Scored a flattie

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hankthebigdog

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 5, 2011
Messages
992
Location
Pensacola, OK
:confused:Ok friends, I scored a 46 flathead v 8 in a trade. I have always thought they were way cool. I am just wondering, are there any tricks I should know before I tear into it? Small blocks are my go to usually, and I am not a mechanic. I know some ,enough to know I am not a mechanic, but have built many motors and put together a lot of cars.
Are there any special tools to get valves out? magnetos? I just need some encouragement more or less and I will decide to jump in with both feet.
thanks in advance.[S
 
I have an axiom that's mostly a joke but bears some truth. "Anyone can work on a Chevy but it takes a real mechanic to work on a Ford" Not saying you aren't plenty capable. There are a few good books on building flattys and I would recommend getting one.
I met a guy at Bonneville with a nice dressed out flatty in an A pickup. In conversation he said that he never spent so much money to go so slow. I think he had like $6500 into just the engine, but that included a trio of new 97s.
 
Nice going on the flathead.
They do use some specialisied tools for valve removal but it can be done with out them .Just harder.
A lot of how the dissasembly will go depends on weather or not the engine has ever been apart.

Also before you invest in it start by pulling the heads and visualy search for cracks. Between the cylinders and the valves especially. If you don't see any send it in to be mag'd AND pressure tested. Flathead were prone to cracking.

3 bolts hold on the water pumps. One of which you remove thru the hose outlet. If the pumps haven't been off yet this bolts can sometimes be seized.
Sometimes the head studs snap off as well.
Distributor mounts on the front and is just held on by bolts.
There is no timing chain. Just fibre gears that should be replaced.

A good book to get is "Rebuolding the Famous Flathead" by Ron Bishop.
There are many books out there.
Willowbilly's qoute is dead on. Not cheap to rebuild. Even more not cheap to make go faster. $5000 to have a stock rebuild is not unheard of. You can cut that price by doing as much of it yourself as you can. And make sure that whom ever does your machine work has worked on one before. There are some quirks envolved with that as well.
Nothing sounds like a Flathead. Good luck and have fun learning something new.
Torchie.
 
One other thing that I forgot to mention.
Your style of flathead has the bellhousing cast as part of the block. You do not want to hang that from an engine stand by that cast housing as they have been known to crack from the stress and weight. This style of block uses a mount that attaches to the side of the block via the exhaust manifold bolt holes.
This style of mount is available from sources on the internet.
Torchie.
 
thanks for the input fellows. out of my price range to mess with for now. I guess it will be going up for sale on craigslist and maybe bring in some$$ to put in the 34 Auburn I am getting ready to start trying to put together.
I would entertain doing some trading. PM me if you are interested:cool:
 
thanks for the input fellows. out of my price range to mess with for now. I guess it will be going up for sale on craigslist and maybe bring in some$$ to put in the 34 Auburn I am getting ready to start trying to put together.
I would entertain doing some trading. PM me if you are interested:cool:

You should pull the heads and have a look. Any savvy flattie buyer will want to look in there anyway. Cracks from the water holes over to the bolt holes are common and not a problem but as mentioned any cracks in the valve seats or valve bowls are not good. Serious builders won't use those blocks but they can be fixed. I had one flatty builder tell me once that only about one out of 20 blocks come in that they can use.
 
I also have a 46 flathead sitting in my shop and am going to sell it because I will never use it for anything and they are just too darned expensive to build right. (My Olds engine is financially killing me right now :eek:) It is a Ford Factory Reman engine, has the tag on the front and all, but if I get $300 out of it I will be lucky. The craze that was driving flathead prices up seems to have peaked and now they aren't bringing the money they once were.

I considered doing a valve lap job on it, cleaning up the gasket surfaces, and putting some new seals, etc on it to just get it running, but they really need fully machined and all new parts to make them right.

As soon as I can get it out of the corner of my shop I am going to put it on CL and see what happens.

Don
 
neat looking old engines that cost a fortune to work on
dont have much power and get crappy MPGs
i literally threw away 2 complete 53 buick straight 8s recently
trannys and all.
 
I haven't tried to turn in over, but was told that it had been free when it went into my friends shop. I oiled the cylinders down with mystery oil and am letting it sit for a week or so. I thought I would look into it in a few days when I can find a little time between the real job and life. I planned to pull the heads and do a visual before I tried to sell of trade. If it is junk, scrap yard bound. If it looks decent, I might try and do something . I don't really know. Just thought it would be cool in a rat.
 
I also have a 46 flathead sitting in my shop and am going to sell it because I will never use it for anything and they are just too darned expensive to build right. (My Olds engine is financially killing me right now :eek:) It is a Ford Factory Reman engine, has the tag on the front and all, but if I get $300 out of it I will be lucky. The craze that was driving flathead prices up seems to have peaked and now they aren't bringing the money they once were.
As soon as I can get it out of the corner of my shop I am going to put it on CL and see what happens.

Don

Untill I need to find one and them the prices are still high Don.:rolleyes:

neat looking old engines that cost a fortune to work on
dont have much power and get crappy MPGs
i literally threw away 2 complete 53 buick straight 8s recently
trannys and all.

One of my favorite engines billy. Unfortunately you can't do a whole lot to them transmission wise unless you spend big $$$$$$

I haven't tried to turn in over, but was told that it had been free when it went into my friends shop. I oiled the cylinders down with mystery oil and am letting it sit for a week or so. I thought I would look into it in a few days when I can find a little time between the real job and life. I planned to pull the heads and do a visual before I tried to sell of trade. If it is junk, scrap yard bound. If it looks decent, I might try and do something . I don't really know. Just thought it would be cool in a rat.

Turn it over and if it rolls then pull the heads. Check for cracks and even if you see something I would try to sell it whole or strip it and just dump the block. Lots of good useable parts on there most likely.

My Flathead experience goes back to the early 70's. I have allways loved them and to many they are the true "Hot rod" engine.
I can remember in 1980 when I had to make an unplanned move and had to get rid of all my acumulated flatty stuff. 2 complete good engines. A couple of top loader trans and literally a "Borrowed" shopping cart of vintage speed equipment that was all useable and not just wall hangers.
Tryed to sell it but no body wanted that out of date stuff so I ended up giving it all to a neighbor who was older than me and grew up in that era and a car guy.
If only I could have held on to it for another 20 years........:eek:
Torchie.
 
Well Hank, someone should stick up for the poor little flat motor. That would be me. Keep the motor, please, but get it turning over and pull the heads to see if it's cracked. I've had darn good luck with flathead motors, so I am biased towards them. My current flattie was a double trade, [so no dollars] and ten years later I had it in my '36 and then I started it up and drove away [$6500 short of the bill that the nay-sayers are shouting].
I've seen a couple of wrecked motors in the junkyard, but I've seen more good ones come alive and be cool. Take a chance, make yours come alive and be cool.:cool::cool:
 
Well Hank, someone should stick up for the poor little flat motor. That would be me. Keep the motor, please, but get it turning over and pull the heads to see if it's cracked. I've had darn good luck with flathead motors, so I am biased towards them. My current flattie was a double trade, [so no dollars] and ten years later I had it in my '36 and then I started it up and drove away [$6500 short of the bill that the nay-sayers are shouting].
I've seen a couple of wrecked motors in the junkyard, but I've seen more good ones come alive and be cool. Take a chance, make yours come alive and be cool.:cool::cool:

Hey Mac. I'm on your side with this too.:D
I've seen them sit longer than that and as long as they turned over they would start up just fine.
Torchie.
 
Like eating the proverbial elephant, one bite at a time.
Over a longer period of time you don't feel the pain of the amount.
 
Hank,
You live in Ok., I have a friend from Broken Arrow that his Dad had the baddest flatty I ever seen. His dad had a huffer on it with 2 McC. superchargers feeding 2 Carter afb with ss salad bowls on top to route the SC pipes. I'm sure he grew up wrenching with his dad and maybe some help. Pm me for his name if you're close to that city.
Also you stated on not having been into one, so tearing one completely down will give you some insight to this engine. Flatties Forever is a great book and good luck. My brother had a full race flatty with 3 carbs and alum. heads, but couldn't keep rearends in the '46. My '47 in the 80's had a Merc Flatty mostly stock but it had more hp than a stock ford, 15 more because of the 4 in. crank.
 
I plan on using the late model flatty in my A Tudor, but as suggested doing it like eating an elephant. With that said I have been finding good running flatties north of the border for $2000-$3000. I have had quotes to rebuild the block I have and it seems to be coming in around $4500. These are fairly stock builds but who am I kidding using a flathead its all show and very little go, atleast for the price range I want to keep it in.

I'd tear into it and atleast familiarize yourself a little bit more with them, I learned alot ripping mine apart.
 

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