To start off I bought this 30 coupe and wanted just the body and after i got it home I noticed all the speed parts on the engine. Now im thinking I want to rebuild this thing. For one thing it has Rocket racer heads,OG johnson lifters,And the valves are 49-53 style,but the block is a '42-44.(crab distributor)Just took the cam out and its a Howard m-8. Are these pretty hot cams ? Its in great condition. There is oil over all the lifters and all looks good so far. The old man told me he got the motor from a guy that took it out of his '39 Ford coupe here in california back in the day. And the ****** behind it is a '39 merc. So im sure theres some history to it. The old man said he's had this stuff since the 60's. I will be taking the bottom half out tomorrow,crossing my fingers.
I think Im gonna. Im thinking of using different heads though. A few hambers told me these are known to crack. Im going to measure the bore and see what rods and crank are in it tomorrow
If the heads are not cracked then there is no reason why you should not use them. I would have them pressure tested to be sure.
Neat find. It sounds like the drive train is just frosting on the cake based on what you were thinking you bought........ I'd try to use as much of the original speed equipment as I could. Rich
Well I took the crank out today and found a huge crack in the block below the exhaust manifolds anout 8in long so the block is s****.It had 8ba rods and the crank (I think is a 3 3/4)So it looks like we're not going to be a ble to rebuild it. So im going to unload the Johnsons and cam as a package.
I have a Howard M-8 in my 286 Flathead. It's pretty mild:.328 gross lift; 230 degrees duration at .050. Not much more than stock '53 Merc but I've decided I like it for everyday driving. Engine is very easy to drive (pulls very well from idle-you don't have to get the revs up to get under way.) and the car doesn't know it has a mild cam when all the driving is under 70 m.p.h.
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