Ok I want to know what I need to think about to get 200 hp out of a 41 ford truck flathead? I thought about a blowe but after my last post It seems that That's to pricey- I realize that $3000.00 on the rebuild is probablly a given but how much more will it cost? What parts do I need? I want aluminum heads and a 3x2 intake with a cam. I have ported several sb ford heads So I could do my own block .. Is that gonna be enough? What can I expect?
I think in order to get close to that you are going to need to get at least a merc crank for the 4"stroke. I have a mild cam and a stock crank with offy heads and dual intake and get around 145 HP . My motor was test run on a dyno. The guy said the same setup with a merc crank was about 175 hp
Ooooo.....my stroker Merc Flatty made 138 at the wheels. Nother 60 horse? Figure at least 4k. At least.
Agreed on the merc crank, you need cubes, and your gonna need revs if your not blown. One of the guys on here wrote a book...and this is a good read as well... http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/hdrp_0511_ford_flathead_engine/index.html Good luck! Cheers and Beers Hodge
Where did you come about the magical 200 hp? Would 175 be ok? What is a flathead with 150 hp do? These questions throwing a hp figure out there for a flathead usually are a shot in the dark. Drive or ride in one. What do you think? As I have said before, torque is what you feel when you give it gas, not horsepower. If you want bragging horsepower, find something else. Neal
Don't give up so easy. Buy some books, Frank Oddo's Ron Bishop's, Joe Abbin's. Start looking for good deals on parts. Building a 200 horse normally aspirated flathead is not easy or cheap but it has been done. Volumetric efficiency is not the strong suit of these engines, so improving flow is the key, whether it is supercharged or not. Mike Bishop (av8 here on the H.A.M.B) did an excellent porting thread on here, search it.
I really " like " the way a flattie looks but I've spent 1 year so far on my build and want it to be fast. And I don't want to drop thousands of dollars just to be slow and look good. I do have a good 241, but I doubt they make much more power... May be I'ld be happier with a much more affordable 302. I'll post my flathead , and transmission soon....
The only thing with a flathead that I've driven was a 1950 f-6 that was worn out so that's not a fair comparrison, I just want something fast. my last rod had a built 289 with a 4bbl and was supprisinglly fast. I think the stock motor with a 2 bbl was rated at 215 stock so I can say it probablly had that after the build up. AndI want it to be that quick or close to it. Either way It seems like a flattie just has a real high dollars to power ratio. But thanks for the encouragement!
Yep, its easy to drop $4k to $6K in a flathead to make power. You just have to justify it somehow, and sometimes that ain't easy!
I really love the old Flatheads.... however what's the old saying about them "Where can you spend so much money for so little horsepower!" 32 Spitfire http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=332610&highlight=32+spitfire
You can get 300 plus cubic inches out of a flat head pretty easy. The other trick is gearing. An overdrive unit will give you six speeds forward. This is the trick large trucks use. Thirteen speed transmissions makes a large over the road truck with 2500 rpm limit able to pull a large load on the flat and uphill with no problem. Mitchell makes a bolt on over drive unit.
I have a few flathead cars, and had a 29 roadster with a very healthy 180 hp flathead and that car would shoot out of the intersections like a motorcycle.. VERY good acceleration. One of my favorite cars is a pretty stock unrestored 39 Ford Deluxe with a good 239 in it with ONE good stromberg, and just rebuilt stock ignition. That car has so much torque, that my only problem is the lack of gears, but it pulls like a bull throught the three gears i have. With wide open throttle in any hills around this very hilly area of Norway it never slows down in high gear, just pulls and pulls. People who are used to european engines over here never beleives that it`s a "100hp" They just laugh. It`s easy to just throw out a 200 hp number, but a more moderate say.. 150-180hp Flathead will give most people what they need in power.. beleive it or not, even the stocker 39 is very rowdy. Plus you can never ever beat the sound of a good Flathead.
I dont know about the 3000 in rebuild cost I just bought a completebalansed rotating asembly , oilpump, valvesprings, valves,guides,gaskets,cambearings and it was something like 12-1300 dollars from H&H flatheads
Adding to what OHV Deluxe has said, it's also about the rest of your drivetrain as well. A 5-speed with an 8" low geared rear, with a properly set up flattie, will give you plenty of zip in your avatar if that's what you are building it for. Hey, you can build a pretty stout flattie - get Joe Arbin (Albin?) books and read them and see what he's done - all it takes is time, educating yourselfon a flathead, a good bit of money, and patience.
I have the overdrive unit in my hudson, Id really rather have 200 hp and enough gearing to 80, Instead of 115 hp and gearing for a hundred. Using the 6 speeds is unlikely for me, and thats just to damn much shifting. remember guys, these are 50-60 year old trannys, they shift slooooooooow. it's a full second on the overdrive shift...I laugh sometimes! HTH Cheers and beers Hodge
Flatheads are traditional and there are those who love the way they look ... but let's face it. It's a lot easier and less expensive to get 200+ horsepower out of pretty much any used smallblock OHV V8 than it'll ever be to do that out of a flathead. If you want 250 to 300 horsepower, that's still fairly easy to with a small block of at least 300 cubic inches using bolt-on speed parts, and 200 to 250 horsepower is damn near trivial.
The flathead won't be what a 289 can be for performance. At least with spending the same on both. The flathead will give you a nice little motor that is respectical for performance. I have a 59a in a Model A; cam, 2 carbs, headers, heads, that kind of stuff. I don't have a guess what the h.p. is. It does well but I would not consider it fast. I have an aluminum flywheel on it and that makes a big difference. Back to that horsepower vs. torque. The flywheel makes you think you have more horsepower but it just rev's quicker. Again, for comparisons, the flathead is strong on torque. Neal
I routinely pick up "free, come and pull it" to $200 Small Blocks, each with 200 hp, or more. Don't get me wrong, I love flatheads. If cool is the factor, then a flathead is hard to argue with. If power, price or both are a factor, then you must look elsewhere.
If you have money use your Search Engine for "Ardun Flathead Conversion Kt" and you'll find a great vendor who is marketing the overhead conversion for the 239 and 256 V-8 Ford/Mercury flathead engines. If you can get this conversion done you are guaranteed a good performing flat head. They run in the 9's and 10's here at out Drag Strip (Infineon, Sonoma) and they are very dependable too. Normbc9
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