What is the recipe for the ultimate flathead street engine

thendrix

thendrix

Member
I have an opportunity to come up with a 52 8BA. This i s a good rebuildable core. I have never been very well versed in the flatheads and I am looking for some advice. I want a good, reliable, street engine that makes decent power, and runs on regular gas. This will be going in a 49 F1 with a 66 toploader and a 9 inch.

What machining, parts, other things would you use or do to make the ultimate street flathead?
 
Go to the HAMB website sometime when you have lots and lots of time and search the regular posts and the tech archives. Start a notebook recording what you learn there that you want to incorporate into your build.

My suggestions to you are, unless you already have the 9", I would just look for a good 8". Also, go with the T-5 versus the toploader. Finally, start accumulating the dedicated flathead special tools or find an old flathead gearhead in your area who has them. You might look into joining the closest Early Ford V-8 chapter. Have fun.
 
rebuild it complet stock it will run great. orignal dist ,carb camshaft, duel exhaust thats it. spend the money you save on your pretty wife & child
 
Good advice on the T-5 and 8 inch rear. A 9 inch rear, while very strong, is overkill. Also a 9 inch will take about 10% of your horse power. Just my opinion.
 
As stated, if you are looking for a good street engine, bore whatever is needed and use the late Merc cam which has .330 lift. I'd stick with a 9" rear that has the 5 1/2 bolt circle which will match your front wheel pattern. Also I would use the Ford aluminum 3 speed OD trans from a mid 80's pickup. This will adapt directly to your bellhousing without any extra plates. If you plan to drive it a lot, the OD is a must.
 
I'd cut right to the 'guru's'... I'd suggest reading Ron's book, and John's book. Both are available through this site. Both are the real-deal, no bs, based on experience & tests. Ron's book, currently available through billB - look at the swap site, here.
John's book, contact JWL, a regular poster, here.
(No, I have no 'interest', this is not a paid 'testimonial'.)
JMO
 
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richard crow said:
rebuild it complet stock it will run great. orignal dist ,carb camshaft, duel exhaust thats it. spend the money you save on your pretty wife & child
Click to expand...

You sound like my pretty wife and child :D.

To answer the question, yes I already have the 9" and the toploader. I want to stick with the 9" because, as stated before, the 5 on 5 1\2 match the front of the truck. I am strongly considering the T5 but I don't know much about them. I'll do some more research on that.

I'll also have to look into the books bobH mentioned.
 
my 8ba is bored .040 over,4 ring merc pistons, merc crank, chev stainless 1.6 dia valves, isky max 1 cam with isky springs ,solid adjustable lifters, chrysler 318 electronic ign., holly 450 cfm carb on a home made manifold. this is hooked to an s10 5 speed and a 3.74 s10 rear end. this is all mounted in a 2250 lb roadster. have driven it about 60000 miles. only complaint is surging at low rpm under very light load. could probably remedy this problem with a proper 4 barrel manifold and a new holly 390 carb. also running edelbrock aluminum heads. runs great on regular unleaded gas
 
The ultramarine Flathead might make a dent in your youngster collage education. They can get expensive. Allot of glitter cost cost money and doesn't add much to power or economy. Think of how much you can afford and double it. performance is expensive.
Displacement and compression id power and economy. Hot cams sound good but require a compromise in economy. When considering a cam use the stock one for economy, If you want it to sound great use something more aggressive than a Max#1, it will cost you a fortune and sounds like a stock one. A good 4bl like a 4180 will do wonders for power and economy, tuning these engines id half the battle and must be considered before you buy anything.
 
You can buy a 3 5/16 X 4 1/4 crank assy for 1700 bucks and use EVERYTHING in youe 52 engine. This gives 284ci and 8.5 CR. switching over to a modern ignition will help. The only expense is the bore job and a gasket kit.
 
Just got one built and without distributor and carbs it was $8,000 round figures but all top of the line new parts and a stroker kit. Nothing left un-done as to go fast goodies and although a race motor it will cost the same for a streeter if built with new parts and an old block.
 
Hard to believe the costs have gone up that much. I just had a block bored and Pistons fitter for $140, don't have to do much more to a street engine.
 
I thought 8000 sounded a bit steep myself. I might get a deal on the machine work as I have a couple of cousins that run a garage that has a machine shop and they have been doing machine work for YEARS. I know my uncle did a lot of work on flatties because his son raced them years ago. My uncle is dead now but his son runs the garage and I'm sure after spending the last 50 years of his life messing with these things, he has got to know something.

As far as price goes, I was expecting it to be in the 2500 - 3500 range for a maybe .04 over bored rebuild with a good intake, carb and cam? Am I totally missing something here?
 
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Get with your cousins and get some prices, bore, pistone, rings, barings, you know the list, also line bore and ballance, late valves kit. cam, lifters, I sent a stock cam to Pete in Washington St. and he sent back a fresh Isky 1007-B should be good low end off the line and mid range, with some romptie romp. idel ..I hope ?? cost to grind @150.plus 20 to ship. Ol'Ron called it a 4bl,4180 also a goodway to go. easy to tune and it will stay tuned. good tube headers, and a custom built dist. some things can be added later. Heads. ( have the stock heads milled .050).. some chrome ?? 12 volt system,,, this is something I might do....OLD....BILL
 
You are playing in two different fields at once. A stock rebuild will give you reliability and dependable mild horsepower. The utlimate (ultimate being relative here) is none of those. If you want 250+ reliable horsepower you are playing with the wrong Ford. I know this is Fordbarn so I will say go with a 289-302 in front of your combo you already have and drive the wheels off of it for alot cheaper and with less grief. If you just gotta have the flathead do a mild grind, adjustable lifters, and 2x2's through some Fentons and call it good.

PS-save the extra money for Diapers, you are going to need it B-)

Tim
 
Let me explain. By ultimate street engine I mean most reliable, fun to drive, don't have to tinker with it all week to drive it on the weekend engine. Now I know it's not a set it and forget it type thing but something that you wouldn't be scared to jump in and go anywhere without the trunk being full of replacement parts and saying a long prayer the entire time you are driving.

To me the ultimate street engine is just that, the ultimate STREET (not race) engine.
 
Don't think that you have to carry a ton of spare parts in your trunk with a flathead. That's the talk you hear from the SBC crowd. I drive mine every where, just get in and go. I have offy heads , dual manifold , two Holley 94s and upgraded ignition. Runs like a dream all day long. But since you have a family just build within your budget.
 
The ultimate budget Flathead for me is to do as much as you can by yourself. Ask yourself, "how far do I go with replacement parts?" Once you pull your engine down, clean and check for cracks. Does the engine need a rebore? How are the valves and seats. Are the crank journals round and in good shape? You can do a Flathead fairly cheap if you can get by with a "dingleberry" hone in the cyls and a good valvejob. You'd be surprised at how good a fairly stock Flatty will run. I NEVER build a Flatty without cleaning up the intake and exhaust ports. It's free power and it is great detail work. Spend the money on a timing gear, oil pump, brgs, new rings and gaskets. You can even leave the bottom ring off the stock pistons for a little less parasitic drag(= more available power). Spring for the best ignition system you can afford. Get a $25 stock Merc 4 bolt intake. Port match it to the block. Adapt either a Ford 2150 carb off a Ford 302 or a Rochester 2GC off a small GM V8. Forget aluminum heads and multiple carbs, a waste in my book on a car with a hood. Good running Flatty + a T5 or 4spd OD = a helluva lot of fun!
 
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