Flatheads

["Clarence Milstead" <cmilstead@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My first car was a 1953 Ford Convertible with a 112 HP flathead V-8. Those
flatheads were good engines but had two weaknesses, the blocks would crack
and due to the routing of the exhaust passages through the block would tend
to overheat, really got the heater warm in the winter though. It got 15 MPG
on 26 cents per gallon gas. I helped a friend build a flathead for his 1948
Ford Coupe. The block was ported and relieved, it had high compression
finned heads, I believe it had a 3/4 cam, maybe Edelbrock, aluminum intake
manifold with two carbs, and headers. It would really run for that time and
turned a lot of RPM but he didn't have a tach. Not much weight in a flathead
valve train. Wish I still had my '53, it would really be a classic.

Clarence Milstead