a very famous and highly skilled flat head guru [to remain anonymous] told me when i thought of buying one "you will never spend so much on so little horsepower" i do think they are cool looking tho.
Push the idea hard that you will put it back together with new head gaskets if he will let you pull the heads off. I insisted on doing that on a 59AB that I bought 3 years ago. It had no exhaust seat to cyl. cracks and only one short(acceptable) crack from a lower stud to a water p***age hole. Flatheads are not for pussies. That's what SBC's are for. Here's mine waiting in the corner.
I'm just curious how you of all people will handle the very low hp of the flattie of it turns out to be fixable??!!
Well Squirrel here is what I would do, if it won't run treat it as junk, if it will turn over and looks like it had been taken care of still treat it as junk, by junk I mean something worth maybe 50-100 bucks of parts to it (meaning stock parts not speed equip) it seems to me that everyone now thinks that their old piece of rotted out and rusted flathead is worth 500-on up not in my book. and if he is not willing to at least remove the heads so you can see what you are in for then that's a red flag to me.......... and as a mechanic I'm sure that your eyes are as good as they need to be to look for tell tale signs that something is not right in Flatland. That being said you didn't say what type of car its in, makes a big difference ......... just remember buyer beware.............. JMHO As I have said, it just seems like in the last 15 or so years everyone wants a flathead and of course everyone thinks theirs is made out of silver or something to that effect..... go figure............
If it has studs and he says ok to remove the heads, just be aware those old studs have a bad habit of wanting to twist right off in the block even if it feels ok at first. I'd be curious to see what you could make one of these little L heads do.
i borrowed a, flat head, head puller one time for a motor i just couldn't get apart. are these still sold/available?
Are you buying for just the engine or whole car. If the car is solid, and price is right, then take a chance the engine is usable. Sent from my SGH-T399 using H.A.M.B. mobile app
I'm looking at another car in the morning, to buy instead....my brother likes it better than the 47 Merc...we'll see what happens. I'll let you all know what's been going on pretty soon. Been on the road all day today.
Squirrel looking at getting a flathead- Ryan must be jumping up and down at Vavoline, and saying all is right with the world. Hope it works out for you.
What I have been wondering, too. The first time you romp down on it, you're going to think you stepped on a plum.
Tell me that the next time you climb out of the seat of one of my old heaps and I ask you to clean the seat. LOL Flatheads are for cars powered by flatheads, they have their place in history just like anything else that we build to fit a period. Some of them have even gone really fast over a 5 mile stretch of dehydrated saline solution. Most of them won't pull an old sick woman off a bed pan. that said I like them well enough and would play with one just to see how far I could take it using what is available and not going too exotic with it. But I would soup a washing machine so I am probably not a good barometer.
I'd love to get my hands on one of those pedal-start washing machine engines. Don't know what I'd do with it, but still love to get one. As for the flathead bashers, you guys just don't get it and I'm not even gonna bother tryin'.
Actually it started as SBC bashing not flathead bashing. It shows a general lack of intelligence, a thread about a flathead and out of the blue OMG not an SBC . I wasn't bashing by the way I was just being honest.
I ended up getting the ohv engine car instead of the 47 mercury. Sorry. My brother really digs the Edsel, and I need him to go on on the trip with me. The LeMons rally.
Your gunna stand out at "The LeMons Rally" with an Edsel that's for sure. Under $500 bucks though? Looks like a pretty good car! It also looks like fun!
Some things penicillin won't cure. I actually had a friend once who checked into the Betty Ford Clinic, problem was that they not only cured his flathead addiction but they also made a woos out of him.
Fair enough, but it's okay to respect the period from 1932 to 1954 when the flatty put Hot Rodding on the map.
I don't know what came out in 1955, but in 1954 it was the Y-Block Ford! "More than ever, the standard for the American road"
Our problem here ( you and me) is that we spend all together too much time agreeing. I may have a flathead coming in for tear down and inspection in the very near future. I will give it as much respect as I would a Cosworth or a MOPAR or any other engine, they all have their place. Bruce you are the world's meanest and most respected historian.
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