Hot Rods How healthy is my Flathead V8?

Would adding a lead additive to the gas help a valve in a FH?

 

There sure seems to be a lot of fly specks in this pepper.

 

I should add that I do trust the seller, if he says it's rebuilt it definitely was rebuilt, now how well is the question since he didn't do it himself. But he swore by this motor saying that he almost pulled it out of the car before selling it just for one of his projects because of how well it seems to run lol (other than the aforementioned things.) I'm leaning towards the cluster being the main culprit for the oil pressure issue given the other issues I've had with it separate from that specific gauge and the fact that it's inconsistent. It's a wonky mid 2010's digital cluster that seems to have a few electrical issues.

 

Put a mechanical oil gauge on it. Not that I have an issue with electric gauges, it’s what that engine came from the factory with. But you can screw an oil gauge (with no line if you’re in a pinch and you can reach it) right into the threaded port that faces up in the rear of the block. Then you’ve eliminated the gauge and sender of your current setup and can see if it’s telling the truth.
Flathead make noise but a ticking noise is no good. It’s never ok. It’s not going to start to be ok on its own. An exhaust leak, like someone mentioned earlier, on any engine can sound really tickety like something’s really wrong.
If you have adjustable lifters the odds of them getting longer on their own are slim (none?). They back off leaving too large a gap between the valve and lifter. It’s super common to see adjustable lifters in even stock rebuilds these days you may wanna pop the intake and take a look.
If it were me I’d do a compression test because it takes little time and you can see where you’re at. Then I’d check my valve adjustment because it’s no big deal and you’ll have the peace of mind that everything is in order.
I usually run Rotella 15-40 in my flatheads including 4 bangers and antique tractors. In my blown flathead racecar I run Valvoline VR1. I’m no oil expert, and we actually do have legit oil experts on this forum, but that’s what’s worked for me.

10,000 miles on a flathead is not a fresh engine. It can be a very very good engine that was rebuilt at a point in the past but it’s not new. Cars didn’t get driven 100s of thousands of miles like they do now when that engine was produced. That engine has about a 70000 mile lifespan before it’s gonna have some real compression loss if you take care of it.

 

It's called "attention to detail", which is important in engine building.

 

I have a fresh rebuilt 59A with about 4 heat cycles on it. I used a mechanics stethoscope to listen to various parts of the engine on the third start up. I can hear the lifter(s) on #4 and maybe # 3 cylinder.
I'll address this when I get near completion with the truck . 20psig oil pressure at idle warmed up and maybe 550-600 rpm. No tachometer.

 

An article on adjusting Flathead valves if needed.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/adjusting-flathead-ford-valves.1302382/