That looks great. No OHV engine could ever look as good as a dressed up flattie!

 

Hey, I'm jealous. Want to swap for a 289?? Jag

 

Scott,
Who worked on your engine?
I haven't tried firing mine up yet (not very seriously anyway), but wanted to get contact info in case I need some engine assistance in the (near) future.

 

oscarxyz,
I had Precision Machine in Jeff City do the machine work on the block. I handled the assembly myself (along with my original shop manual and two different flathead books surrounding me )

Precision would do assembly too but I didn't price that. If you're trying to just get yours fired and running I could drop by sometime and offer an extra set of hands.

Scott

 

Looks awesome! When can I drop off my truck?

 

Scott,
Might have to take you up on that. This is definently a "as time allows" project, so it could be awhile. But I will give you a shout when the time comes and see if you are still interested.
Oscar

 

Not a problem, Oscar. I'll just be doing the mind-numbing block sanding on the cab and fenders in the mean time, so would probably need the break!

Scott

 

Scott that Flathead looks great, could you give me a hint on how much coin you have tied up in it.

Thanks Rod

 

Ugh, Rod, I thought my wife would ask first but I'm glad you did so I can practice

A rough rundown of parts that went into it:

Block: A cherry find for $250
254 3/4 Schneider cam: $175
Rod Bearings: $100
Main Bearings: $Freebie
Cam Bearings: $30
Machine Shop Charges $750
Offy Heads $400
Offy intake & adapter $200
Holley 390 4 bbl carb $250
Aluminum cam gear $30
Pistons $0-reused old ones
Oil Pump (not hi-flow) $65
gaskets $60
New Napa water pumps $200
Main bearing support $30
Modern front crank seal $20
Chrome oil filler $20
fuel pump hole cover $10
POR-15 Engine paint $45

I reused my 10 year old Mallory dual point distributor, tube headers, stainless plug wire looms, if I had to buy new probably $500 there. Pistons would have been another addition, but my used ones from my cracked block were low mileage and the machine shop checked them thoroughly.

That all totals out to a little over $3100. Ouch. Well actually, that's about what I expected. That doesn't include my time cleaning the block, assembly, modifying for almost-full-flow oil, etc. It's a huge chunk, but something I knew I was going to do on the project. The truck will look pretty decent, but I want people to just stand and stare when I open the hood. I didn't have to have the fancy heads, or 4 bbl, or the other toys, that'd knock at least a grand off the total, but it was something I've wanted on the truck since I learned to drive in it 16 years ago.

Scott

 

Got any #'s? HP? JUST wondering! LOOKS awesome! Great Job!!

 

Scott, thanks a lot for going into so much detail on your expense I asked a guy at a car show that question and he wouldn't even talk to me. Looks like the machine work was a good chunk of your expense. Did you luck out and find a block without any cracks in it. Did you stick with the stock crankshaft, and was everything balanced.

 

Wayyyy excellent engine!! Wayyy off the subject, I learned from really solid engine and hotrod builder (from 1949 on into the 90's) that cam break-in is really only required in OHV engines. It is because there IS NOT all of the mechanism, weight and high spring pressures reversing so hard on the lobes of a flathead cam like there is in an OHV. This presumes there is an ample amount of prelube though. What will be better for the flathead is to seat the rings and that is done by having it in the car getting the timing set and running the car up with rapid acceleration and deceleration about three times. The seating of the rings won't take place in the same manner like the 2000 rpm constant rev for 20 minutes of cam break-in like its called for in OHV engines. The RPM keeps up the oil pressure while the cam lobes work harden. But, with OHV there is much more spring pressure and mechanism weight on both sides of the lobes than in a flathead. Cam break-in was a real problem with the Chrysler Hemis because of the mass of weight up top. Have a happy flathead no matter how you run it up!!!!

 

'way cool! Takes me back to my dad's oval track days!

 

Paschman2000: No numbers yet, haven't even gotten to fire the thing up. I want to, but I want to go ahead and get all the sheet metal finished and installed rather than rigging in the radiator and such first. I have run a clear hose from the oil fitting out to the oil fitting in, where I'v rigged for the full flow oil filter, and have cranked it over enough to see I have good oil pumping and to make sure it doesn't try to freeze up while it waits for the rest of the project to get finished (maybe another month or so).

51ford fan: My original block developed 2 bad cracks, and the guy at the machine shop knew another guy that dabbled in flatheads, hooked me up, and that fellow had this block he bought with a tag on it that said "two cracks". I bought it with understanding he'd take it back if not useable, took straight to the machine shop, and Brian there called the next day with "holy crap, this block has never been rebuilt, has no cracks, absolutely cherry!" That made my day. They did the works on it, balance, valve job (already had seats), pressed in cam bearings, ground crank, cleaned, etc etc. The crank is just the regular ford crank, I'd like a 4 inch merc someday, but I'm not too picky. Just so happens Autozone's website lists main bearings for the flatty for $54.99, I emailed them about availability and got no response for two weeks. Emailed again asking, got a response from their supplier about sorry for the goof, "we'll send you them at no charge" Yeah right I thought, but sure enough had a set of Clevite 77's on my doorstep the next day--they sent them overnight fedex at no charge to me at all! SWEET!

Dffay, I didn't know that about breaking in cams on flatheads, but that's what the instructions said that came with the cam (although it was generic instructions, other parts of it talked about push rods and rockers, so I know it wasn't flathead specific).

I've rambled too much, time to go finish work on the tailgate....Scott

Scott

 

Rotsa ruck Scott on the finishing of the beast. I'll bet those are generic instructions on cam break-in. It might be worth a phone call or two to the big flathead guys like Flathead Jack in California, Egge Pistons, Isky cams, Vern Tardel, etc as long as you talk to guys that REALLY know the flathead and not a tech rep that only speaks to generalities over the phone. The flathead is such a marvel on its own, lots of guys treat it too generically. Its all toward the longevity of your engine and most of all, you need to have a good feeling that you done it all correctly. Like any engine though, proper break-in of the engine is its future. It'll make the thousands of miles of cruising all the sweeter.