . .
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01-23-2021, 02:24 PM | #31 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Just cause it's printed in a magazine doesn't mean it's true.
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01-23-2021, 02:42 PM | #32 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
If BULLSHIT was Money, then this guy is a Billionaire
.
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01-23-2021, 02:55 PM | #33 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Haters gonna hate, I guess.
To the youth reading this, always remember that anything is possible. Heck we even put a man in space only a few years later.
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01-23-2021, 04:11 PM | #34 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Yeah, but it damned-sure weren't with no 12,000 RPM flathead! DD
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01-23-2021, 09:46 PM | #35 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Our strictly strip flathead hit 6,000 on a good day, but made me nervous. 350hp at 10,000rpm ain't gonna happen with that engine.
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01-23-2021, 10:04 PM | #36 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
This is just a store in the vain of Paul Bunyan.
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01-24-2021, 03:37 AM | #37 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
they dont buildem like that any more
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01-24-2021, 09:03 AM | #38 |
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01-24-2021, 01:02 PM | #39 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Aw, come on guys, the truth of the matter is that a flathead is superior to a sbc.
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01-24-2021, 01:37 PM | #40 |
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01-24-2021, 01:58 PM | #41 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Aesthetically, I would agree.
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01-24-2021, 04:24 PM | #42 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Id like to see that fan at 12k. Of course it never had to survive that. Maybe that article came out on April 1st.
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01-24-2021, 10:35 PM | #43 |
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01-24-2021, 11:57 PM | #44 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
But...But...I think my stock 239 will turn a 9 sec. 1/4 mile. I do have headers on it...
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01-25-2021, 12:42 AM | #45 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Flathead Dave
Got to tell you that your tag line about the slinky had me laughing out loud. Good one! |
01-25-2021, 07:38 AM | #46 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
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01-25-2021, 12:52 PM | #47 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Concealed on the other side of the flattie was it's gear-drive two-stage WWll surplus Merlin supercharger'. Inside were 3:1 compression oversquare piston's and rods and understroked crankshaft forged by Thor in Valhalla. The carbs were fake, indeed housing extremely advanced fuel injectors developed by Wernher Von Braun. The fuel blend was compressed LOX and H2O2, nitromethane, benzene, acetone. Instead of standard motor oil, Marvel Mystery Oil was used straight up, no chaser!
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01-25-2021, 03:51 PM | #48 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
Don't forget the hydrazine, made it flame green.
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01-25-2021, 09:31 PM | #49 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
I want what he's smoking.
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01-26-2021, 08:20 AM | #50 |
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Re: ultimate flathead
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