Projects FlatHead or Y Block?

very cool that a guy your age has interest in cars of this era . what do you want to do with the A when its done. drive to local shows .drive across the country or trailer it every where. Or just look at it in your garage. Answer to your original question is I am not a flat head person but love Y blocks. my advice would be to find a running carburated 4 cyl rear wheel drive car or small truck{ example s10 or ranger} thats rusty but runs well. will probably have more power than a good flat head. tranplant it in the A keep the hood closed and have fun.may not be hamb friendly . but nothing is more traditional than an A Model with a banger in it

 

Flathead/Y-Block. I have a couple of both.

 

Both engines are pretty cool in a traditional hot rod. The flatty may have the edge in the "coolness" factor, but the y-block has the edge in the horsepower factor. Both engines have been out of production for decades, and parts are not easy to come by, but the Y-block is probably a little easier to find parts for, and cheaper. Horsepower per dollar edge goes to the Y-block. Both engines have that great aural appeal. Y-blocks are fairly uncommon in hot rods, when I see one I appreciate it. It tells me the owner likes to not follow the crowd, or take the easy way (or he's a sucker for punishment ). Face it, before the late 50's the flat head was the belly button engine of choice. Now they're cool, but back then they were ubiquitous in hot rods. For a young teen these days, either one was obsolete decades before they were born. I guess it goes back to what someone else mentioned earlier, what era are you looking to build to. Mid 50's or earlier, than flathead for sure. Mid 50's or later, a Y-block would not be a bad choice at all.

 

Can easily adapt an early ford 3 speed to a y block, can also adapt and early packard, lasalle, or can get a ford toploader and a jeep shift tower. Or run an automatic, thats what kids drive these days, right? just ribbin ya

 

There is some good advice here but keep in mind that this is your build and you are the one who needs to be happy with the finished product.

Remember you can always modify the car as you go, maybe get it running with the current flathead and build a better (stronger) flathead later on or rebuild the Y-block and swap over.

I would much rather have a running driving are in progress, than a project in the garage.

 

Fair point...could always borrow the flathead from the 34, drive on it, meanwhile get another flatty and rebuild it then swap em back and put the fresh flatty in the a.... would get you on the road the fastest it sounds like!

 

I'd say the flathead but my avatar had a V8 60 and my 30 Sport Coupe has an 8BA so I'm a flathead fan. I've had quite a few, 50 Merc in 1966, 49 F1 in 1970, 53 Merc in 1993, 28 avatar in 1997, 50 Ford in 2007 and my 30 Sport Coupe I built in 2017. I think either is a good choice but they will both be money pits, parts for older engines get expensive quick.

 

The motor that's in the 34 at the moment isn't the original motor that was in there, so to take it out isn't much of a big deal.

 

I get the 4 banger argument, but it would need a total rebuild, (like the Y-Block) and isn't nearly as powerful as the Y-Block or the flathead, it would be cool but not worth it.

 

True, but with the flathead I don't need to change out most of the parts like the Y-Block.

 

And my dad at one point had a stronger frame, but we traded it out for a frame, and parts because the frame really was not the style we were looking to build, because you couldn't run fenders with it.

 

AMBR 2025 Y-Block…..you gotta think outside the SBC/LS/Flathead box

 

Hello,

When my brother and I started our Model A search and find, we found a good one. A couple of hours of work and the 4 cylinder fired up. We were driving it around our neighborhood with a smile on our faces. A little investigating and problem solving, we had a running car. That lasted a week or so and one day, it was gone. My brother had sold it to one of his friends and now, no more Model A coupe to use for the base of our daily driver hot rod.
Similar photos
But, that road led to other hot rod adventures and so, it was meant to be. By the time we were finished with our next project years later, I decided to buy my own car. It turned out to be a Flathead powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery and was a great car for my surfing adventures for the next 5 years. It had everything I wanted, except for the original hot rod build that once had a 348 Chevy motor in it. That is what I really wanted. A cool car with lots of power. But, it was expensive for everyone, including me. Reachable, but beyond my pocketbook and I did not want to ask my parents for money.

Since the owner and I could not settle on a price for the 348 sedan delivery, he lowered it enough for me to buy it with an 80 hp Flathead motor. Now, that started my 1000s of miles of explorations all up and down the So Cal coastline and into Baja, Mexico. But, the learning curve was there and I had to adjust to the low powered Flathead during our local road trips down Coast Highway and the longer trips up north and far down south into Mexico.


Jnaki

So what was the big deal? The difference between the 348 and Flathead was obvious. Lack of 200 horsepower that got put into the sedan delivery vs. enough HP like my brother’s 58 Impala that was very fast. What to do? If I had money, the Flathead was ripe for speed equipment and of course, more horsepower. Why was “more horsepower” important? The 80 hp Flathead was a very reliable daily driver to school, weekend cruising around, and trips to our surf adventures as long as the roadway was relatively flat.

Our drive South from Long Beach is relatively flat until one gets near Laguna Beach. The Coast Highway gets steep at one of the nicest beach coves in all of So Cal. But, as nice as the view and waves, the power, or lack of power made me have to down shift to 2nd as our sedan delivery was loaded with two heavy longboards and sometimes 3, if the boards were thin. Plus all of the teenage beach things made the lack of power evident up hill.

Even if we got an over 50 mph running start down the other side of the valley, as we continued up the steep Coast Highway leading into Laguna Beach, downshifting was always necessary. In the nighttime coastal cruises without surfboards and stuff, we still had to downshift to get up the other side of the steep grade. Normal cars just stepped on the gas and that was enough. I had to floor it from the downhill side and hope for the best. But, as usual downshifting was necessary.

Normally, that would be fine as a part of driving an old car, but it money was available, I would have had a 348 as originally built into the sedan delivery as a hot rod. The Flathead power was lacking in its 80 hp mode. Lacking any amount of horsepower in a flathead motor, just was the disheartening, but we adjusted.

Note:

If a choice between a Flathead or Ford Y block v8, there should be no contest. Unless you live in a completely flat area in all of your cruising miles, the low power Flathead is lacking. We never went up to the local winter mountains due to the lack of power and with chains, it was going to be too much. if the flathead had an honest 200 hp, then all would have been alright. Reath Automotive already had a modified flathead sitting on their showroom floor, just ready to install. But, lack of money was the barrier.

Yes, the Flathead can be modified to get more horsepower. But, comparing a ready to run, higher horsepower Ford Y block motor vs modifying a Flathead to equate horsepower gains in the Ford Y block motor, is a no contest situation… So, YRMV

 

If I had a complete truck Y-block with a floor shift truck speed sitting around I would put it in a hot rod no questions asked. Even at stock power levels it'll be a lot of fun a fairly obscure OHV engine just speaks to me in a way that something "normal" like a flathead V8 or an SBC doesn't.

 

I am with the small block chevy man

 

I love the mighty YBLOCK and have a 292,312 and some machined blocks can get good power and can't beat the sound.

 

I started building my 36 at your age. I didn’t have a job, so I spent a lot of time perfecting the parts I had. I talked dad into buying me a die grinder and some bits.

I started polishing axles, intakes, heads and whatever I could get my hands on. Making every part as slick as I could get it. It turned into a life long obsession. I still do it. Drives my buddies crazy.

 

How much would a good used banger run in your area? Rodding is as much about finding something that will get it going as it is using what you've got. If you can get a 4 that bolts in over a weekend, you are that much closer to running and money ahead of either swap.

 

Ok, I am going to chime in here for an item that has not been covered yet. MONEY. I rebuilt my 312 for about 4K+ all told (not including the tranny) and my Model A engine (which is mostly stock) for about 4-5K years ago. Now I have heard that a Flat head is well north of that now for maybe about 100+HP. Where as I can buy a brand-new Model A engine that is lighter than either V-8 and produces north of the 100+ with an OHV conversion for about 4-5K. Support is there for the Banger engine if you want it and you won't have to alter the frame. Just something to think about.

Mike

 

W/O T Bird V covers

 

Again, I'm going to suggest you get some books and read.
Vern Tardel has a series of books on the A V8.
Amazon.com : vern tardel books

Restorer's Model a Shop Manual: Complete and Illustrated/F879Ap: Schild, Jim: 9780879381943: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon.com: 1928 1929 1930 1931 FORD MODEL A Service Manual Book

I'm going to tell you right now, forget about the Y block. The only thing worse for a Model A would be an FE.
If you want to run a Y block.....Fix the 56 Ford truck.

4cylinder (A banger) No big modifications to the car
Flathead/Small block Chevy.....
Flathead...
For a 1940s build, not much modifications to the chassis. Look over Verns books. You'll need 1930s and 1940s V8 parts like axles, wishbones, transmissions, brake stuff, '32 K frame member or later F-1 Frame member......stuff like that.
For a 50s-60s build...
Some of the Ford V8 stuff will work. The Chevy can be easily adapted to the V8 Transmissions but recently clutch parts have become a challenge.
Open drive.....more modern transmissions....this adds complexity and gets away from the Ford V8 parts.
I could go on and on......

Study up and Read.
read through threads on here....
Good luck.

 

I've seen some very quick banger hot rods out at TROG and RPM Nationals races. I've seen a banger beat a flatty at TROG. Flathead V8 powered Model A's are super cool, a hot banger powered Model A might be even cooler.

 

Care to expand on that? Just curious why you think that.

 

Me too.....

 

Need I say more?

 

Thank you, at least I’m not alone.

 

Flathead is just so proper.

 

I vote 'why-block'...complete with a slight exhaust leak !!
(EVERY one I ever heard had a slight exhaust leak..including mine and my Dads)
312 with a 4 barrel (500-ish CFM) will bring it to life. My old 54 Ford coupe from High School days would get Big Time 'scratch' in second gear with ^^^this set-up.
A cam and CR bump even better!
In a 29 Ford ....plenty quick.
6sally6

 

I am in...