Featured Technical Best Flathead Build for a 150 HP+ Cruiser

What happened to Rod at D&W on edmonton trail?

 

Don't get all excited about speed parts, especially used ones. Used heads in particular more than likely end up as "wall-hangers". There are good ones out there, but you have to know what to look for. Stripped threads and chipped fins aren't necessarily deal breakers, but excessive milling and corrosion are. In my world, a good set of used heads are about as good as new ones, as they all need to be reworked for optimum performance on each individual engine.

There are dual, triple and even 4-carb manifolds out there. 4-carb manifolds are rare and spendy, while triples are best suited for larger displacement engines and can be hard to tune. Most guys end up with duals, but there are different kinds of those as well. There are "Supers" which have wide-spaced carbs located over the intake ports. These have the best fuel distribution, but require relocating tbe generator.There are dual manifolds with the carburetors equally spaced but closer together and manifolds with both carburetors biased to the rear. These allow the generator (or alternator) to be run in the stock location, but suffer from poor fuel distribution. You may also consider a 4 barrel, but if you do, keep it on the small side (a 390 Holley or 450 Carter). I'll let you in on a little secret. The best intake setup for a mild street vehicle with a hood is' a Rochester 2G carburetor on a bored-out Mercury 4 bolt manifold. Thay flow as much if not more than 2 94' or 97's, are a ore modern design, and rock-solid reliable.

When it comes time for speed parts, take your time and do some planning. You'll be glad you did.

 

Edmonton I wouldn’t hesitate to go to Pro Stock performance. Nothing but good work from there.
If you bring it further north then Total engine in Peace River, the owner has a bad *** model A pickup with a beautiful flatty in it.

Calgary I can’t help.

 

Actually last I heard they were still going, now that you mention them.

Grande Prairie has precision machine, Scott there is a great old school machine shop guy, he said he had fun doing my 354 Hemi crank

 

Well we're just bench racing lol. But I'd add, harder to find but cheaper than the small flathead. They are about, particularly out in the sticks in old grain trucks and again if you find a 1949-1951 Lincoln chances are the engine will still be in it. Weight means you get the lowering for free

 

Hi ,
What is the name of the company that does the merc cam with .380 lift?
It sounds very interesting .
Regards
Micky

 

I’m picking up the engine tomorrow and will know more shortly. Unfortunately I need to head back out of town next week so it won’t be until next weekend that I get a head off to see what crank I have. Ideally, I have a decent engine that doesn’t require much machining and I can do heads, a cam, and induction…

Where do I find pistons for a .125 over build?

Also, not every big ol’ grain truck has a 337. My 53 F600 was a grain truck and it’s got a 239 that’s bored .040 over (Ford certified rebuild in 1974) and is a pretty neat old truck in its own right but certainly no hot rod…

 

Mine was sandblasted inside the water jackets through the deck holes and water pump holes. Mine doesn’t overheat either. Anybody with a sandblaster should be able to handle it. Just make sure to get it cleaned well afterwards, as with any machine work.

 

Micky:

American Custom Cam
128 S. Valencia Ave
Glendora, CA 91741

Grind # VO-85

Specs:

Duration @ .050 240
IO @ 10 IC @ 50
EO @ 50 EC @ 10
Lift .380
Lobe seperation 110 degress.

Very similar to the Merc with a little more duration and a lot more lift.

 

I got the engine home today and pulled off a head.

The good - rotates freely, cooling p***ages are nice and clean (for a 75 year old engine), it is mostly complete, stock bore.

The not so great - holy **** it’s dirty, slight ridge in cylinders, 3.75” Ford crank, a few stuck valves, missing water pump, carb and generator.

Based on the newer Motormaster (Canadian Tire) rebadged NGK V-Groove sparks, it’s been running in the last 20 years.

I have found a local shop that has done several flatheads that can bore the block for me - I will speak with them tomorrow.

I am looking for a Merc crank now. If I don’t find one local, I am interested in the one mentioned above.

 

@Olboy This is coming from someone who has never owned or built a FH. I would either immerse myself deep into the history and builds and try to educate myself to design and have machined the top dog I could get done, or research various shops that do the work and choose one to handle all the selection, machining and fitting.
The first would be much more time consuming and possibly have small things to miss, but pride in it being your own hand roll.
The second would be quicker, probably about the same money and have a warranty.
A good flatty is a joy, but a bad one is an expensive mess.
As with any engine, component selection and matching is crucial, and it should match the vehicle and use.

 

Are you sure there's an actual ridge in the cylinder wall? It looks like a carbon built ridge from here...

From the pics I'm seeing... I think I would just clean that one up, quick ball hone, new gaskets, heads, cam, studs and go! I'm surprised it's not even cracked from the bolt hole to the cooling p***age! That's a standard factory feature!

That '53 doing work is so damn cool, BTW!

3blap.

 

I agree. It looks good. I've never had a block with no "part number" cracks have any in other places.

 

You looked in the bottom yet? That's always interesting.

 

cool , Thank you

 

I'd say my flatty in my 34 is pretty stout, I can pull just about any hill in 3rd gear at 40-70 mph with no issues. Will outrun quite a few stock 50s and 60s cars.
239 factory relieved block, 3.75" crank
Bored .125 over
Minor gasket match, nothing too fun.
Chevy style valves and keepers etc.
Johnson adjustable lifters.
Isky 1007b cam, its the low lift 400 jr spec basically. .375" lift with same duration
Offy 2x2 intake
Offy 400 relief heads.

Compression with tester was 175-185 across the board.

You can feel the exhaust out of the pipes 20 ft back.
Gets 18 mpg on the freeway.

Its snappy, idles good, bit temperamental on fuels, it wants 93 since I am running a bit more timing to smooth out some of the radical tendencies. Chevron 93 is the one fuel the car HATES. Only downside is the noisy valve train. .014 is the last recommended so it makes a little noise. But worth it.

My cam sounds like this.


My reccomendation for what you are after is much like this build but an Isky 88 camshaft or the L100 from Schnider. Best of all worlds. I personally hate the Max 1 cams. They are a boring grind.

 

I spoke with a couple of the known Flathead builders in Alberta and Saskatchewan today… I’m coming around to this way of thinking.

 

Nice. I agree on the Max 1. Waste of time.

 

For what it's worth from earlier in the thread, D & W is still going. Here is the website
www.customenginescalgary.ca

 

My C69A came from out west. Had a rebuild tag from an Edmonton company. lol!
IIRC, machine shop cost (engine was dis***embled when I bought it) was about CAN$2.8K here in Ottawa for a short block back in 2020, but I paid separately for all the new bits: reground orig cam, Hi-Lift Johnson lifters, Egge pistons, rings, bearings, gaskets, etc.

 

5/16 x 1/4 for 272 cu in. with Winfield cam and 2 carb intake is the best flathead setup.

 

This is a thread that I will be following closely, as I plan to put a flatty back in my 53. Also shooting for 150 HP. The 2CG post intrigues me. Just acquired an 8BA.

 

I spoke with them yesterday. They are backed up and their boring tools are broken. I may get the block machined at a machine shop that builds downhole tools for me all the time and finish honed at DW. I’m considering buying my own valve grinder and seat grinder to do that myself. I probably rebuilt 30 sets of heads in high school before the shop teacher told me that I was running a business and had to do something else… I do not want to wait 6+ months to build this engine.

 

I love this kind of thread - it gets you into the dirty, mean, and nasty world of flatheads and I absolutely love it as the ideas and experiences of others really blows me away.

Your mind must be spinning right now with all the info that has been thrown at you. So, let me just muddy it up some more …..

Intake/carbs - I love your idea for a flattie daily driver. My avatar has been all over and I like a “y” adapter on top of a stock intake running progressive linkage. Why? Simple, easy setup, very low maintenance, and it still has “the look”. You run one carb when cruising and the second for speed. Dual carbs were just too much trouble but I have never run a 4-bbl so I might get kicked to the curb here with my setup. I guess I just like the look vs a 4-bbl. Hell you’ll be running just one carb each 45 mile run anyway with some balls when you need it.

Heads - in all my travels in the flathead world it seems to be a 50/50 love/hate relationship with aluminum heads, and even more so with used ones. So let’s go back to Old Ron talking about shaved stock heads. I personally like the look of a 59ab engine and nos 46-48 heads are still out there aplenty. Shave them little by little until you are happy with clearances and you will be very happy with the outcome especially with all the porting and cleaning work you will be doing. Old Ron was a great guy and was absolutely a 20-yr old when talking flatheads - it was his p***ion.

One final world - tire size, rearend gear ratio, cruising gear of your ****** (and the T5 is the best vs an automatic imho), and the goal of 75mph @2500 rpm give or take at 100 rpm should be your goal. My avatar runs 85 mph with a stock 39 flattie with pertronix in the crab dizzy, new sealed bearing wps, and running progressive 94s on a y adapter. At 85k miles it still looks clean with virtually no ridge. I don’t even run an oil filter - just Walmart brand 20w-50 conv oil with Camshield oil additive to stop/reduce valve seat recession (which has not happened), and I change it a bit more frequently.

I am definitely going to follow your thread as I live vicariously through you and everyone else who has commented!

 

Tom T brings some good points. In thinking about this more, a 150+ hp is a little more than a cruiser. To get 50% more HP than stock, takes overbore, ideally longer stroke than 3.75", the proper cam selection, more cfm with the intake charge over stock (however you achieve it), proper fitting of the heads and piston "quench", porting of the block (at minimum) cleaning up the ports, and properly set up ignition system.

Reading that the OP has experience with these aspects with other motors, it shouldn't be too difficult to do, just need to find the baseline of what you are comfortable with in terms of drivability, what will be final transmission and rear end ratio/tire size, etc. Once all these determined, a plan could be put in place to make it happen.

 

Over the last week or so, I’ve been reading up on engine performance and came across David Vizard’s vids on YT for the first time. Only watched a fraction, but he seems to know what he’s taking about. I’m now fascinated with engine performance, especially camshaft design and selection. I was I had watched more vids before deciding to do a stock rebuild with an Isky 1007B cam. Now curious as to what the true volume of my C7RA-A cast irons heads were and then I sound like to compare them to the factory Canadian aluminum heads that came with my second flathead. For sure, raising the CR would be key, obtaining the best quench volume, and some porting along with the correct cam would probably do wonders.