If budget is your main concern its simple.....Like others have said, figure out whats wrong with flattie and what it will cost to get it running. Once you know that, you can compare what other options will cost. If you're ok with a SBC then figure what it will cost, but I wouldn't limit myself to just those two choices! If it was mine I'd be looking for a Y, Lincoln Y, or MEL.
i wouldnt listen to word this guy says.... - fact ....flatties look cool - fact ....flatties sound cool - fact..... if done right they can be dependable -fact .....when 1955 rolled around thaousands of hotrodders threw out those flatties for a better perfoming motor...simple as that...period....belly botton motor blah blah blah...i have heard it all best combo for a dependable good performing flathead would be 4" merc crank and 3-5/16" bore wich should still leave some good meat in the cylinder for cooling ...with a good port job you will be looking at maybe 175 hp it will probably cost you at minimum 5k for the rebuild so-cal figures probably bump that up a few grand.....how much horse will a sbc make for 5k i love 40s style hotrods so i'm stuck with flatties and i think they are cool but if i had a big car like a merc...i would go ohv even a 1,500.00 targetmster crate motor will run circles around that flattie stock gm cams suck anyway you are going to put an aftermarket in it,,,and use zinc i doubt you will have any problems....there is a reason so many small chevys are out there ...think about it
Well just about every perspective has been offered on this thread with various opinions supported by different facts and data. If you are building this car to please other folks you will never get the job done. If you want satisfaction, do it to your own liking and then DRIVE IT and enjoy it. I just got home from two days at Salina where one could see the complete gambit of hot rod expression on display. Just a few were representative of the old hot rods, others were expensive cookie cutter variations that got boring real quick.Your car should be an expression of your preference and to heck with everyone else. Being a flathead guy I saw 50 sbc's to every flatty, but I remember hot rods before the sbc was introduced and the engine of choice, probably because of availability, was the flatty. From my more advanced age perspective a traditional hot rod would more than likely have a flathead power plant with some exceptions, at least for the guys who hung around with my Dad back in the forties and early fifties. My Dad had a very sanitary 32 five window with a hopped up Merc that was state of the art for post war hot rodding. I remember going to Great Bend, Ks for some of the first sanctioned drags. With that said, and this being a traditional hot rod web site, my forty with the flathead makes me smile when I drive her down the road as I feel like I'm stepping back to the hot rod tradition I once observed in life.
I'd go with the small block. Save the flathead for a lighter car, or maybe trade it for a SBC. I had a flatty but just couldn't get behind the cost for a hundred HP.
hey strong-arm its your car . and with a project like a full custom merc. your gonna have tons of other noticeable mods and things to focus on. I have a flathead powered roadster thats fun. and I have a built sbc for my driver / i dont want to think about it car. they are both legit options. it will take thousands of dollars to make a flathead push that car like a stock chevy will. and lastly- who cares what attitude people have when they see YOUR bad ass car. thats right ...lucky you....ITS YOUR MERC.. good luck bali-rod
Try and get the flattie started ...Who knows it may run fine... If it turns out the flatie is Junk..... I would spend some time looking for a good used running Y block....The big trucks are often cheap, F500 F600, find one with a good running 292.....The Y block would look right at home in there... Just a thought.
We struggled with this on Tim's '40... and the SBC won. We haven't regretted the descision one single bit... the motor does what it does, and it does it better than a flathead. We also searched and finally found a '57 283... so it was "period"... Sam
Did you get it out of the garage before the lobes wore off the cam? Looks great, bet it runs great as well. If anyone is severly offended by seeing "Chevrolet" under the hood, put some finned valve covers on there.
Keep the flatty, bit of vintage speed equipment, heads, intake,triple strombergs,braided plug wires etc and you couldnt go wrong. Beautiful little engine.
I say do what ever you can afford, Flatheads are definitley "cooler", but you will get alot more power out of the chevy. Not too mention accessability of parts! I would try the flathead first with having it tanked and magnafluxed to find out what it's going to take to re-build. Then go from there.
I love them both. I'll have a flathead powered car again when I do my '33 but when I was choosing the engine for my '35 I went with a '56 265. I had a hemi, olds, cad and a flathead sitting in the garage and I went with the 265 because of it was thee up and coming engine in the later half of the 50's. I poured though magazines looking at what they were using and I kept coming up with the new Chevy V8 every page I turned. Now if I were setting my car in a 40's or early 50's period I think the flathead would have won but I ended up building a 265 and I am so stoked to get it on the road finally. It's 265 block with '57 heads, .125 bore (283") 097 Corvette cam, head work, Weiand 4x2 intake with 97's, Hildebrandt VC's, yadayadayada. Go with whichever one you like best and rebuild it and it should be a great runner.
This guy makes a good point.... Flatheads were awesome engines in 1932 ! JMO I would go with the SBC the whole world can not be wrong....
Nice way to start a fight, hey? 6 Pages of posts in a couple of days. What's next? Radials vs Bias ply? Auto vs stick? IMO, just do whatever you want and that you can afford to do. If you don't carve the car apart putting a SBC in it, you can always go back to a Flattie at a later date (if and when you can afford it). Build the car, get it on the road and enjoy it - that's what rodding is about, not worrying about what other people's opinions are of which motor you should go with. Each side has their own argument one way or the other - who cares? Just enjoy it. Cheers.
Man o man, seems like 1955 came back all over again! This question has been the controversial question ever since...I recently saw an episode of the hot rod story and they were interviewing alex xidias of so cal speed shop and he was recreating the experience by saying that when the OHV engine came out every one was going that route...the hot rod pioneers like Navarro, Evans, sharp...just did not accept the change....they just kept trying to improve on the flathead. But there was no way around it...an ohv engine is just superior in every way Now, I think I have a solution...how about getting an ardun ohv conversion? Hell, if price isn't an issue! $25,000 just for heads sounds like a bargain anyway. I have talked to mike Herman of h&h and they have the whole flathead figured out...especially the overheating issue due to grease packed waterpump pulleys that would clog up everyso often causing a restriction in the waterflow... It comes down to about $19,000 for a supercharged reliable flathead producing 250hp that's just as good as a $3,000 SBC Or $10,000 for a non supercharged flathead. I'm a traditional sort so a flathead will always be the first choice but since the pockets are not as deep...you can never beat the reliability, speed,and power of a sbc Besides, with all the vintage dress ups you can get a sbc to look just as traditional as a flattie...INMO
A quote from the EVAN's article in TRJ.... "Gene Ohly was still in high school when he took a job as a machinist apprentice with Earl Evans in 1952. Evens production was in full swing and the flathead Ford was king with the performance crowd. And then the '55 Chevrolet hit the market. As told by Ohly, sales for the flathead Ford slowed to a trickle. A meager attempt was made to after overhead sales, with Evans creating patterns for Olds V8 components, but it was the 265 and then 283 Chevrolet that everyone wanted to go fast."
I've had flatheads and I love flatheads but they are expensive to rebuild. Some people here will shove their opinion down your throat like it should be law...but its YOUR car and YOUR money. My Merc came with a chevy 350 that I pulled out. I'm trying for a traditional early OHV like a Nailhead or Olds, that have a lot more torque to move that big ol car. With that said, if you're on a budget you can't go wrong with the SBC.
Just for the hell of it, does a 394 Olds or 401 Buick make more torque than a 383-400 Chevy SBC? Is there real proof for this?
Trucked up I have a 355 SBC that makles an honest 444 pound feet. My 394 according to what I have read made 445 from the factory. So that would be 1 pound foot more for a stock 394 over a built but streetable 355 chevy. The 394 is a big old pig, I had to beef my engine stand just to tear it down. I doubt that the single foot pound will make any difference once you figure the difference in weight. I cannot tell you how much zot the 394 that I have actually makes it has had more done to it than my 355, it will just barley be streetable. That said if I had a big old pig of a car like a 50 merc and all I wanted to do was cruise it but still have enough power for it to get out of its own way a stock 394 in good shape would be a winner for me. by your way of thinking Strong Arm will have to grow a pair to run the SBC. I probably shouldn't say this on a traditional forum, and this is not for lack of respect it is just an observation, but if you are looking for a belly button the flat head is the new belly button. Strong Arm it appears from your posts that the merc is your dream car and all you want to do for the time being is drive it. I have never had a dream car, just cars that I really wanted at the time. Never the less here is something that I know to be true. There are rods and customs out there that have built and rebuilt ever since their first build. they belong to people that will not ever let them go because they are their "dream car." if this is truley your dream car it will morph over the next couple fo decades and will probably never be like it is the firt time you drive it. put what you want to in today, tomorrow you may very well have a different idea and it will change. Don't sweat it things change as we mature.
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