1952-59 Ford '53 Customline With the Venerable Flathead. (Or, how Jason opened up an automotive can of worms)

Howdy folks,

Relatively new to the owning, operating and maintaining of a Flathead V8 equipped Ford.

As it stands right now, my 53 Customline with it's original Flathead and 3spd trans is running fairly well, but being the forward thinking and planning individual like to pretend to be, and with what I am wanting to do with this vehicle, work will need to be done to this engine for sure.

I tend to sort of agree with the school of thought about engine building/rebuilding where you over build it and under stress it. I'm basically wanting to build it where I take advantage of the quality parts out there, but ultimately end up building a bulletproof stocker, maybe with a little extra pep in its step, that will run reliably for years and years to come.

Some things in the non stock category on the top end of the motor that I am considering are
Eddlebrock or Offy heads for a little more compression and better cooling capabilities because of the
, an electronic ignition set up, a good self tuning/adapting 2bbl fuel injection set up for ease and consistency of tune.

I'm stuck also on whether to convert from 6 volt to 12 volt and if I go 12 volt, do I redo everything for negative ground or do I just keep it positive ground.

I'd appreciate any input y'all have in ways of experience.

Thanks!

~JP

 

Keep the flatty, keep the points, keep the 6v, keep it carbed. Its made it 66 years that way no need to fix what aint broke

 

Oh, I'm not giving up the flatty. I'm just going primarily for longevity/durability, ease of maintenance and squeezing the most I can out of the engine in a predominantly stock configuration.

Electronic Ignition tends to be more maintenance free than the old points style system. EFI will return the best power and tuneability across the range of driving conditions. If I have to relocate to a different location or if I am driving cross country I want consistency in performance and don't want to have to change jets etc. etc.

Don't get me wrong, I totally identify with your statement. But there is also the practicality factor that must be considered.

 

For what its worth. I had nothing but issues with electronic ignition and am back to points and running great with zero issues. If you want better performance and efi might want to just look into a modern engine swap. Itd be cheaper in the long run

 

If you go EFI & electronic distributor you should convert to 12 volts since a '53 does not have all that many circuits it's not a hard thing to do. http://www.how-to-build-hotrods.com/6v-to-12v.html Most of the information and details are in the "Sticky Faq" You should switch to an alternator. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1950-1953-...:QiUAAOSwk3RbwOg5:sc:USPSPriority!85037!US!-1

 

Welcome, I'm all for keeping the running gear stock but I found out in the early eighties how tough it is to find parts for a Y-block, especially if you drive them every day(26,000 miles a year). I'm running a SBF in one of mine ans a SBC in the other.
That being said, I would say, run the flat-head and keep extra parts on hand. Good luck with the build.

 

What type of issues did you run into with electronic ignition, what type of electronic ignition were you trying to use and how long ago was it that you had the issues?

 

JeffB2,
Running EFI would certainly be easier to accomplish via a twelve volt system that's for sure, but there are fairly straight forward and reliable ways around that issue, but I understand that voltage isn't the only factor in the equation.

Companies like Pertronix make six volt set up s for distributors and make them in Negative and Positive ground flavors. so the electronic ignition isn't something that a six volt system could prove to be as big of a limitation factor (LIMFAC) on. EFI and a decent radio will definitely drive the 6v vs 12v decision.

Another factor in the 6 - 12v conversion is whether to switch from POS ground to NEG ground based on what parts/systems are available in each particular configuration.

 

I tried running a 6v positive ground pertronix setup on my 55 in the winter. Never could get it to work correctly and they weren't much help troubleshooting, ended up selling it for cheap and had a buddy rebuild and re-curve the stock points distributor. I had heard the 6v pertronix units were problematic but chanced it and wasted $130 bucks.

Also most aftermarket efi conversions like the Holley have to be ran on a 12v system and require electronic ignition and they prefer you run an MSD HEI type. I looked into converting my Y block over and the cost/trouble to convenience of having the fuel injection wasn't worth it to me.

 

The Pertronix 6 volt system didn't work for another member even his local auto electric shop couldn't get it working but that isn't the only issue the stock distributor is a Load-O-matic which only works with the stock carburetors so it will not play well with the EFI conversion. You would want to convert to a system like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-late-...406408?hash=item2f07357388:g:NQkAAOSw**dZZOXR

 

More info on the Ford Load-O-Matic: http://m571.com/yblock/loadomatic.htm A lot to read but you will see a good reason to dump the Load-O-Matic.

 

Would that dizzy be something that could be utilized WITH the stock carb? If it is an over all better set up in terms of when and how the advance comes in, I could see the benefit of utilizing that as a general replacement for the Load-o-matic.

 

It could be by getting the vacuum advance signal from a different vacuum location other than the original port on the Carb that you would plug off same as they do when running multi Carb intakes on flat heads. Also the upgrade distributor would play nice if you added the EFI later down the road.