Flathead FAQs

[Yoyodyne]

Several years ago when they held the TROG race in California there was a 337 flathead powered entry. It was high class looking. Don't know how well it ran since the race pretty much got rained out but it was an impressive looking machine. I did a search trying to find something about it but Mr. Google let me down. Or should I say maybe I just didn't ask the right questions.

The blue single seat car? I saw it in NJ, yes very pretty, ran good but it was hard to tell which cars were fast on the sand, a blown V8 usually outran a 4 banger by only about 2 carlengths there.

 

[Yoyodyne]

 

[dumb person]

I did the drinking the antifreeze trick the other day and I ate pizza witch was strapped to the cylinder heads to warm it

Mountain dew.

 

[Ol' Ron]

The flathead actually has 4 exhaust ports on each side, because one is used twice at different parts of the engine cycle. Now this could benefit exhaust tuning by creating a vacuum in the exhaust header. The firing order fires the end cylinders on the first revolution of the cycle and the center ports on the next revolution. Thus the center port has two power pulses for each engine cycle. Maybe we could take advantage of this in a new header design. Think fellows, think

 

[Ol' Ron]

Mtt

 

[Pete]

The flathead actually has 4 exhaust ports on each side, because one is used twice at different parts of the engine cycle. Now this could benefit exhaust tuning by creating a vacuum in the exhaust header. The firing order fires the end cylinders on the first revolution of the cycle and the center ports on the next revolution. Thus the center port has two power pulses for each engine cycle. Maybe we could take advantage of this in a new header design. Think fellows, think

Back in the 50's when I had unlimited free access to a dyno, I tried 3 different exhaust systems on a 315 ci flathead circle track engine.

1- Standard 1.75 dia. 3 pipe swept back street type headers.
2- Home made 2 inch dia "W" type header with baffle in center at big flange
and reverse flow dams at the ports.
3 - 2 inch zoomies with reverse flow dams.

The zoomies made the most power but we could not run them on the track.
We did run them at Bonneville though.

 

[Ol' Ron]

I was thinking I'd run the end ports into the collector and stop-. Then run the center in about a foot, the extra pulses from ther center port might draw more from the end ports.
I probably won't work but I thing the sound of a flathead might be caused by this.????

 

[Pete]

I was thinking I'd run the end ports into the collector and stop-. Then run the center in about a foot, the extra pulses from ther center port might draw more from the end ports.
It probably won't work but I think the sound of a flathead might be caused by this.????

Almost all improvments are made by testing.
Try it.

 

[Ol' Ron]

I widh I had all these ideas when I had a dyno???

 

[Rudolph]

A wile back everyone was selling those port dividers for the centre port but I think the restriction was worse than the cross contamination,

A friend has a very nice block someone wrecked by grinding out the centre port and made it so thin it went into the water jacket

 

[V8COOPMAN]

A wile back everyone was selling those port dividers for the centre port but I think the restriction was worse than the cross contamination,

A friend has a very nice block someone wrecked by grinding out the centre port and made it so thin it went into the water jacket

"Drug store hot rodders"! One of those brainiac know-it-alls armed with a magazine article, or better yet....a J.C. Whitney add claiming that those dividers will easily add a hundred horsepower. "Grind a smidge, install, and be the KING of your local drag strip!"
DD

 

[Pete]

A wile back everyone was selling those port dividers for the centre port but I think the restriction was worse than the cross contamination.

Yea, those store bought port dividers were the biggest hoax to ever come out.
All you need is a piece of Inconel 1"x1"x1/8". (Race engines only)