Playin' In The Garage
With this small fraction of Flathead V-8 background under my belt, I felt compelled to start playing with my new engine. I was lucky in this respect as the Flathead, though a bit on the tired side, was a runner. It'd provided years of loyal service (after at least one freshening in its distant past) in a '48 Ford sedan and I figured if I stayed away from its reciprocating assembly I couldn't hurt it too bad. Heck, all I dared to do was to dress it up a bit so I might use it until Mike at H&H Flatheads walked me through the ground-up rebuild of my other 59AB. I was again lucky in this respect as the aftermarket is chock full of an array of cool performance and dress-up parts. In fact, as soon as I'd taken possession of my engines I immediately grabbed my Speedway Motors catalog, my trusty and nearly maxed out "car parts credit card" and the nearest telephone and went on a shopping spree.
What you see here is a look at my first weekend as a proud Ford Flathead owner. I actually learned a few good lessons as I messed with my new aluminum, chrome plated, aftermarket parts and accessories. And though this baby ended up looking pretty darn good when all was said and done, I still have my fingers crossed that it'll power my RPU long enough to allow me to get a proper education and a fresh engine out of my time spent under foot at H&H Flatheads. So take a look at my fumbling and take some time to get a bit of a Flathead education on your own because tradition never dies and the Flathead is here to stay--at least in my garage anyway. I'll see ya a few issues down the road when I share my real rebuild.
Well, at that point my only...
Well, at that point my only recourse was to drill out the busted bolts, cross my fingers, and resort to an Easy Out to hopefully back the frozen bolts out of the block. No such luck. Within seconds I'd broken off the Easy Out--and invented quite a selection of new and very descriptive strings of curse words.
After about an hour or so...
After about an hour or so I was able to have drilled out the busted off bolts and drilled and re-tapped the block to fit the next larger size bolts so I'd be able to install the new water pumps. I then prepared to give the engine a couple of coats of fresh new engine paint.
After a couple coats of gloss...
After a couple coats of gloss black engine enamel I then positioned the new water pump gaskets on the freshly painted block.
I then bolted up the new Speedway...
I then bolted up the new Speedway Motors water pumps and snugged up their mounting bolts--so far so good.
Well, I guess I might have...
Well, I guess I might have spoken too soon. As you can see here, as soon as I set the heads on the block I noticed that the bottom row of studs (on both banks) were short and didn't protrude up through the heads--I was beginning to think I must have done something terrible in a previous life and this was payback.
The original iron heads taper...
The original iron heads taper in thickness as they slope away from the intake. The new aluminum ones are a uniform thickness in that respect so they require longer studs along that bottom row. No big deal though--I just grabbed my stud remover set and spun the short ones out with the intention of swinging by my local industrial supply house in the morning and grabbing new ones in the correct size.
Next I cleaned and re-gapped...
Next I cleaned and re-gapped the points and reinstalled the distributor. While doing so I made sure to inspect the cap and rotor, looking for any signs of excessive wear or hairline cracks. In the end they looked to be in good shape so I went ahead and reused `em.
Now came the fun part--bolting...
Now came the fun part--bolting up my shiny new Edelbrock intake and cylinder heads. I chose Edelbrock's #1103 Super Dual two-carb aluminum manifold as the new home for my pair of 94s and a #1145 offset generator mounting bracket that relocates the generator to over the right cylinder head. I'd also ordered a pair of #1125 ('48 and earlier Ford and Mercury) finned aluminum cylinder heads to add a bit of pizzazz to my otherwise stock flathead. It seemed as though after my water pump setback, things were looking up.
Meanwhile, I decided to repaint...
Meanwhile, I decided to repaint the block red since I didn't care for the black as much as I thought I would have.
After squirting the new red...
After squirting the new red engine paint I figured it might be to my advantage to test fit the new head gaskets before calling it quits for the night. Lord knows my luck wasn't running in my favor that day. Well the gaskets looked fine so I packed it in for the day and headed inside.
The next morning I headed...
The next morning I headed out to grab my replacement head studs only to find, of course, that all they had in stock were three out of the sixteen needed to complete the job. To add insult to injury they didn't have any of the three 7/16 x 4 3/4-inch studs needed to attach the generator mount either -- I just love playin' with old cars. They did have the correct amount and sizes of grade-eight bolts though, so rather than going home empty handed I took those and slinked back to the shop.
Well, I assembled the balance...
Well, I assembled the balance using the bolts in lieu of the studs (though I will replace `em with the correct studs as soon as the ones I ordered arrive) and threw on my shiny new acorn nuts just to give the illusion of a completed job. After this I sat the intake in place and proceeded to install the carbs and ignition wires.
Though I really wasn't able...
Though I really wasn't able to finish what I'd hoped to have that weekend, I'm still well on the way to a good looking temporary engine that'll do the trick until I'm able to finish up my real rebuild with Mike up at H&H. Until then, I'm a happy camper and a willing convert to traditional hot rod power - no matter how aggravating it may be.