I have a complete flathead out of a 1947 Ford pickup. The engine is stuck as water got into one cylinder. A buddy of mine just found out that he needs a block since his is cracked apparently between the water jacket and exhaust port. The block I have should be good other than the one stuck piston. When I bought the truck last Fall it was full of antifreeze which checked to be a 50/50 mix. My budddy wants to buy my engine , strip it , give me back everything but the block to maybe sell at a swap meet . He will have the block cleaned and magnafluxed. He is offering to pay me $50 for the block before he takes it to strip and check it. If he finds a problem with then he owns it. Is $50 a fair price for a block?
depends on how good of a friend he is. 50 bucks for a crack free block is a pretty damn good price, but if you aren't sure if it is cracked, he could be stuck with a $50 dollar boat anchor. As far as selling the internal parts of the block, you probably won't have much luck. Used stock flathead parts aren't worth much. Any way, if you were going to sell a bare block that was not cracked I would say that going price is around 400-600
$400-600?!?!?! Your bananas!! I have bought two flatheads in similar shape in the past year for $75. You can find runners for 4-600. If it's a buddy $50 bucks is fair. Half of hotroddin is helping each other out...
A flattie that "should be good" ain't worth a whole lot! Now, if its been tanked, inspected and Mag'd, and guaranteed good, then the price goes 'way up.
To make sure it is good,it needs to be pressure tested. You can't really mag the exhaust runners. If You can't guarantee it to be good ,you can't ask a lot. Would you pay that much for a block that has a history of having cracks? And what J scow said true.
To those who believe i should give it away, would it make a difference if I told you my buddy intends to sell the engine? He has an engine that he has been setting up on an engine stand to sell. It was rebuilt a few years ago with some speed parts. When he got his engine stand ready and started filling the engine with water , water started running out of one of the exhaust manifolds. I wasn't really planning on selling my engine right away, but now my buddy wants it . He is planning on asking $5000 for the complete , running engine at an area swap meet. My proposal to him will be this. I'll help strip the engine. He tanks and mags it. If its a good block he pays me $200 for the block. If its bad I'll take it back and split the cleaning and mag costs with him. Now that seems fair.
The story is changing,and so is the money. You need to read your thread again ,then ask yourself what to do. Where did the 5K come from?
$5000 is what my friend believes his engine is worth. Don't know why he thinks that. Anyway , enough said.
Agreed. Ive paid $50-$100 for complete engines that have "unkown" blocks. Ones that are tanked and magged and guarunteed.... usually $500+
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