Yeah, that looks like a Merc crank. Measure the width of the big counterweight - that will tell you for sure. Make sure you order the correct pistons with the correct compression height. If it was my engine, I'd bore it to 3 5/16 and with the Merc crank you'd have a nice 276 cubic inch motor. This is a super popular size - you'll love it. What are you going to be running it in? Depending on the Car/Application: If it was mine (depending on the car weight and your goals), I'd run an Isky 1007B grind or a Potvin 3/8 in a lighter car. It kind of depends on what you're doing on the carb side. Give us more details on the complete engine guild, the car, the transmission, the rear-end gears and whether you're going for a stock type build or a performance one.
That sounds good... At the moment still with stock gearbox ... although I may have thought about a T 5 before, but probably later. Otherwise, I have Offenhauser heads and a 2x2 Offenhauser Intake here.I put the 1.6 intake valves and an isky Solid cam .. And I have two 97 Stromberg here. The engine runs (should) in my 50 Merc Coupe rein.. Does that make sense, what do you think? Greetings Marcus
Cam - New - Isky 1007B for ’49 - '53 [2983] - $455.00 : Red's Headers, Speed Equipment For Old Fords (reds-headers.net) this one??
If it was me, I'd have Pete regrind a stock cam - will be a much better product that what you'll see from Isky these days. Their quality is just not what it used to be. Here is the contact info - check with him first. He's been grinding cams longer than I've been alive - does exceptional work: His handle on here is 'Pete1' - you can checkout some of his posts. My guess is that a regrind would cost you roughly $250 or so (plus postage): D&L Automotive Attn: Pete 20409 SR 706 Elbe, WA 98330 RE: Isky 1007B grind recommendation from Dale "Flatstick" Hays Phone: 360-569-2656eMail: tuspwr@centurylink.net
A few more pictures.. The body was stripped of paint and rusted in an immersion bath and then coated with cathodic dip coating. the paintwork is still missing. I sandblasted and painted the frame. That is the current state of affairs
Great looking start! You're building a nice car from the ground up - so it makes sense to do the best possible job on the engine. Definitely get in touch with Pete for the cam. Also, unless your Stromberg 97's are in great shape, I highly recommend buying two brand new ones from Clive at Stromberg 97's. You can hopefully find a new pair in your part of the world. If you need any engine build details, just start a conversation with me - be happy to help out.
Pete reground a cam for me ,,,,,it is better looking than any new cam . It is a 3/8 Potvin profile,,,,looks great ! Tommy
a .030" piston is for a .030" cylinder size. the paiston has to be smaller to allow for the piston to cylinder wall clearanc, maybe 2 03 thousands smaller.
After a lot of thought and discussion with the guys on t"The Ford Barn", I kept the stock cam in the 8CM I installed in my '51 Ford coupe. It performs very well. These heavy cars need a "torque" cam.
Something that matters is the skill level and tools available to the shop that will do the work for you. Germans have a good reputation but in this case you may be asking someone to do something for the first time and not working with metric dimensions. Cleaning and magnafluxing before investing any other money is a good idea unless you saw the engine run before it was removed. Learn how to balance all the pistons and rods with a small scale and match them in weight. You would probably be fine just doing that instead of a full on shop balance ($$) because the flathead doesn't turn a lot of rpms. I'd do the trans swap right from the beginning as it will be easier than removing and adapting once installed. A 5 speed will help it out quite a bit. I'd also weigh the cost of a later model V8 vs the flathead. It can cost more to build and adapt a flathead than many later engines where a 5 speed pretty much bolts right up.
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