1952-59 Ford Felty's Flathead...

Here's an email I got from Felty that I thought would be of general interest to this group (hope you don't mind, Chris!):

> "You have some great looking cars. You said you were going to a three carb on the 50 ford? my 53 has the original v8 in it, still runs, but eventually I want to beef it up some. I don't really want to replace the entire engine. Will the three carbs do that?
>
> chris"

In my humble opinion: A good-running stock flathead will haul your '53 around in leisurely style and, with a set of duals and gl***packs, will sound wonderful!

Adding headers, duals, heads and, specific to your question, 3-deuces to your car will not significantly improve overall performance. The operative word is significantly. You'll get a small bump in performance, for sure, but don't expect miracles.

The biggest drawback to making these cars perform with a flathead is that they weigh too much. Even with a warmed-over flathead the power-to-weight ratio is dismal.

You can put a set of overdrive gears in to improve acceleration, but your highway mileage will suffer and you'll be twisting the flathead pretty tight at freeway speeds. Not a good thing for engine life.

So, you kinda hafta make a choice between building your Victoria as an old-style semi-custom cruiser that's low and slow, or modernize it with an engine swap to get modern performance with old-style looks.

The time to do that is now, before you've sunk a bunch of money into the flathead and discovered the truth on your own.

Both ways are good. Your choice should depend on how you are going to use your Vicky, not on somebody else's opinion of what you should do.

BTW: If you decide to warm your flathead over, I've still got the 3-deuce manifold, new, and the two end carbs.

Good luck making your choice!

Eric

 

Excellent email. It reminds me of the 49 club coupe that I had about 10 years ago. Being of the post-flathead age, I was raised around my dad's small block Chevy and Ford projects. So, when I bought the mildly customized 49 with a stock flatty, I expected big things when I added finned heads, a cam, headers, and 3 dueces.

Man, was I dissapointed. I mean...I DID get some horsepower, but mostly what I added was expensive eye-candy under the hood. It did have one heck of a good sound though....no doubt about that.

 

Gotta tell you...that's one of the best little posts I've read. My dad and I are faced with that exact dilema at this very point in time. Our '53 is in great shape, still needs a little body work, but getting it back on the road regardless. Our flatty is at the builder's shop as we speak (only has 70,000 miles on it). He's going to pull it apart and let us know what shape it's in and tell what kind of a build kit to buy for it, depending on what we want to use it for. Mom wants a bunch of HP in the car, lol, and we were pretty curious about what a "light build up" to the engine would produce...well, after reading the above, it's pretty much what we expected...just a little, but nothing major. I think we're still going to stick with the flathead...we don't plan on racing it anyway, just cruising it and enjoying it, and making a little noise with the pipes...sounds like the flatty is the way to go, for us anyway.

Thanks for the post!

Mark

 

The sad thing about building the flathead is the parts cost,they are still pretty much the same bolt ons and parts as was available back in the 50's and 60's there really has not been any real technical advances in them at all.There is probably twice the aluminum in a SBF or SBC intake and yet the price is half that of a flathead same with cam prices.I built my share "back in the day" but unless you have a fat wallet and can afford to pay the crazy price of nostalgia I can't see building one from a practical standpoint.

 

Great email. I addressed the same issues with my flatty when I bought my car. I decided to keep it slow and low and love the decision I made. My flatty with triple deuces gets more attention than the whole car does, it is unique and it just sounds SO *****in.

 

Thanks for getting this out for bigger group discussion. Has anyone heard much about superchargers for the flatheads? I have found one place close to me that builds them.

http://www.roadrunnerengineering.com/

Will this put too much strain on the engine?

 

Eric... you're right on. That very decision was made by me last year. I still have the flathead and it ran great when pulled. But..... I wanted to take a bunch of long distance runs with an engine and drivetrain that can be repaired with oem parts along the road if something happens. I have a book with every part number I need recorded that has been updated with modern parts. I now have that car that can make it anywhere without me worrying. Something to consider when building a car. My small block runs about 300 hp and the car loves it... it drive effertless with very decent mileage. No problems going 65 to 75 on the freeway at about 2,300 rpms at 75. Perfect! I'd love to get that flathead into something a lot lighter so I can run it around town.... someday I'll start another project for it.

 

felty...I'm no expert but I would think that a supercharger would put a lot of strain on the bottom end of a stock flatty.

 

I got to thinking,Sunday I was watching Pinks All Out and a 511 cubic inch Dart got outrun by a Turbo Buick Grand National (he was eliminated for running too fast) A Buick V6 is within 3 cubes of the flatty so why not a Turbo? I checked the HAMB archives and Google and saw pics of turbo flathead 6 bangers but no flathead V8's Dare to be different? Since flathead 4 barrell intakes are available it seems a blow thru system could be fabbed up,it seems like a turbo would be easier on the bottom end as long as the rods are upgraded and the boost is within reason. OK I am adding this on,check it out! so click on this for some build pics:www.ruffrodders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35288&page=5 scroll down to thread #43 He even tells you what Turbos you can find at the Pic and Pull, "more bang on a budget ?" This engine is going in a '36 Coupe.

 

Very interesting thread on the turbo flathead, Jeff. 'Course that was two years ago and the thread ends before the car was fired up. Don't recall seeing it at the Roundup, either, and I'm sure it would have drawn a crowd!

The point you make is a good one, that a turbo would be much easier on the motor than a blower...but "easy" is relative, especially when it comes to 50-year old engines which have not been specifically built to handle the extra pressure.

This is not to disuade Chris from putting either a blower or a turbo on his flathead, however. I think it would be a very noble experiment.

It would also hasten his progress towards going with a modern powertrain...

Eric