We--haaaa! That thing is a tractor! I bet the 55 mph national speed limit didn't slow that truck down one bit. Must be a joy to haul a full load with that thing.

 

i believe that ford advertised the truck to do 56 mph. with the overdrive i can do 72 mph on the flat and level. of course since the truck weighs 7000 lbs it takes almost a mile to get there.

 

Flathead engines have inherently large combustion chambers - this means more surface area to the combustion chamber - on this larger area more fuel air mixture would condense and not burn fully - thus a modern flathead would put out more carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon pollution - I doubt a flathead could be made to pass modern emissions standards .

 

I think a twinn turbo set up would be neat. The 2.3 turbos may work, then again they may not work well with the way the exhaust is on the flathead.

 

Hello All.

I believe Offenhauser manufactures heads, cams and blower packages for the V8 flatheads.
Years ago during some research I ran across the data. I got the info from a Popular Street Rodder mag. You can give them a call and they can help you set up the engine for what your looking for. They have already "been there and done that". I would like to build a flat head retro rod in the future.

Denny

 

Check that... I think its Flatlanders hotrod shop in Norfolk VA. That builds these flat heads. They can help with correct setups..

Denny

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 29-Oct-02 AT 11:26 AM (EST)]Wwwwaitagolddangminutehere... in Norfolk, VA? You sure? I know about Flatlander racing in NH but I never heard of anyone doing flathead work in that part of VA?? Granted I've been moved away for 8 years but I grew up just across the James River from Norfolk and my Dad drove that '49 flathead for 20 years and I for two... the car was parked because we couldn't find a master cylinder for it in the '70s. Seems I'd have heard of them, or maybe this is just my new thing to learn today?

edit: Never mind, took me about 2 seconds to find a reference to them on Yahoo... apparently they have no web site, darn. Looks like they're pre '48 specialists too, might be why I never heard of them. But I think I'll see if I can con my baby brother who still lives in the area into wandering over there to ask about blower setups

 

 

TCW

You said you have a fuel injected flathead 6? Did you get a kit or buy that way or build from scratch?

I'm all for building one of these old flatheads for more power, but I have no Idea how to do it.

I know a guy with a blown flathead 8. It's in a 48 F-1.

 

john,i have a holly throttle body mounted in place of the carb. i had to machine an adapter to install it but it was pretty easy. the throttle body is designed to go on an inline six jeep engine. i had marrory make me a distributor with electronic ignition. tim

 

So basically I should find a newer straight 6 with EFI and slap it on? Or am I misunderstanding something?

Doesn't port fuel injection spray the gas right next to the intake valve?

Do you know of anything else besides headers that can improve hP in these old dogs? I gather from the rest of this string that super/turbo chargers aren't options for the straight 6.

Thanks

 

i couldn't find find a more modern fuel system that i could make work. i was toying with the fuel system you are talking about but the intake valves in the first and last two cylinders are manifolded together,and i didn't think it would work. i tried unsucsesfully to find manifolds that were better than stock.
i would love to put a turbo on my engine. i even have the turbo picked out. i just don't have the time to do the work.

 

Tim,

Think I got too excited when I read that you had fuel injection and thought when you said throttle body injection that you had said port. I understand a little better what you have done.

How much did you spend on the upgrade? and what kind of performance and mpg have you gotten with it?

One thing that I have thought of is a cold-air ram-jet air intake. The 48-52's have scoops built into the hoods. It seems those openings could be used for more than the hood latch.

 

I would like to hear more about this engine !!!!

 

i have a 52 f6 with a 2speed rearend it's 8.11 on the low and 5.83 on the high seem's to be just right