Relibility question. New guy.

Henry/Kokomo said:
Re: Post #6 - I'm not suggesting you're goofing up anywhere. I am suggesting that getting more, detailed and specific information about your engine and engine mods BEFORE you spend the money would be an advantage. Example : You decide you're going to equip the engine with a 2 deuce intake. Which one? Why that one and not a different brand? What kind of ignition and why? Exhaust system? Etc. etc. If nothing else, it'll be more knowledge for you and you can NEVER have too much of that!
Enjoy your build. It sounds like fun.
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Ohh ok now I got ya :) Thank ya sir. :) After some thinking I'll be going with a 239 flatty and 2 deuce intake, edlebrock with 2 holley 94's, petronix ignition, for reliabilty and no points to mess with a little stronger spark too, and for exhaust straight headers or a cherry bomb system.
 
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I have a 276 cube engine in my 39. That's a late Merc with 1/8 overbore. I have a Winfield SU1-A cam and run a 390 cfm Holley. I also have a 9" Bronco rearend and an aluminum 3 speed overdrive out of a mid 80' Ford F-150. I've been driving this combo for close to 20 years now and would take it anywhere. It gets a little over 20 mpg on the highway and needs nothing but occasional oil changes. By the way, you've got a little more studying to do. Speedway does not sell a block, Holleys are 94s and rack and pinion steering is no way 40's traditional or in any way traditional.
 
The flathead in my F1 has been mine since 1950 - bought in a new F3 truck. I've been running it nearly all my life. It will run all day without a problem. It has never been overheated in it's life time. I use my truck as a truck, so sometimes haul heavy loads at highway speeds. Purrs.
Bored .040" over.
Edelbrock heads.
Holley 390.
Max1 cam.
Shorty headers.
12V electronic ign.
PCV
Runs and pulls strong.

Good luck!!
 
flatjack9 said:
I have a 276 cube engine in my 39. That's a late Merc with 1/8 overbore. I have a Winfield SU1-A cam and run a 390 cfm Holley. I also have a 9" Bronco rearend and an aluminum 3 speed overdrive out of a mid 80' Ford F-150. I've been driving this combo for close to 20 years now and would take it anywhere. It gets a little over 20 mpg on the highway and needs nothing but occasional oil changes. By the way, you've got a little more studying to do. Speedway does not sell a block, Holleys are 94s and rack and pinion steering is no way 40's traditional or in any way traditional.
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It's gonna be driven every good day I can get, I thought there was a lack of stock parts or cores that's why I mentioned the steering, ya get to lookin sometimes and cant find good parts to rebuild, And sometimes I dont think clear when I'm typing.
 
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You lost me with the mention of Speedway Motors!
Flathead man2 said:
I'm planning to start a future project, I already have the specs for what I want. I'm takin my time and really thinking over ever little tiny detail so I dont miss. My goal is a vintage hot rod late 40's. But my main question is everyone I talked to said you can't jump in a flathead car and run all day and not overheat or have weak ignition. I say you can if you do it right, it's been my childhood dream to have a 32 roadster flathead car. I wanna be able to just on those good days jump in and run all day long. :) :D I'm not getting no chevy like my boss said.

1. frame and body + suspinsion.
2. 5 speed, 9 inch rear end.
3. vintage style tires.
4. Bench seat with plad cover.
5. rac&pinoion steering.
6. disc brakes.
7. (vintage style and reliable driver).
8. flat paint job green.
9. Hot rod authentic flathead Speedway motors.
10. 12 volt conversion, electronic ignition.
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I thought they had the block but motor city equipment is the one, but I think I'll see if I can find a 49-53 merc and get a set of headers and mild cam and two 94's, with pertronix ignition, (I'm just sourcing parts now). I'm just starting out on my dream three years out of highschool. Hopefully has no cracks and is ok.
 
I just got a PM from one of the fellas on here and he said he's running a 4bbl on his engine, he also told me the setup I'm wanting to run is one working carb and the other two deuces wouldn't really be working. So my question is, if I want to run three deuces how to get them ALL TO WORK together? How would 4bbl affect the classic Flathead theme? I guess its a matter of finding the parts and makin them fit and work. :)
 
Flathead man2 said:
Im lookin for a nudge in the right direction, one member said to invest in two books, I'm not doin much just a cam and port and polish, I'm lookin for somewhere between 110 and 150 horse. Or is there a point my boss was tryin to show me by modern engines like SBF?
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Okay young'un, I'll give you a nudge. You can't get halfway into the flathead game and survive. If you want a running flathead that turns heads and turns miles then you need to learn. Those two books are your best friends to find the the best recipes. This website is where you'll find all of the rest of the need-to-know stuff. You need to page-back from here to discover the holy grail of flathead. As of now you have 589 pages to review. See you on the other side and look forward to questions you may have.

Lonnie
 
Binx said:
Okay young'un, I'll give you a nudge. You can't get halfway into the flathead game and survive. If you want a running flathead that turns heads and turns miles then you need to learn. Those two books are your best friends to find the the best recipes. This website is where you'll find all of the rest of the need-to-know stuff. You need to page-back from here to discover the holy grail of flathead. As of now you have 589 pages to review. See you on the other side and look forward to questions you may have.

Lonnie
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I'll look and read up a bit :)
 
Binx :), I understand why they dummi the two outside carbs, its trouble and time comsuming to try to get all three to work together. The thread is offy 3X2 advice, I think, for me I think what I'm gonna do is take it slow and get the books so I know a little more along with the info on here, back to the carbs, progressive linkage would be the only way. I think that'd probbly be the way to go. Just dumi the outside carbs and run off the center one. ( I got a lead on two engines both are form f-6 and 7 trucks. A little rusty but all there.
 
Flathead man 2,
I wouldn't hesitate to drive my flathead powered 32 anywhere. I have a 40 banjo rear end that had the ends of the axle housings cut off and have 9" ford axles, bearings and drum brakes. Looks old from the rear but have modern axles and bearings with a new 3.54 ring and pinion. I have a Griffin radiator and when I first fired it up with no thermostats it wouldn't get above 110 degrees and ran terrible. Put in 160 stats and it runs like a champ. I don't know what your budget is but a 32 roadster body is pretty spendy (mine is a resurected 50s hotrod) and so is a proplerly built flathead. Good luck and you will have a lot of fun if you can complete your project!
 
Flathead man2 said:
...2 holley 94's, petronix ignition, for reliabilty and no points to mess with a little stronger spark too, ...
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I'd like to jump in here with my 2¢ worth... You don''t want to mess with points, and you chose Petronix for reliability? I think you've got it backwards here. No better point system than the Ford helmet, bar none. 11A advance plate and you've got a very reliable distributor. Your 12V will deliver reliability, and a rebuilt coil from Skip Haney will deliver all the spark you need. Nothing against the Petronix in particular, but any electronic ignition is going to suffer a heat stroke under a hood with a flathead Ford. Electronics also perform better when the whole system is computer controlled.

You asked for ideas to keep it traditional, another non-traditional item you mentioned is disc brakes. A traditionalist will take one look and see a disc, turn on his heel and you won't see him again. Tradition means drum brakes.

The single non traditional thing to seriously consider for reliability is the Holley 390. Multiple carbs are anything but reliable.

Go with a '39-48 Ford 3 speed, put in an overdrive and you got tradition and performance. And you don't need a 9" 3rd member. A Ford 3.54 or 3.78 will do you just fine with any flathead you can build.
 
i think you're getting some good ideas from people here....find someone like deuce roadster who drives his '32 and pick his brain....and other people whose car you like, etc....you can hide discs under the finned covers that So-Cal sells, probably others sell 'em, too....look like Buick finned drums, so retro hot rod....and the ford rear end can be made pretty reliable as others have testified....heck, look at posts by Old Henry to see what a pretty stock Ford can do as far as reliability....have fun and good luck with your planning....Mike
 
4 inch crank - I found this the best starting point for for low end torque. Probably great at the high end too, but I don't go there any more ...
 
ford38v8 said:
I'd like to jump in here with my 2¢ worth... You don''t want to mess with points, and you chose Petronix for reliability? I think you've got it backwards here. No better point system than the Ford helmet, bar none. 11A advance plate and you've got a very reliable distributor. Your 12V will deliver reliability, and a rebuilt coil from Skip Haney will deliver all the spark you need. Nothing against the Petronix in particular, but any electronic ignition is going to suffer a heat stroke under a hood with a flathead Ford. Electronics also perform better when the whole system is computer controlled.

You asked for ideas to keep it traditional, another non-traditional item you mentioned is disc brakes. A traditionalist will take one look and see a disc, turn on his heel and you won't see him again. Tradition means drum brakes.

The single non traditional thing to seriously consider for reliability is the Holley 390. Multiple carbs are anything but reliable.

Go with a '39-48 Ford 3 speed, put in an overdrive and you got tradition and performance. And you don't need a 9" 3rd member. A Ford 3.54 or 3.78 will do you just fine with any flathead you can build.
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I'll try and see if I can get the distibutor rebuilt with 12v conversion, and I think what I'll do try to find a 8 inch rear end and run 9 inch axles, with drum brakes from a f150, with 4.05 gears.
 
I'm gonna try to find a fanned drum brake system that self adjusting brakes will fit into. A tremec 5 speed, maybe a ford 3.78, with a full pressure oil system, 12v system, 3 deuce setup, the center one will be simple but the two outside ones im thinking line blocks like where the line goes to each outer carb have the holes in the line joint plugged and just use the center carb, but with progressive linkage how to get the center to open up all the way, or will the other two memic the center?
 
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Uh, if I am reading this right you will making a too lean condition if the end carbs are letting in more air but no gas with the linkage hooked up but fuel blocked off. I am curious as to how much experience you have working on cars with carbs. Are you a young'n whos only experience is with modern cars with fuel injection? For those of us who grew up with carbs a lot of that stuff seems second nature. If you pm me I can give you a rundown of what I have done with my car and attach pictures. If that avatar is your car you don't need any advice from me!
It is good that you are doing lots of thinking at this stage.
 
Im lookin at pics of dual carbs and thinking how can I hook them up to make it look as if they are wroking and have fuel lines going to them but they are just dummies. You hit the gas pedel but the outer carb linkage moves but they dont take ant fuel. The oldest engine I worked on was my Willys jeep engine L-Head not the Flathead.
 
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