Sometimes daydreaming about my next project, I can see a flathead powering it. Wondering how do you go about finding one. There just don't seem to be many around, unless I'm looking in the wrong places. Do you have to know someone who knows someone who has one?

 

I've had the same trouble as you. junkyards, more junkyards, and farm fields. I drive backroads all the time looking for stuff in people fields. Found one flathead 8 in my local jy, but it was already spoken for. Just keep looking.

 

I'd check craigslist in your area. Also search the classifieds/for sale section on this website and "The HAMB". I bet you'll find one soon.

 

i sold my flathead 8 on craigslist. it was seized up and had been exposed to the elements for 40+ years and it sold in about 20 minutes for $200. so they must becoming hard to find. good luck.

 

Look for the Old style Garages, (Not the type beside your house, I'm talking "Work on Vehicles Garages".) especially ones with older vehicles (Late 80's etc) around. Start up a slow building relationship with the people, maybe buy some small items, ask questions about what all they do there. Eventually these are the people who will lead you to what your looking for.
If you hurry, act too uppity you're not going to get anywhere.

 

Must be a regional thing, they are rather plentiful around here and in running order. My uncle knew a guy who knew a guy that was fixing a '51 F1 that had one and he was upgrading the engine so the Flathead and tranny were available. I just bought a '51 F3 with a nice running Flathead that has most of its original paint and was even running on what looked like original plug wires. Picked up the whole truck for $750. I see them on ebay around here for $500-$1000 in running condition and under $300 for builders. I also picked up a '48 with a running flat6 for $500.

Of course I wasn't looking for them so of course I found all I needed.

 

I have 3 how many do you need $200 each

 

I have 4 in my garage now. I just finished the rebuild on one it cost close to 2k to do the deluxe rebuild kit with machine work.

 

I have a 53 & a 54 V8 Flatie but being where I live I`ll probably have them for a very long time.....

 

There's a guy in Lexington, NC that has an old school bus behind his auto parts shop. Inside is a load of flatheads (probably a hundred of 'em) ready to be rebuilt. I bought one from him last year. The deal was that if I commited to buying one, he'd start tearing them apart and magnafluxing them and as soon as he found one with no cracks he'd call me. About a week later he called and I drove down to pick it up.

His name is Clint Bivens and he runs Clint's Auto Parts. Telephone is (336) 357-7783.

 

How much did you have to pay for it?

 

I called Clint looking or one when my father was driving down from Virgina. I don't recall exactly what he quoted me but I do recall that it wasn't exactly cheap. The guy is not an urban myth. He really does exist and he will sell you one.

My observation on this subject has been that finding one in a warmer climate is nearly impossible becasue the heat, particualrly here in Houston, cracked most of them. Nearly all of the trucks that survived down here have other engines in them. If you find an original unrestored runner down here with a flatty, chances are pretty good that it came from somewhere well north of here. I don't know of a single car or truck with a flathead V8 that spent it's entire life in this area with the original engine. I'm sure there are a few, but I have yet to come across one. We do have a bunch of decent bodies down here though, ceratinly better that what is typically found in the snow belt but perhaps not as nice as what is found further west in the arid climates.

In my couple of years of searching, it seems that these engines are far more prevelant in colder rural climates, particularly the Northern Plain states. Pennsylvania also seems to be a good place to find them. I've also seen more than one for sale in NJ, where it appears you are from. The engines I have found down here that weren't cracked all have a northern lineage.

If you are seriously looking for a flathead, I would recommend that you join your local "Old Ford V8 Club" chapter and attend some meetings. This is what I did and I found one good one (not cracked - but only turns about a 1/4 revolution - stuck valves I suspect) and one uncracked bare block (freeby) that needs some work. There will be at least one (and probably more) 70+ year old in the group that has more engines sitting around than he will need for the projects he has left in him. Many of these guys are looking to clean out some of this kind of stuff they've accumualted over the years because they've finished most if not all of the projects they will ever undertake and they know this. Compounding this is that many of these older guys are not computer literate and while they may be aware that these engines can be sold on the internet, they may not have the foggiest idea how to go about doing it and aren't real interested in learning.

Another benefit to going this route is that most of these guys are pretty well set financially so they aren't trying to get next month's house payment out of the engine. In fact, they may give you a home town discount if they know it's going to be used to put, or keep, an old Ford on the road.

I'm 43 years old and I ws the secound youngest guy there, The youngest was the 21 year old kid I brought with me. Third youngest had at least 10 years on me. If someone there doesn't have an engine, chances are pretty good, they will know someone who does and they will also know who has the equipment and knowledge to work on them.

Keep in mind that many of these guys are 70+ years old. In fact 80 year olds won't be uncommon. They love to talk and I mean really love to talk. Bring plenty of paper and a pen for names and phone numbers and don't have somewhere to be after the meeting like I did. If the weather is nice, you'll probbaly get to see some real nice cars while you are there. Anyway, just some food for thought.

 

Texan has a point. Older members of car clubs do generally have a collection of stuff. If you show a genuine interest, you may get a heck of a deal. Many would rather give something away then have their out of state kids come clean up the estate and toss anything not bolted to an easy-to-sell car.

Some things that need to be considered. If you find an engine/block that is crack-free, it probably is worth paying extra for. Some flathead chasers have bought many cheap engines that end up being cracked; cracks aren't cheap to fix. An expensive crack-free block may be less expensive in the long run than a garage full of cracked blocks.

 

Carl, did you ever get that motor you got down here torn down? Just wondering I haven't heard from you in a while. Try targeting old farm steads. I have found pleanty of old ford rice trucks down here with V-8 power.

 

Not yet Matt.

Not long after my visit with you, my father drug down a couple of projects from Virginia. He was actually coming down to help me install the flatty in my F2 but when I hauled it to the machine shop to g4et that one broken head bolt drilled out, we discovered the valve seat that had popped loose which intiated a change in plans.

One of the projects he drug down here is a 40+ year old 1/2 scale Model T car that runs off of a 3 hp Briggs and Stratton Engine that I won as a 2-year old back in 1965. We had a blast with it as a kid but it had been sitting unused in a shed at his house in irginia for the past 25 - 30 years had fallen into disrepair. Basically, the Model T was a basket case. I tore it all the way down to the frame and rebuilt it completely. I've actually had it running and took my daughter out truick-or-treating in it on Halloween, but some issues developed with the engine and I'm still working to get these resolved. Would probably have been cheaper and faster to just buy a new engine for it but at this point I've allowed it to become personal and can't/won't walk away from the challenge of making the original engine work.

You may recall that my wife and I were in the process of adopting a 6 year old little girl (the daughter that I mentioned above). That's now complete and she is ours forever. Of course it also means I have another little lady in the house who wants/need things done by dad and th Model T is one of those projects.

The other project is a 1979 BMW R65 motorcycle. The Beemer was project that my father got way into 15 years ago and never could find time to finish. He's 70 years old now and felt he would never get back to it so he offered it to me. I've managed to get it to run and actully ridden it some but it needs some attention. I think I now have all of the parts I need but I want to iron out all of the issues with the Model T before I tear into the BMW project full force. If all goes well, which seldom happens, I could get the bike back to streetable condition in a couple of weeks. I plan to make the bike road worthy and ride it for a year or so to work out all of the mechanical bugs before doing a complete restoration on it. This is another project my little girl is after me to get done as she really loves going for rides on it.

Once I get the bike running and road worthy, I have a little work to do on my Explorer and a couple of house projects that require my attention (new exterior paint and install a heater/AC unit in the garage). Once I have all of that out of the way, I plan to get back to the trucks. Hopefully in March or April.

Hope all is well wtih you and your family. Let me know if you plan to be in the Houston area. Would enjoy seeing you again.

Carl