The best engine for a hotrod?? Flathead, sbc, etc

but if you were forced to choose one, which one would it be??

 

just some updates.

1. i will not be cutting up the car in anyway.

2. people seemed to be worried about me being worried about what people think, i am not. i am just looking for advice, and i can say that i am getting some really good advice thank you all so much.

3. i realize all the work and changes that will need to take place if i change the
HP a lot. but it could be worth it.

 

Rationally speaking, an SBC is the best motor for any hot rod. They're cheap to buy and build, and can go into virtually anything. With that said, I would rebuild the Flatty or go Olds, Cad, or early Hemi.

 

You really want more power,so go with small block Ford or sb Chevy but don"t get rid of the flathead ,bad ass car though,tooling around town built flathead,road trips and hard driving,sbFORD OR sb CHEVY.

 

If it was mine I'd look into the cost of building a new french block flathead with a blower...
Then I'd check price and availability of plopping a nice 283 chevy in the car with a tranny adapter to keep all your stock ford transmission/rearend/brakes etc etc. The little 283 [with 305 heads for unleaded fuel and better performance] will give you all the performance the original running gear will handle and be very simple and easy to work on. The chevy's engine weight is almost identical to the flathead's so no suspension changes are needed...don't even need to split the wishbone like you would for a bigger engine.
When we were in High school a buddy, neighbor and classmate drove a 40 ford coupe with a modified flathead. We spent many great hours in that car but he grew tired of sinking time and money into the flathead only to get blown away by the boys in their 265/283 powered 55-57 chevys. He bought a 60s 283 and bolted it against the 40 transmission...made a great car even better! But he drove it really hard and couldn't keep a transmission/rearend/axle keys in it for long.
He was a high school kid and side-stepped the clutch, powershifted it [once broke the drivers side windshield with his fist when the stock 40 column shifter broke off!] and drove it totally unlike you'll probably drive your 36.
The drive train will probably live a long life behind a small chevy V/8 if you don't abuse it and the chevy will be a ton of money cheaper than the blown [or unblown] flathead to build or buy and install.....and it'll have waaaaay more power.
Yeah, some will say you ruined it because you strayed away from a flathead but I kinda believe a great portion of these naysayers probably drive mom's Toyota when they're not typing on the HAMB and their 54 chevy 4 door will never see the street again..not everybody but a good many.
Personally, I'm building a .120 over 1957 Pontiac engine [370 cubes] and a 5 speed to go in my 34 ford coupe. Because of no other reasons than I've had many old pontiacs and love those engines. Should make over 300 HP and weigh about 65 LBS more than a small block chevy. If it doesn't work out like I plan, I've got a enough parts saved up to build a killer 301 small block chevy...sold off a lotta flathead parts to get the $$$ to buy those parts.
Just my opinion based only on what I like after playing in this hobby for, uhhhh, almost 50 years.

 

Early Chevrolet. Its a bolt in 80/100 hp gain. Rocky nailed all the other attributes.

 

Since you have a hood, appearance is not as big a deal, I would suppose. If you want traditional, flat heads, nail heads and hemis offer the most visual appeal, and are traditional. Early Cadillacs, Rockets and SBC are traditional too, have lots of potential to look really cool and as always, the Chevy will be the least expensive and is as good a choice as any of the aboove. You would know more about cost to buy and build than we would, and parts availability and all that. I would go OHV for sure, but only you can make you happy. No matter what you put in the car, it is hard to see it being any cooler than it already is. Good luck

 

Flattie for cool----283 for go.

 

if you never open the hood, and I mean NEVER, go the SBC. I love my flathead to death, and it runs great, however i have dreams of it blowing up and me putting in a SBC and driving it to California with no hiccups. That car will be the COOLEST with a flatty, but the most practical with a SBC. I wont hate it either way

 

Leave the flathead in it!!!

 

I would vote for any Ford engine. Flathead, y-block, FE or small motor, you choose.

 

Since that's one of the nicest '36's around I would like to give another vote for a Cadillac engine. It the engine that I wanted to put in my '35 and I think it's the best choice.

 

ok i have a question.

people have mentioned that because i have a hood, i do not need to worry about what engine i choose.

now i understand SBC can be accuse of many things boring, over used, etc etc. but i never would of accuse them of being ugly.

is that way people are mentioning the hood or is it because i can hide it?
if i choose Flathead or SBC, i will make it look beautiful and be proud to show it.

 

its your ride do what you want..trust me , it will piss someone off

the best engine to use..is the one you know, and hopefull already have.
and not what some blow hard on an internet site tells you to use.

 

ok again i do not want this to turn into a debate. it is a discussion about engines from a technical point of view. and maybe my last posting sounded a bit 'screw you' but it was not meant to be.

there has been some great posts from 8flat, teddyp, jefferyjames, hotrodprimer, A chopped coupe, and rocky. you guys have really made me think and thanks for that and thank for your time.

 

They're just saying to leave the hood closed because they heard someone else say it and are a funch of bucking lemmings.

And, that car is beautiful by the way. I don't think you could go wrong either way.

 

I'm kinda living your situation only I haven't blown up the flathead. I have Harrison's old '38 Deluxe coupe. It has a 24 stud flatty with two 97's. The motor runs as good as any flathead I've ever owned, and it's as underpowered as any flathead I've ever owned (see the quandary?). It came with mechanical brakes so it's a no brainer to put on hydraulics, which I'm in the process of doing as we speak. I've got a '57 Chevy 301 (283 bored .125) sitting in the wings. My plan, after the brake swap, is to install the 301 along with a fresh '39 trans ending up with what a high school senior/recent graduate in 1959-60 (the year I turned 16) would have been able to piece together on a gas station attendant income. I'll have the rpm potential of the SBC, enough horsepower to outshine the flathead, and with restraint, not overpower the drivetrain to the point I'm blowing up the trans and rearend with regularity. Notice i said RESTRAINT...........a commodity that I have never possessed in any abundance. I'm hoping that the 50 years I've taken up space on this planet since getting my license will have instilled enough wisdom to refrain from the antics that saw me replacing the transmission every couple of weeks in the av8 I had in highschool......................2 chances...........slim and no. You'll hear about it here first.

Frank

 

Tasty Fab32!!! SOunds similar to my 265 powered '35 coupe!

 

i'm going to build the rarest, most expensive, worst performing old engine with no aftermarket support or parts availability, just because it's cool. then leave the hood closed so fuckers that roll their eyes at a SBC don't get to look at it.
what is the HAMB about? traditional. what was the goddamn hottest motor back in the early 60's, which seems to be the way a lot of cars on the HAMB are styled? the SBC. so the SBC isn't traditional? bullshit. i'm with you man, build what you want or if it's not what you want, what you can afford, and screw 'em if they don't like it.

 

Jamesville,
What they are trying to say is that as long as you leave the hood shut no one will know what it has. In theory you could put a 12 cylinder Lamborgini under there and no one would know the difference.

I don't agree but that is what they are trying to say.

It is a beautiful car just the way it is and I understand where you are at. I would have a hard time trying to decide if I should stay with the flatty or not. In the end I would do just what I suggested, look at my finances, my likes and what I wanted from the car and that is what my decision would be based on.

In the end I personally would probably not stay with the flatty. I got them out of my system when I was still in high school. But that is not my decision to make.

 

Mr. Sinister, Well stated.

 

If push came to shove,and the high cost of replacing the strong running flatty I have in the car now,,I would probably go with the SBC,,bang for the buck we all know they run good and can be made to look good,parts are easy to find and they fit in tight spaces with the overall dimensions not to different than a flathead,,that means less modifications.

And in the mid fiftys,,,they were the newest engine to hit the market,,and contrary to some here,,they are Traditional!

Does that answer your question for me? HRP

 

For looks and sound on a hotrod- A flatty
for reliability on long trips - a short block
just my humble opinion

 

It basically comes down to what's most important to you.

When people come over to my shop and I light up my flathead, their reaction is really fun to watch. Sure it looks cool, but the SOUND and the presence of a healthy flathead is killer. (Max1 cam, port work, headers, straight pipes)

One guy on here said it well, "When you're cruising around in your full-house flathead, you find yourself leaning over the steering wheel, looking for a fight."

BUT, I can't get too worried about losing a race..haha. It's about 175hp if I'm lucky. For me, at least with this F1, keeping the flathead was more important than acceleration.

SBC is a great engine, no argument there because I actually like them, but people get tired of seeing so damn many of them. As far as your coupe, if it were me and I wanted to go fast, I'd run something more unique than the SBC. Nailhead, little hemi, caddy, hell maybe even a Y-block.

 

In the old days we put Cads and more likely Oldsmobiles in old Fords because we were interested in drag racing. Around here at Half Moon bay or maybe on Canada road. That is no longer important to most cars like your very pretty '36. So if it was mine I would first look into rebuilding the flathead that is in it. Or another flathead. If long distance cruisng is in the plan I would look at the ever popular SBC. Most swapped engine to put in there, I bet there are bolt in kits made.

 

Yeah. Traditional. And a small block chebby ain't it. One of the parts that made Vic Edelbrock SR's rep was this manifold. It didn't go on a chebby. It fit the 331/354 cu in chrysler hemi from 53, 54, & 55. The engine pic is from Hemi Hayne's website. He can help restore an early 50's block and this is tradition! The only other motor that is more traditional or costs more to restore is a ...FLATTY! So, either fix what you have and maybe mount a or half a dozen Strombergs or hunt down one of these early hemi's. The two old guys holding trophies are Alex Xydias on the left and Dick batchelor on the right accepting the trophy for the 1949 worlds land speed record set on the SoCal belly tank lakester powered by...you guessed it, a Vic Edelbrock prepped Mercury flathead---193 MPH!

 

JamesVille that's a beautiful 36 mate. Just wanted to let you know that I've got a Flatty (stock 4") French motor in my coupe that I borrowed from a friend. I'm enjoying the loaner at the moment whilst I get my Ford Flathead rebuilt by Jim at Royal kustoms here in the UK
http://www.royalkustoms.co.uk/

He's building me a strong reliable motor that should be good for 200hp for a bloody good price. Check his site out, he's good, very good. His own car runs a stroked, injected and blown Flathead and he's clocked himself at some very naughty speeds.
He's currently building a few motors for European customers.
Run the motor through a Volvo Amazon gearbox,T5 or Toyota and open drive and you may surprise yourself.
Oh yeah did I say I really like your car!!

 

If you want to have a lot of fun and get great gas milage go with an LS1. Just add a came and tune and you will get close to 400 hp to the wheels and over 20 mpg.

 

Tradition---In real life, in the time before the SBC took over the world. If you had an OHV V8 in your car. Odds on it was an Oldsmobile. I'll bet there were 10 Olds engine swaps for every Chrysler. First they came out in '49. Three years before the Chrysler. They sold like mad. So there were a lot more of them in junk yards. They were cheaper and much eaiser to fit into a Ford. It was gererally accepted that a Cad V8 was a little lighter and had 28 more cubic inches, but there weren't many around and they cost. Same deal for the Chrysler. Not a lot of them around. Expensive. heavy. Big. Real racers worked around that but there were lots of serious racers using Oldsmobiles for a long time. Stone woods and Cook amoung others. Just telling it like it was.

 

All that I have to say is whatever you do is I hope it turns out well for you.
There is alot of good points on both sides and having that car so far from the U.S.A
can be kinda tough whatever you decide.Good Luck and Nice Car