Folks, I'm looking for a little advice on the flathead I have in my 1952 F1. The truck only has 77k miles on it I do not know if it was ever rebuilt. What I do know is it's pretty dry under the engine. the PO was a car/truck restorer before he passed. He did some great work. I know the truck was cleaned up and painted ect.. in the early 80's. I believe it was only used around the farm to drive him from his house to the barn and up to the other family homesteads. When I bought the truck I drove it around the farm a bit and had it idleing for about 1/2 hour. I did not see any smoke or signs of overheating. then engine was pretty quiet also even with the bad exhaust.Oil is clean and the cool is nice and green.

my concern is, I'm about to drop a few hundred bucks for an exhaust system and some ignition parts..If the motor needs to be rebuilt or I need a new block or something like that. I'll dump the flatty and drop in a 302. My plans for the truck are a higher rear and maybe an overdrive transmission behind the flathead, but I don;t want to throw good money after bad...

I'm new to flatheads, would I have seen signs of a motor problem after my initial check and drive?

Would a compression test tell me what I need to know?

bob

 

Yes, a compression check is a good place to start. If you ge close to 125 PSI on all cylinders its definatly a keeper, a truck is much cooler, and valuable with the old Flathead in it. Plus, its already in there, it runs, and it sounds like it runs good. No looking for another engine, making it run, and shoehorning it in there.

Here is a good site for info.

The Ford Flathead V8 Site

 

i agree with fighter on keeping engine. you can also do a coolant pressure test to settle that uneasy feeling of possible cracked block. keep the oil clean, these units are quite reliable.