Thread: flathead cost

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H:Hey all!! 51 ford flathead rebuilt shortblock? nothing else,never ran was a spare? pistons 10 over crank and rod bearings 10 under. $1500.00 sound reasonable? looking at a speedway catalog for pricing to complete would be about another $8500.00 to complete. so a rebuilt flathead for 10 grand? any thoughts? Pete

I guess if you want a flathead it's probably a good price---if the block and heads aren't cracked... As far as having a complete flathead with $10K in it, if I was going to have a $10K engine, it certainly would have to have a lot more power then what a flathead will put out!!! But, it's your money and your car so if that's a worthwhile investment to you, go for it!

I'm with Dave. If I had 10K to build an engine it would not be a flathead!

I love the flathead Ford and the now nostalgic look. But I moved on - about 1970 - when they started getting scarce and parts started getting expensive as well. Before I spent $15 very large Franklin pictured greenbacks on a rebuilt original and that rebuilt of unknown quality assembled by an unknown mechanic, I would for sure look at one of the new aluminum blocks or possibly a new and unused French version. Take a look here - Flatheads Forever - these guys ain't cheap, but are one of the better known. A Google will find you a few more flathead engine builders. Now, with that said, you can buy a Chevy() or Ford small block crate engine, fully assembled, brand new, dress it out for a few hundred more, have better reliability, more horsepower, and costing in the neighborhood of $3-5000. The rest of the saved money - that can be invested elsewhere in your vehicle.

Now, since you didn't say how much you had to spend on an engine, and if the flathead really gets your personal motor running - go for it, just do it the right way with premium parts and services

Hey!! Yeah I do agree with you about money verses power for sure,right now im running a stock 87 302 ford with a 5 speed and the power is plenty and the flathead would be lucky to have 30% of that power. Its for the look for sure but that is alot of money to go slower! Thanks for letting me pick your brains! Pete

Doing a hp/$ calculation on a flathead Ford is never going to be a sensible formula. Choosing to run a flathead is done for emotional reasons..............so open the wallet and let the money fly.

That said, if the 8ba shortblock is actually rebuilt well, with good parts, $1500 is a decent buy. The questions come up that are critical to a flathead. Did they really test the block properly for cracks, did they really clean the water jackets properly to avoid overheating problems later, and are all the parts correct for the block. The .010 boring is a mild cleanup for these, unless really rusted bad inside they can go out to .125 over. A '51 block should have the hardened seats already if that's a concern, the '52-3 didn't. An extra $8500 seems a bit steep to finish it out, but without seeing a bill of materials who knows. There are lots of ways to get the parts to finish it off that won't cost that much, but I don't know what you're going for. If you're shooting for lots of bling, yeah, that's more expensive than paint. It's easy to end up with $1200 or so in a two x two intake system, $600 in heads, $300 in ignition, another $350 or so for a lumpy cam, and so on, so I could see $4k to finish easy, but 85 ? BTW, if you go this route, stay away from Speedy Bill's fake Strombergs.............they don't have a good reputation and aren't that much cheaper than a pair of professionally rebuilt originals, or the very well made reproduction out of England.

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Doing a hp/$ calculation on a flathead Ford is never going to be a sensible formula. Choosing to run a flathead is done for emotional reasons..............so open the wallet and let the money fly.

That said, if the 8ba shortblock is actually rebuilt well, with good parts, $1500 is a decent buy. The questions come up that are critical to a flathead. Did they really test the block properly for cracks, did they really clean the water jackets properly to avoid overheating problems later, and are all the parts correct for the block. The .010 boring is a mild cleanup for these, unless really rusted bad inside they can go out to .125 over. A '51 block should have the hardened seats already if that's a concern, the '52-3 didn't. An extra $8500 seems a bit steep to finish it out, but without seeing a bill of materials who knows. There are lots of ways to get the parts to finish it off that won't cost that much, but I don't know what you're going for. If you're shooting for lots of bling, yeah, that's more expensive than paint. It's easy to end up with $1200 or so in a two x two intake system, $600 in heads, $300 in ignition, another $350 or so for a lumpy cam, and so on, so I could see $4k to finish easy, but 85 ? BTW, if you go this route, stay away from Speedy Bill's fake Strombergs.............they don't have a good reputation and aren't that much cheaper than a pair of professionally rebuilt originals, or the very well made reproduction out of England.

Hey Bob!!! Parts and up super fast and was using speedway for ballpark prices(all parts from waterpumps to throwout bearing) Yes and the rebuild is by what the person says,dont know about paper work!! Thanks Pete