I want to build up my ply flathehead, but don't know what would go with what. I would like a stronger cam but not to wild, how much to over bore, what kind of pistons, thinking of two single carbs, headers or split manifold. It has a 3 speed /w od. I want to be able to drive this daily and still have it be to reliabel. Can anyone help me? THANKS............
I have a 38 Dodge 201 that I am building up at the moment. Very costly one that engine. My advice is speak to your local machine shop and ask their advice. No doubt they will be able to advise you on what size pistons to get and how much they can skim the block by. As I said, they are a costly engine to do up even if they do look the dogs danglies.
The problem with most of the local machine shops is they don't have those old timers that know about old sixes, some just have a dazed look when you mention the word flathead............. good luck with your porject.
Look up Earl Edgy, he regrinds cams, sells his own finned heads, dual carb intakes, finned valve covers. You can mill the head .050-.070, if it hasn't been done already. Langdon sells cast headers. Added a couple of the previous to my 38 Plymouth Coupe, more in the future as time & money permit. Also check out the P15-D24 site....all early Mopar.
For the money you're going to spend, investing in a Chrysler 6 might be a good idea. The last '53-'54s had 264 C.I. & are as close to a bolt-in as you'll ever see. Wiith a cam, dual carbs, some compression & a split manifold it'll do anything you want & should pull 20+ MPG easily. Curious how you found an OD equipped '48 ...
Check out the P15-D24 site http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_...eferrerid=1152 You can also look at Edgy Speed Shop for finned aluminum head, intake and reground cams http://edgyspeedshop.com/ Langdon's Stovebolt Engine Co for intake, cast iron headers and HEI distributor http://stoveboltengineco.com/ Paul Curtis for an adaptor to mount a T5 5 speed behind the flathead https://home.comcast.net/~pjplymouth/t5.html For engine rebuild parts Terrill Machine 254-893-2610 (TX) Vintage Power Wagons http://www.vintagepowerwagons.com/ Egge Machine www.egge.com Blueskies site http://www.50plymouth.com/04-eng/eng.html Other Threads to look through http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...highlight=edgy http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=429644 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...mouth+flathead http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...mouth+flathead http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...mouth+flathead Here are a couple pictures of my 57 Plymouth 230 in my 48 Plymouth Coupe. On my Dallas to Joplin round trip for the HAMB Drags I got 20.9mpg out of it with the O/D transmission.
in my humble opinion a reground cam for the street is counter productive. Basically all you get is a lumpy idle and the power curved moved up to where it does little good. If you do have a regrind done perhaps some duration will help but extra lift is pretty much wasted. increasing the compression and freeing up the breathing in and out will give you the most bang for the buck. Any thing else if not for a racing application is chasing buterflies. Since you don't say which engine you have, the rule of thumb goes something like this: work done to a 201 will = the output of the stock 218, building a 218 will = a stock 230, building a 230 will = a stock 251. So if your gonna build anythig find a 230 or a 251/265. If you are putting a chrylser or desoto engine in your plymouth or dodge, they are 2 inches longer and will need some changes to be accomodated (unless your car is from Canada where they all used 25 inch engines). for rebuild parts look at Egge, Vintage Power wagons, and then call Terrill machine in Texas. Just remember these are all long stroke engines 4 3/8" and up, so they don't want to be high rev HP makers, they like to do thier work under 3200 RPM's and make torque not big horses. Done correctly they can be a very responsive, enonomical and dependable slightly different power plant.
I would call George Asche in PA. He is a wealth of knowledge on these old flatties. I am sending him my trans for rebuild out of my 41. He has a ton of NOS parts from these years. He sells cams, split intakes that he makes and I would guess a whole lot more. He doesn't do email or anything like that so you will have to call him. I was able to talk to him a few days ago and what a nice person to talk to. He was giving me a bunch of ideas to hop up the 218. I would give him a call and he can tell you what to do and what not to do. Machine work is generally expensive no matter what you have now. It's the parts. I was able get by fairly in expensive with my 218. The only machining I needed was honing the cylinders, hardened valve seats, polish the crank and a good cleaning. Then I got all the gaskets, rings and bearing to re***emble the block for under $550. Not bad. If you PM me, I will p*** along Georges' phone number.
I am wanting to ****e up my 218 flattie too. I also have a stock (original) '48 Plymouth SD. Im not wanting a race car, but something that will give me a little bang and keep up. Im not looking to add OD either. Was thinking maybe just a 2x1 manifold and split exhaust. Thanks all.
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