Looking to build a flathead with something around 160 to 175 HP. I have a 49, 8ba. Block is good to go no cracks or issues. as of right now I have have a merc crank Bored 0.080 Adjustable lifters Offy 2x2 intank Big 97 Stromberg carbs hoping to get some help and ideas of what else I need to be able to reach my goal of HP. Any input would help out a lot Piston recommendations Cam recommendations Valve recommendations Any recommendations would be great. I’m hear to learn. Thank you
Hi, I just finished a very similar build for my 1950 Merc 4-door. However, as it was my first flathead build, I did a lot of reseach here and on Ford-Barn. I have used Egge pistons (L991), Manley Pro Flow valves with Lincoln Zephyr springs and a mild cam (Schneider 248F) as the car is rather heavy and I'd like to have low-end torque. Here you can find some detailed information about flathead cams: http://www.tildentechnologies.com/Cams/FlatheadPerformance.html You should think about a new distributor as the Ford loadamatic won't work with your dual carb set-up. Unfortunately, I have no idea about the HP...
Sorry to say, to get where you want to go, you're gonna need big inches (an expensive stroker crank and a larger overbore), a blower (which will give you more), or maybe fuel injection (it has been done, but most people don't know how). There is really no such thing as "high compression" pistons for a flathead because of the combustion chamber design; larger valves are of little help because the limiting factor to flow are the ports, and there is no "magic" camshaft that will help much. Real high performance flathead cams make power at higher revs which has an adverse effect on low RPM performance.
Thank you Aaron, I have seen a lot of your videos which have helped me out a lot when I built my first stock flathead.
Maybe the book "Flathead Facts" by John W. Lawson would be helpful to get an understanding of the possible HP. -I say "maybe" because haven't read it yet...
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