ford flathead 4 cylinder performance

One flathead builder, Dave Tatom, offers a unique line of custom grinds with wide 114-degree LSA for naturally aspirated engines, and 116-118 LSAs for blown motors. Tatom believes spreading the centers helps combat overlap-induced reversion with the flathead's siamesed center exhaust ports. Like all fads, once started, the process fed itself. It was amazing to watch him.". Schneider's 278F solid (0.420 lift, 250 degrees at 0.050 duration, 110-degree lobe separation angle) is one grind that falls within these specs. These include the '39-'53 Mercury and '46-'53 Ford castings. A .275 lift cam lobe will produce .550 lift at the valve. Be sure that you do not let the tool get away from you and score the manifold. As seen by the scribed line on the lower left port, due to core shift in the casting process, very little block remains on which the gasket can purchase if all the metal is ground away. The cam has a duration of .302 and a lift of .410. It was only at the very end of the flathead's reign that the first small four-barrel carbs appeared; back then everyone used multiple-carb setups. Fel-Pro and Victor continue to make head gaskets too. any problems please contact service@stirlingkit.com Miniature Engineering Models that Run on Fuel At around the same time, old-time hot rods gave way to modern musclecars and street machines. This engine from the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed also ran a 180-degree crankshaft at the August 1950 Bonneville Speed Meet in a streamliner sponsored by Lees Speed shop. Its easy to see what a gnarly casting the flathead typically is just by looking inside the exhaust port. Copper head gaskets are sold by SCE. SHARE THIS ARTICLE:Please feel free to share this article on Facebook, in Forums, or with any Clubs you participate in. Nevertheless, the flathead is the little engine that could. This meant that the two inner cylinders would need to share a port while the outer bores would enjoy their own. Scat H-beam high-tensile chrome-moly connecting rods with 2-inch crank journals match the old offset-ground crank. Now, the intake gasket is positioned on block and the shape of the intake ports in the gasket is transferred to the block with a scriber. Sweat them on, no welding needed. But with modern solid cams and big stroker cranks, overall engine rpm and piston speed is considerably higher than the old stockers. Reams have been written about porting the flathead, because in factory form its a very asthmatic engine. Cast from high quality 355-T6 aluminum alloy. Apparently, the old boys' network doesn't want any youngbloods crashing their exclusive country club. With modern flatheads routinely putting out 250-300 lb-ft of torque, the original trannies obviously aren't up to the job. All measurements are exact and double-checked. Starting with a 1949-1953 (or 1954 in Canada) 8BA foundation, the plan involves building an authentic high-performance engine of the era, with a big, 304ci displacement (3.1875-inch bore x 4.250 . Compare this to the originals that were 1:25 to 1 and this will provide a 15% increase in valve lift, ready to go on your head. Youll pay a price for that too, though. Reserve these early blocks for collector cars due to their inferior head-retention and bearing design; speed equipment availability for them is also severely limited. The corresponding original factory oil pickup must be used in conjunction with this pan. $600.00* ad $30 for new B head gasket, Cylinder Head Gaskets for Four Port Riley & Cragar cylinder heads. Speed shops began working the heads for more flow and performance and soon, you found them competing in every form of competition. As its name implies, Red's Headers is the place to go for the widest selection of street-style headers. To increase the gap, the ring is put into this Goodson ring grinder where it is ground and then rechecked. Starting in July 1938, the blocks went to 24 head-retention studs. In addition, an original (short) truck oil pickup was required to match the stock truck pan. For reasons known only to the crazy French, flatheads were used in French Army trucks through the early '90s. In essence, it was blueprinted. MAC's Auto Parts sells the largest selection of flathead V8 parts to rebuild, repair or replace the power plant. The world's quickest flathead dragster, Ron Schnell's Slider, has run the quarter in 7.695 seconds; it's blown flattie dyno'd at 939 hp on a 60-percent nitro load. Because of Henry Fords intractability, the flathead was compromised right from the get-go. The valve assemblies were inserted into the block along with the C-clips. The distributor here is the original Mallory dual-point. Scat offers affordable cast Pro Stock cranks through 4.375-inch stroke, with either 2.00- or 2.138-inch rod journals. The flathead engine. The old-timers took what they had and made it work. We have thousands of Flathead Ford, Y-Block and Model A exhaust parts, engine parts, and speed parts. Short of machining the block oversize for custom roller-cam bearings, even with a reduced base circle this limits max cam lift to about 0.460 inch. You can just see the valves in the plug holes so you know that the clearances are tight. Tom Roberts' new two-piece crossflow utilizes the latest in airflow technology. With some exotic tuning, it has been known to produce 700 hp, and not just for short bursts. A professional engine builder such as H&H has well used air-powered tools, but electric drills (corded or cordless) and Dremel tools work fi ne. No one runs the old weak stock ignitions anymore. He had a drill press, his work table, a tiny mill, and a welder. The heart and muscle of the traditional hot rod. Back in the old days, all cars used low-pressure cooling systems, so coolant often boiled. 4 cylinder. And guess who taught Max Sr. how to build engines? In fact, the growing flathead movement has basically sorted itself out into three distinct groups. In this case, a baffled oil pan from a truck is used; the baffle helps oil control and keeps the oil in the sump surrounding the pickup. Again, the intake is marked and then the material is cut away very carefully. By the time Don reached his 16th birthday, he had already built a '29 Ford Model-A Roadster with a Cragar two-port cylinder-head-equipped . They take the sub-100hp flathead and have pushed it well over 300 horsepower! Displacing a whopping 336.7 cubic inches, the new engine featured a 3.5-inch bore and 4.38-inch stroke. If you've seen the video or pushed the "little red button" at one of our recent shows, you know how much fun it is to watch this four-in-line whine! Melling still makes a high-volume oil pump (PN M-15). Lee Chapel founded Lees Speed Shop in Oakland, CA in the early 30s and was one of the first speed shops in the country. However, thats only the start. Model A or B flywheel, cut down to 27 pounds and machined for 9 inch Ford pressure place, includes new ring gear and is ready to go. It is easy to see that one of the ports (top) has very little extra metal to grind, so you must compromise. Dressed with up to four carbs and that unique flathead sound accentuated by glasspacks, the old codgers were suddenly the rage again. I am building an H series 226 for a 31 Roadster, I Found a vintage Knudsen aluminum cylinder head and 3 carb manifold, As far as I can find out Knudsen and Cyclone were the only mfgs. This improves airflow, but the resultant effective combustion-chamber-volume increase lowers the compression ratio, in turn decreasing horsepower and fuel economy. Unfortunately, old-school resistance to this "new and improved" part is so extensive that the SCTA has banned the blocks from competing in classic land speed racing classes. This stress relieving is important when building a high-performance engine. Because this is going to be primarily a race engine, H&H used Ross forged slugs with only three rings, which makes for a lighter, faster-accelerating assembly. Chrome-moly nuts were also used. Edelbrock Ford Flathead Cylinder Heads 1115 Cylinder Heads, Bare, Aluminum, Natural, Ford, Flathead V8, Pair . For 1949, Lincoln took up the 336 cubic inch engine and produced 152 horsepower and boosted torque to 265 pound-feet. The home of the Ford Flathead rebuilding specialist from mild to wild. Ford introduced the Flathead V8 in their affordable 1932 Model 18, becoming a performance leader for decades. Because the French version was used in trucks, the intake- and exhaust-port throats are choked down under the valve pockets, so extensive port-work is required for racing. Before the heads are finally installed, a dial gauge is used to ascertain TDC, using cylinder number-1 (passenger-side, front). Not a bad place to start. Although new aftermarket iron blocks are reputedly under development, right now a real-world solution to finding a good core for your flathead is to start with a brand-new French block. I now have remade it in a style that will allow the use of the 1932 B water pump. You dont need to overdo it with the compound. Finding value in style points, he can appreciate cars of all power and performance levels. A few early examples displaced 1.5 liters, but the majority were 1.55-litre (1557cc) engines, dubbed a 1.6. ", Among this herd of sheep, a few original hot rods were brought out of retirement, complete with gennie flatheads as the powerplant. All rights reserved. Zora would soon find employment at Chevrolet, after penning his famous memo about the youth market and their passion for hot-rodding the Ford engine. There was nothing slow about anything he ever fired up. With some judicious attention to detail, particularly in the breathing department along with the addition of some speed equipment, you can easily expect a little more than 200 hp. However, it is 114 inches taller than the stock pump, so more pan clearance is necessary. The carbs are the new Stromberg BIG97s, and each flows 250 cfm. And in a sense, the flathead also begot HOT ROD Magazine, for this publication probably wouldn't exist if not for the flathead speed industry and the advertising dollars it spawned. The flathead blocks to get are those with a 3 3/16-inch bore. Two things to watch out for are an extra water hole in the block and the lack of a breather standpipe in the block. With such a small difference; it's relatively easy to take a little off the Ford snout then slightly hone the inside of a Chevy balancer so it slips over the Ford crank. That was his entire shop. The passages are oddly shaped, with some right-angled turns, with all sorts of nasty casting flaws. The fact men were racing horses against the new horseless carriages of the day just goes to show that wanting to go faster is not a contemporary mindset. Log style intake manifold for Two Stromberg 97's. Traditionalists can go with Vertex or Mallory mags, while modern guys may want to move up to MSD or Mallory electronic distributors. One reason is the fact that a lot of development work had already been done, and a lot of speed equipment had already been created to make the four-bangers fast. Stromberg in England is producing new Strombergs again. Comes ready to install. We promise not to use your email address for anything but exclusive updates from the Power Automedia Network. Any standard B cylinder head gasket will work with this head. The exhaust port can be ground out safely from 138 inches to 134 inches. With a 4.5-inch-stroke aftermarket crank, that yields 334 cubic inches. It's been over 50 years since the last Ford flathead V-8 was commercially produced in the U.S. This head also has a great squish area directly above the piston, note no piston relief. In the middle is the new 1.6-inch exhaust valve, and to the left the giant 1.75-inch inlet valve, here with a test spring assembly installed. Bob Drake has created a special category for parts that bring life to the words Flatheads Forever. With so much spring pressure, you must be careful not to trap a finger. Whether planes, trains, motorcycles, or automobiles, Andy has immersed himself in a world driven by internal combustion. The 2-inch rod journals are very popular because their diameter and width permits the use of readily available 215-inch-style Buick/Olds/Rover V-8 bearings. We'll send you the most interesting Street Muscle articles, news, car features, and videos every week. The whole thing starts with a Donovan aluminum block with five main bearings. Cams like this with good aftermarket heads are capable of producing 200 hp and 240 lb-ft naturally aspirated, and over 300 hp and 350 lb-ft with a blower. The stock 1.5-inch valve is to the left. hurry up or it will have no stock. The benefits alone are enough for some, but the French comes at a price, both monetary and aesthetic. Magnuson offers an Eaton blower kit, while Joe Abbin of Roadrunner Engineering has Weiand 142 and 174 supercharger setups. He removed this engine from the truck, an. The pistons were balanced carefully; you can see the machining marks just inside the skirt. If the combination is properly tailored to the blower application, you should have no real problem. They have a room completely devoted to the flathead Ford. Recommended bottom-line street-gas-friendly compression ratios are between 7.5-8:1 on naturally aspirated engines and 6.5-7.0:1 with a blower. His mill work was incredible, and he could weld cardboard to tinfoil. Sponsored. One of the biggest issues with the flathead was the exhaust ports weaving around the cylinder walls to exit on the opposite side of the engine. Andy has been intrigued by mechanical things all of his life and enjoys tinkering with cars of all makes and ages. The billet replacements offer more strength and rigidity. I tried looking up ford 4 cylinder flat heads but don't find much. Younger guys yearned for a simpler, back to basics approach. At the other extreme are dry-lakes, Bonneville, and nostalgia drag racers who have applied modern technology to the point where in some instances it is questionable whether the engine still remains a true flathead: Once-85hp engines now produce over 400 hp on gas and have exceeded 700 hp on fuel-all this on an engine with only three main bearings. When number-1 is at TDC, the pointer on the timing cover and the notch on the crank pulley (here marked in orange) will align. When the flathead Ford came on the scene in 1932, its eight cylinders offered more power than the previous four- and six-cylinder engines, and originally, the engine focused on the truck and heavy-duty markets. In particular the area between cylinders 1 & 2 and cylinders 3 & 4 have been beef up with an internal rib about 1 inch tall to stiffen up the head. Original 50-plus-year-old blocks without cracks are getting scarce. Be very conscious of this before you start grinding. Even after the Flathead V-8 was introduced in 1932, four-bangers retained their popularity. You may lose as much as 30 hp above 4,500 rpm. Copper sandwich type head gasket, 14 Grade 8, 7/16 head studs, nuts and hard steel washers,Distributor drive shaft. It is always great to see historic engines or cars doing what they were supposed to do, but you cant count out the value of having a bevy of those super-rare and insanely-beautiful artifacts of a time-gone-by in one place and available for viewing. Rocker arm assembly for the original Miller/Cragar heads, new shaft, stands, Austin Healy rocker arms provide a 1:42 rocker arm ratio. You need the right amount of plenum volume and runner length to complement the engine size, camshaft, cylinder-head flow, and operating range. There is also an Australian outfit, Flatattack Engineering, offering plenum-style, TPI-like systems controlled by either GM Delco or MoTeC computers. P.O. Wilcap also sells '32-'48 Ford mechanical-clutch hardware. Joe passed away in 1995 and four-bangers have become something of a niche in the hobby, but they still have a high cool factor and a high potential for making power. Copper sandwich-type head gaskets with 4.060 inch bores. But, there were more than simply Ardun heads competing for the trophy, and this is where a stroll through places like the Speedway Motors Museum of American Racing can be a treasure-trove of information. This encouraged the old-time flathead parts guys (or their sons) to start repopping the old parts. Internals include splayed main caps, a billet steel crank, forged steel rods, Arias custom pistons, Total Seal rings, and hardened steel sleeves. As for cylinder heads, Baron, Edelbrock, Navarro, Offenhauser, and Sharp (now sold by Wilcap) all have their adherents. Theyve been massaged by a long list of capable speed-merchants to great success and thanks to their resurgence in popularity, they are still available for anyone with enough coin to purchase a set.

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