Always love to old Flat Heads, but I see you are in PA, and have winters to deal with. If your only daily driver, I would go the 302. If you have other vehicles to use, then stick with the Flatty !! JMHO... Let us know what you to .....
Run the 302 keep the hood shut at all times, and stick the flathead in an open engine bay, like a 20's or 30's roadster or coupe for summer fun.
yea im thinking im gonna do the 302 and T-5 in the 50 for a daily driver. Then keep the flathead on an engine stand for a future project. Always wanted a bare bones Model A Sedan, that would be a perfect candidate!
302 is the way to go. I have one in my 28 with the EFI. Swapping out the flathead in my 47 for a 302. I found a wealth of efi info at www.fordfuelinjection.com
Fits real good. I used the Jamco engine swap kit. Everything bolts in with no welding. Pretty straight forward.
It also has to do with if you consider bad azz looking cool or going fast. One of the fellas just rebuilt a flatty stock for about 3K he isn't as interested in going fast as he is being period correct. Stock the 5.0 makes more than triple the HP of the flatty. It doesn't look or sound as cool as the flatty to the right crowd of people but there is also a crowd that will appreciate the 5.0 more than the flatty. Cost aside it is a matter of what floats your boat. I don't mind tinkering even with my dailey so other than the fact that the flatty doesn't make as much zot as the valve in head you have to be aware that it is a work and drive situation. if you don't mind tinkering and getting thee faster than everyone else isn't a concern than the flatty is the way to go otherwise choose the modern drive train.
Actually get 2 liftime warranty TFI modules, keep one in the glove box. Aftermarket ones are a craps shoot at best. When my buddy retrofitted the 250 in his Fairlane to a TFI setup (totally homebrew, I should hijack his pics and post em) he had no less than 2 dead TFI modules.
Go with the 302. I have a real nice original '51 club coupe that runs and drives perfect. I use it as my DD when I am back in northern Minnesota in the summer. Up there, town is 6 miles away, so all the trips are short and leisurely. I can't imagine trying to use it as a daily driver when I was down in the cities going to work everyday. Factor in the fact that since yours has not been running lately, it could be very expensive to get it back in shape. Then add in the fact that the T-5 has an overdrive 5th gear, and there's really no choice. Take this from a guy who puts a couple of thousand on a flathead each year in semi-daily (when it's not raining) use..
had a 50 ford with a sbc in it and a 51 with a olds if you are going to drive it alot go with the 302 if you can do most of your motor work do the flathead if you want something driffrent then do a y-block
Sounds like you're set on the 5.0. A good decision for a daily driver. Now just keep an eye out for the perfect roadster project for the flattie, and then you can spend 3K on it like me!
I second the notion on keeping the flathead. Lots of guys upgraded to overheads but how many people still run a flathead as a daily driver? That's pretty cool in itself, and you don't have to spend thousands to keep on going unless the block is cracked and you need to rebuild everything. My friend drives his '51 Ford powered by a flathead with 3 deuces and he's never had problems with it. Had it running maybe 8 years at the very least now i believe with no troubles yet...
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