You should be able to swap a flathead right in where the sbc used to be. I know I would. But then I do not know what year Merc you have in mind. Maybe a Y-block would work too. Neal
can i ***ume you are referring to the `56 mercury in your profile? if that's true then i would stay away from a flathead as suggested i'm thinking rebuild/hop up the y-block that's probably in it now...272? 292? or maybe a 312? or maybe a FE engine
out of my 3 drivetrains ive had in the mercs so far, my 50 had a flatty first, 302 later...51 had sbc. sbc powered merc was the most fun to drive by far. would do it again in a heartbeat. rv pattern cam, 4 bbl and some pipes and that thing would move nicely. cant ask for much more. plus its an easy swap. but, like any question here, you will get the preachers. they would rather see a diesel schoolbus motor in rather than sbc cuz its "different"...
Theres no reason why you couldnt build a sbf to go just aswell as a sbc,or most other Fords for that matter
Do what suits you. It has been done many times in the 49/51 Mercs. I ran both a 350 Buick and a 350 Olds in my 51. I probably put 75k miles on it with the Olds in it Including one trip to Texas and Bonneville in 1988. The Chev is somewhat inexpensive in comparison to some engines, easy to work on and easy to get parts and goodies for. Dress it out in early style valve covers and Air cleaner and it will look pretty nice in there. If you are building the 56 I would want to stay with a Ford engine. The Y blocks can be made to run and they can have the sweetest sounding pipes of anything.
Seriously? Or are you just looking to play with people's minds? Cuz if you are serious (and you do in fact have a `56 Merc) as was stated before an FE is a bolt in affair. A chevy is not an easy swap due to the rear sump pan etc. Next I'd suggest a 351W. An engine that routinely can produce higher torque than the garden variety 350 chev, stock for stock, and is'nt it torque that makes something fun? The other thing that's confusing is why you brought the Flathead option to the mix. Are you in fact refering to an earlier Merc? If so please let me relate an experience of mine. A buddy brought over a `51 Merc 4 -door with a stock Flatty and a C4 automatic conversion so I could adjust the valves. After I took the car for a spin. My first ever drive with a C4 behind a Flatty. Could'nt believe how nice it went. We're talking about heavy car and relatively small engine here. What people forget is the Flatty's have a nice fat torque curve down low. This matched perfectly with the torque converter, snappy shifts of the C4 and the rear gear in the Merc. She was a blast to drive. The Flathead Ford or Merc in this case gained their status as an iconic hot rod powerplant not by mistake. The 4" stroke combined with the long 7" connecting rods and reasonable intake port and valve size spells out the recipe for a really peppy engine up to about 4500 rpm. The 3- spd trans was/is the Achilles heel for the stock early Ford driveline. Most of these contemperary 350 into Ford swaps done today are accompanied by a 350 turbo automatic. I'll bet the Farm that most people if they had the chance to drive a healthy Flathead with a decent gearbox back to back with the typical 350/350 setup, would opt for the charismatic Flathead Ford. The driveability gap is not as huge when you compare apples to apples.
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