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We towed a Merc truck home the other day, supposed to have a really good flattie in it. Tried starting it, found it had a stuck valve. Pulled one head and the intake to free it up. Guess what? It's a fresh rebuilt .040 overbore 255 Merc! 262 cubes and perfect! Sometimes lucky is better than smart and good lookin'! Now I'm seriously considering pulling the Chevy II four out of my bucket and making it a REAL hot rod, whattaya think? (Oops, that's a question, ain't it?)
With flatheads being hot again right now, it would lend a certain "real hot rod" appeal to it. Seems like if a car has one in it people are just more turned on than with almost any other engine. I grew up right after the flathead era, and we were jerking them out and putting Oldsmobiles into every early Ford we could find, so they don't hold the same appeal for me, but a well dressed flatmotor is really pretty, and they have a great exhaust note too.
My vote........do the swap.(or sell it to me:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: )
Don
You don't have the 4 popper out of the bucket yet?
Well, I gotta find some car pulleys and pumps, and figure out what to run for a trans. The truck straight cut 4speed isn't gonna do it for me.Anybody got some used hop-up stuff? I gave all mine away decades ago. All I have left is a busted 505T cam, and a set of adjustable lifters.
R.Pope, what tranny you running behind the Chevy 4 popper? If it's a 3 or 4 spd, just get a Flatty to chevy tranny adapter from Speedway or Transdapt or whoever and go for it. :)
The four has a 'glide. I'm not sure there's room in the bucket for a clutch pedal. I see adapters for automatics are available, but they're worth more than I've spent on the whole car!
Ain't that the heck of it. So much of the items that would make it so easy end up costing an arm and a leg compared to what you have in to the vehicle. I am facing the same thing with my old truck on some sheet metal I want to replace, although I already got too much into the danged thing.
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Originally Posted by R Pope
I'm wrestling with the same thing with the budget bucket I'm building. I really want to use the nice Chevy 3 speed trans and Hurst shifter I bought on Ebay, but I don't think I'll have room for the 3 pedals. I know they did it in the old days with '39 ford trannys and all ( like Kookies T) but it is going to be real tight.
Don
Just move the gas pedal over onto the passenger side and you will have a real retro set up! Sounds like a great find, I say go for it
Pat
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Originally Posted by Stu Cool
Hey, that's the ticket. I'll use a craftsman wrench for a hand brake. Who needs those stupid foot brakes anyway. :LOL: :LOL: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Don
Speedway sells a flattie to C-4 adapter......
Just dug around in my junk--er, parts department--and rediscovered a '39 floor shifter 3-speed and a '47 rear end. All I need now is a Model A frame, and I know where one is. Maybe the Willys bucket gets to keep the banger. It has a triangulated four-bar rear that just doesn't seem to go with Henry's water heater. I have in mind a true traditional rod, nothing newer than 1960 or so.
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Originally Posted by R Pope
Hey, you can join our low buck project club. With the stuff you have there, you could put this thing together pretty cheap, and old-timey.
Not much has been happening lately for me and the other guys who were shooting for the $ 3 K budget, so maybe we need you to get us going again. I think you've got the real beginnings of a cool traditional rod there, and with old stuff showing up on Ebay all the time, you should be able to find those pieces you need pretty easily.
Much better choice than tearing down the other car.
Don
That sounds like a plan. But, please, don't even let the word Rat Rod pass you lips. :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: I know you wouldn't and the "true traditional rod" backs that up. Go for it. :)
Just found a '37 tube axle. They don't like split wishbones, will an A-V8 work with stock 'bones?
Don't know, but I ran a '37 V8 60 axle like yours with split bones on one car in the early '70's, and it worked fine. I know you are referring to tube axles not flexing like I beams, but if you look at all the T buckets out there with tube axles it shouldn't be a problem. Plus, these 60 axles are very scarce and desirable anymore. I envy you, wish I had never sold the one I had.
Grabowski ran one on his Kookie T, but he had sort of a 4 bar set up on his. I think for the light weight you are dealing with here, and the limited use a hot rod gets, you will be fine. If it still worries you, give it to me, I'll take that thing out of your way.:D :D :D :D :D :D
They are bringing big money on ebay when they show up, and these look bitchin'. The only downside to them is that they aren't dropped very much, as a 4 inch axle would be.
Don
Yeah. I know of several tube axle cars that have split bones and they seem to live a long and healthy life. The drop thing won't be a problem, the roads around here don't allow as low a ride as I'd like. 6" clearance is a must on gravel or these lousy highways.
I drove a neighbor's restored "A" to town, and was telling how it steered all over on the highway. A coffe shop guru commented, "Well, whatta ya want, that car was made in the 'twenties, it was never designed to run on roads that bad!"
Man what I would give for a find like that. Go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
And the best part of it all is.....it's all FREE!
Check out the pictures of my friend's flattie olds he's trying to part on my thread.
Hey, I found an extra 4" crank! Anybody need one? Also 7 (!) rods and pistons to match.
waid a go pope a fresh 255. i have one that was rebult in the 70s sitting in a 53 merc grain truck at the farm. i kind like the screaming 4 spd and thought it would be a different setup with a high speed rear end to give the granny low a step up plus have a high top gear.
Now I need someone to refresh my memory on how to shorten a '47 driveshaft. As I recall, the 'shaft is solid, with a splined coupler at the pinion.
I was given a '27 T tub, actually a phaeton front bit, that's salvageable. A '35 front axle with '48 brakes,Z'ed and shortened A frame and springs, '49 pickup steering box and maybe a Fordson tractor grille shell?That's still Ford, ain't it? I had a '33 pickup rad and shell, but somebody swiped it last spring, dang!
Glad to see you are still collecting those great parts. It has become popular to use these tractor grilles, so the prices are starting to climb on Ebay.
Someone on here will know how to shorten that driveshaft and housing, but I don't. I just wanted to tell you to keep on plugging away.
Don
To update, I'm having a hard time finding an "A" frame. Gotta get one before the snow flies! Well, maybe when I'm hunting for my moose (one of 25 draw tickets in my home zone) I'll stumble across one. Actually, the snow WAS flying the last few days, but it's going away.
you lucky so and so pope , good luck bullwinkle hunting i heard they had opened up some tags north of the river. i got drawn fro mule deer in zone 5.
i have not come across a good A frame lately but will keep you in mind during hunting season best time to car hunt as you check out all the old abandoned farm yards
R Pope: Just the other day I was wondering how your rod was coming. Maybe you should consider building a rectangular tube frame and possibly putting model A front horns on it if you want that look. I have a boxed model a frame under my '27, and when it was all said and done I could have bought a repro frame for the money I had to put in it to make it right.
You could bend up some 2 x 4 tubing to mimic the model a side wall shape, and weld in some custom or stock crossmembers and have a straight, strong frame from the git go. Just a thought.
Of course you guys live up there with "abandoned farms" and all that good stuff, so you might find an A or similar frame while you are pursuing Bullwinkle.:3dSMILE: :3dSMILE: :3dSMILE: :3dSMILE:
Don
i actually am bringing my digi camera with me this year as last year found a actual t convet and frame plus i know where there is a actual old round rear window ford truck shell and frame .
great to take pics and remember where they are at
I already have done the square tube frame thing with my Willys bucket.Still haven't got it finished, y'know how it goes. My intent on this build is to have nothing newer than 1962 on the whole car, 6v. system even. Saw a few when I was a kid and loved 'em! So far, it's all freebies, just need frame rails to have the whole stack of junk---er, parts. I want to use a '39 trans and closed drive, my brother says to go with a '51 OD 3-speed and '55 pickup rear end. The engine looks like a '53, angled motor mounts on narrow-pulley pumps, so maybe.'35 front axle w/'55 PU brakes, or maybe '47 brakes with Buick drums? Decisions, decisions!