Hey guys, I'm in desperate need of help. My nephew purchased a 1946 Dodge pick up per my advice via long distance and when I got eyes on the truck was pleasantly surprised with what was under the hood. It was complete with tatters field aluminum head. Offenhauser do a car set up, O'Brien brothers Air cleaner, polished canister etc. opened up the valve cover to see over 30 pistons. Anyways, I'm trying to lead him in the right direction as far as a value as a total package. He's looking to make a daily driver out of the vehicle, so they will be putting in another motor and transmission set up. I'm hoping I can find a value and encourage him to keep it or I'm looking to purchase it, but want to be fair since he is family. I'm attaching a picture of the motor and any help would be greatly appreciated.
Wasent there already a thread about this car, and I posted on it. And FYI that ain't a valve cover, that's the head!!! It's a flathead 6 ! And drive it, that's the best way to find it's true value! You will get so much pleasure from that mill, and smiles per mile, in excess. Even more smiles per mile then a SBC!!!!
Well I guess you could call it a valve cover, sort of. But most people would agree it's a cylinder head.
And a warmed up flathead on a truck with good brakes, should be a perfect Daily Driver! Depending on miles needed to be travel pr day -and fuel prices! The only two other things that can make it a little hard to DD is: 1- I don't know if it got hydraulic brakes, but that would be perfect for a DD for a youngster with no experience in adjusting mechanical brakes. 2- there are about 5 kids under 30, in the free world, that are non-HAMBers or truck-drivers (or sons of the above) that can shift a non-syncro gearbox today. And they have to know there way a round driving with three pedals and a stick. Collum shifter brings it even further down between 1-2 Other then that: it would be perfect for any kid, at any age ️ I would love to drive it.
Defenetly not trying to be a D1ck head, but this is Déjà vu all over again: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tattersfield-aluminum-flat-six-head.955085/ I liked it then, and I like it now !! Keep at it, and I would love to drive that truck!!!
Hey, sorry guys about the repeating post. The last one I was looking for more information on it. Now to be clear, what I'm really looking for is a good guesstimate on what I should offer to buy the motor as a package. They've decided to do something a little bit more modern and in good conscience I would like to offer a fair price since he is family. Anyways, if any of you have an opinion on a fair price for the parts listed, plus motor I would love to hear from you. I apologize for referring to it as a valve cover. I've got my 32 ford with the two-piece Larson valve covers on my brain.
Yes, I apologize for the reposting. I forgot I had mentioned it on here before when I was looking for information about it. Now I'm looking for any advice on a total package value.
As mentioned early, I dident post to be disrespectful, I just wanted to know what you wanted. When it comes down to value: that is a hard one to put a price on! If you put it on craigslist you might have a hard time giving it away at scrap value, if you put it up for sale on here you might a better price if you wanted to make a profit. Offer him a partial swap with a running 350, delivered, learn him to go true it and set it up like he wants it. But that will only work if you want the little mill, and gives you no value, but gives you both the best bang for you bucks.
First, I think he's crazy to change it. My first car was a '40 Plymouth coup, I milled the head and added dual exhaust. It performed really well except I kept blowing the trans. The truck probably has a really low geared rear end that you'd have to change no matter what you put in it to keep the rev's down on the freeway. Drive it for a year and then see what he wants to do. If I still had the Plymouth, I'd pay $500 to $800 and the speed parts are probably worth that.
Im trying to convince him to keep it as is and rebuild the motor. Going to bring the front end back up and he wants to keep it a standard. Have read where the head likes to eat gaskets, so it's been suggested by others to change to a stock head and hang the Tattersfield on the wall. They are not car guys yet, so I'm trying to convince him to do so. Otherwise I want to offer him a fair price and keep it in the family on my wall.
I suggest you do a search on the HAMB for Rich Fox's posts. You will find what he knows. He was merely trying to correct your blatant error which might have been confusing to those on the other end of the spectrum.
And i thought it might be helpful when you went to buy a new gasket. Asking for a valve cover gasket when you need a head gasket is counterproductive. But as they say "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him think." At any rate, I don't know what the engine is worth to you. $500? Has the head corroded beyond use? It may be quite an adventure just getting it off. Or maybe not. How well do you like the kid? If it was my nephew I would go with the $500.
Thanks, curious why do you assume it was blatant? Can accidents happen or foes that not enable people on this forum to criticize?!
Does everybody start off with being a jackass before they actually post some helpful information, just curious? I corrected my mistake as far as mentioning valve cover versus head. Unlike most, our family actually likes each other and I'm going to make him an honest offer. Seems like a lot of guys on this website would dick their own family over. Head came off quite easily and there is no corrosion. Thanks, I think.
No, not all here is d1cks! It just seems this way, because it's hard to correct a slight mistake with out seeming angry, because it's the writen words, and the lack of emotion-icons can make a big differens. But other then that I see no need to screw your own family. No need too. And back to case at hand: It would be great if you could convince him to keep it, or do a deal with him, to help him and get the mill in return. It will make an everlasting memory, it will teach him about cars, it will give him a skill set to take with him and might eighter land you a nice traditional engine and give him the truck he wants! But regarding value, that mill is pretty unique, and that means prices is all over the scale. Because if 6 people in the whole world wants it that can drive prices up, but also bomb them way down, if you are to fare away from them with the money. But the best would be if to made a build thread kept the mill in the truck and you gave him the tutoring it took to make him stand on his on legs and drive that baby! You wrote about taking the head of because "it can eat gaskets". I would give it the benefit of the doubt! And you wrote about rebuilding it for him, is it broken? Because other wise I would give it "the big service" and start it up. It might be in good condition and can be on the road for a decade with good servicing and "gentle" driving.
Unfortunately I'm in Seattle Washington and they are in Tulsa Oklahoma. I've been working with them over the phone in trying to turn the motor over without any luck. We're going to keep trying as we are in no hurry. My nephew has expressed his interested in keeping it in stock, so we are looking to either get it running on this original motor set up or rebuilding to see if he even likes driving it. He's only 14 and as a couple years. I appreciate your response. It's not a matter of getting together on a number we can agree on. They don't even know I'm interested in buying it and the only reason I am is to keep it in the family in the case that he turns into a motorhead I can be able to give it back to him for his collection.
Sound good, you seem like a nice man. And a have a lot of respect for people who takes there time, and is willing to give back to family. I bet that old flathead has a inspection cover on the side of the block, did they take that of to inspect the valve lifters and maybe give it som mystery oil or ATF/acetone. That is the homemade kreeping oil if there ever was one! Soak it all in that, and see if it helps. Some of the guys on here knows the mix ratio, and so does google! ️ This place got a lot of gear heads that knows a lot of this kind of things, and you can get that amount of collective minds anywhere! Sorry if you feel we are a little rough,but most people mean well, but sounds angrier then the are!
The head is worth $400-$600 on eBay depending on condition. The chrome bits are not worth much and the O'Brian cleaners are still in their catalog. Who knows what other goodies are in the engine? Cam etc. The rumour of "eating head gaskets" is the same as with a flathead Ford. You can't use composite gaskets with aluminum heads. Steel gaskets should not have the same problem. The comp gaskets don't like the expansion of aluminum heads. Cast iron doesn't expand. Pull the oil pan and clean the pick up, then try and get it running! Should be fun!
Cool thanks, I'm always grateful to learn a little bit more of the how to and what to try. I'm already planning on flying there to help them work on it for a weekend. It's been very hard doing it over the phone and they are pretty green.
Thanks for the heads up on the inspection cover and we have been soaking the heads from the top with Mystery oil. I'm planning on a trip back and hopefully I'll be able to help them ffree it up. My nephew is in the cars because of me and he's pretty much just going on whatever I suggest, but I want to do what's best for him.
Straight sixes, especially Chevy and Bedford are known to bend a push rod if they left to long and forced over. Shouldn't be that bad a problem on a flathead. But take the side cover of, clean valves, make them move and clean cylinders. Put a jack and a wrench on the crank, and put a jack at the end of it. So it holds it under constant tension, add more oil and wait. That usually does the trick. But valves must move freely first. Or you end up braking good parts!
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