Ford Flathead Gets A Race Cam And Tri-Powered Intake Setup - Engine Power S1, E14

today on engine power we'll finish off the classic ford flathead we started a while back from assembly to the dyno with the help from another legend the famous engine builder keith dorton a while back we took a closer look at the engine that launched an entire lifestyle and industry based on power and speed the ford flathead a simplistic v8 with room for improvement and it didn't take long to find it it was then when edelbrock marketed his first high performance intake manifold with a cylinder head soon to follow and he wasn't alone go fast parts were popping up everywhere a new purpose for the flatty was well on its way we found ours in a junkyard intact the casting tells it's from the mid 50s and the rust confirms it this thing is locked up solid a short soak freed up some pistons but the rest put up a battle the block had been previously bored and appeared solid but only a trip to a machine shop can confirm it after a shot pain and some magnafluxing we found several small cracks between some water jackets and the bolt holes fortunately an easy fix by drilling out the original holes and driving in a lubed insert with a bolt once seated and the bolt removed the new thread stops the crack giving the new studs a stronger clamping area the cylinder is cleaned up well no sleeves needed so we have the green light to continue the valve seats were next and the old ones put up a fight as well with a pilot in place the new ones are driven in we gave the exhaust a standard three angle valve job but the intakes got opened up a little de-shrouded then a three-angle cut as well and that's as far as time allowed us to go another project called us away so we called on an old friend to take over he grew up in the heart of nascar country with an early passion for speed while he enjoyed the thrill of driving race cars keith thornton loved the challenge of making power for them it consumed his imagination and creativity his engines have been winning races for five decades now in the 1960s his cylinder head making magic provided the winning edge for legends like junior johnson bobby allison and kale yarbrough he may be the only engine builder in history to have worked for three generations of earnhardt's although still involved in circle track competition keith built engines for 19 record-breaking cars at the bonneville salt flats and he's not done yet working with his son jeff keith's company automotive specialist has broadened its horsepower horizons while priority remains on race engines they'll also focus on building custom streetable engines for all sorts of hot rods and classics you're gonna spend a lot of money and got a totally unique chassis and body combination why not put a unique engine combination it's pretty easy to make horsepower but what we have to do for this application is make drivable power and that's why we called keith you'll see how he does it after the break up next keith is here let the build begin we're back and so is the flathead along with legendary engine builder keith dorton he also brought his passion you know the coolest sounding engines you've ever heard they have a unique sound and they run so smooth and you know in the stock form they were just as quiet as a cadillac engine you know so it was good to find a block that was in as good a condition as this one is even though it had some cracks in it that are common with the flatheads but this one about as good as you're gonna find now all that we had to do at the shop and it wasn't a must was we did the relieving the block which we the area between the valves and the cylinder we dropped it about 80 to 90 thousandths to increase the airflow from the valves to the cylinder which is part of the combustion chamber i really want to start collecting some parts for myself and you know i'm gonna build another hot rod one day so and it'll have a flood head in it when i do the goal for this engine is pretty simple we want a smooth running user friendly engine that doesn't require a lot of maintenance now for that we're using parts from several manufacturers that have been in the performance world for years like scat with their popular ford flathead rotating assembly now this is their cast crank with a 4250 stroke that has been internally balanced with the rest of the kit now attached to it are a set of h-beam 7-inch rods that are held together with arp 8740 rod bolts now the pistons have a cool little story in themselves like the originals we busted out of the block these have a slight dome now in the flathead world they're considered a flat top now as far as a horsepower go we're gonna let the dyno decide because we just don't know the first part of the build will be the bottom end now a set of clevite bearings will fill the flathead's three main journals royal purple assembly lube will protect the bearings as we assemble it now the crankshaft is scat's 9000 series made for the street and strip it will give our flathead 304 cubic inches next up are the original main caps now they're filled with the other halves of the clevite bearings arp bolts will anchor them in with arp's ultra torque on the bolts we can torque the first two caps to 40 foot-pounds forcing the crank towards the front of the engine will align the two halves of the thrust bearing which is at the rear now torque that cap to 40 foot-pounds set up the magnetic base and dial gauge on the crank snout and with the reading at zero we'll rock the crank from front to back to check the thrust clearance right at six which is in spec now torque all the caps to the final value of 70 foot-pounds before we move on a masking job and some old tins from the original engine will give us the cover we need to add some color here's a prelude of things to come it speaks for itself but we'll tell you more about it on the dyno duplicolor's gray engine primer and red engine paint will give the flatty a slick look moving forward with this build requires the number one piston to be in place the scat rod is held to the ross forged piston with a floating pin now spiral locks will keep it in place gapping the rings is a must keith is using our goodson filer to open the gaps which will avoid them from touching when the engine gets up to temperature which would lead to a major failure the ring pack is from total seal the balancing act is from experience you know i was the only real gear head in my class when i went to school of course that man always had to fix the teachers cars but maybe that's the only way i passed too with assembly lube in place and the piston oiled we can fill the 3.375 inch bore now the rod bearing is from a 327 small block chevy that have been narrowed and chamfered to the flathead's rod journal width next up is the isky flat tappet camshaft that still holds the name three quarter race cam now it's designed for mild street and good low speed power lift is a single pattern at 364 on the intake and exhaust these iski lifters have deep grooves in their body to hold oil and lubricate the lifter bore as they move up and down the small nut is the adjuster to set the valve lash back in the day adjustable lifters were not available so to get the valves lash grinding on the valve stem or altering the valve seat was the answer now the valve assemblies can be put together first apply assembly lube on the valve stem then the valve guide can go on followed by a shim the valve spring retainer and finally the locks now it goes into the block as an assembly the intake goes together the same way but uses a seal on the guide the next step can be tricky but we have the right tool so it should be a breeze now using a valve guide tool specific to the flat head we can pull the guides down and install the retainers with a pair of needle nose pliers with the exhaust valve just starting to open using a feeler gauge check the lash between the lifter and the valve tip we have twelve thousands which is a little tight now to make an adjustment the lifter needs to be moved up and a small allen socket placed through this hole which keeps the lifter from rotating using a 7 16 wrench the adjuster is turned in to open the lash now rotate the engine again so the exhaust valve starts to open and check the lash which is right on the money at 14 thousands so far this build is moving very smooth more to come after the break so who's the coolest the flathead or keith more to come that one really nice and smooth good job at this point the valves are in and lashed on this 1950s ford flathead so we'll lock the cam in place with the original timing cover dressed with a new crank seal silicone on the mating surface and a small amount of extreme pressure lube where the nose of the cam contacts the thrust surface of the cover with the remaining pistons in place and the caps torque to 50 foot-pounds all the internals are done and to confirm cam specs keith always takes time for the degree wheel now we can install the arp head studs into the block they will give us the extra clamping force needed to seal the flatty's heads to control all the crankshaft vibration not just that in a limited frequency range we're using a fluid damper balancer on this flathead now this thing is constructed of only three pieces the hub a laser welded outer shell and inside is a highly viscous silicone fluid that actually absorbs all that vibration plus it's sfi approved and we're ready to put it on it reduces wear on the main bearings and timing gear has a six inch diameter and is made to run v-belts now it rests against a spacer that retains the oil slinger summit racing supplied the melling standard volume oil pump for this build it does not use a gasket and is held in place with one 5 16 bolt the next two parts were hard to find until we found this guy hal from howl's garage in fayette ohio now he's a well-known go-to source for old flathead parts if you want to take a trip back in automotive time give his little garage a visit the oil pump pickup is an original pulled by hal himself it came to us with a matching pan that was in awesome shape for being over 61 years old with the seals installed we can drop the pan on fel pro gaskets and we're done with the bottom end copper felpro head gaskets are next now it's recommended to use a sealer like vht's copper gasket sealant on both sides to improve their sealing characteristics gently work the gasket over the studs keeping it even as it goes down vic edelbrock senior designed the first aluminum performance flathead cylinder head back in 1938 now from that point on production never ended now this is the 49 through 53 version and it got its name from the thin design now underneath the combustion chamber looks small but it's actually 65 cc's they're ribbed internally and externally for strength and have large water jackets for better cooling to protect the shiny finish of the nut i'm laying a piece of tissue over them then placing the socket over it this will help avoid scarring to the hex portion of the nut both heads will be torqued in sequence to 60 foot-pounds and for the final time here's edelbrock's vintage tri-power intake setup and it's not just for show i think it's great that you can bolt these carbs on right out of the box and get the results it works i'm sure we're going to get here the manifold looks so cool too for spark a mallory unilite electronic distributor a huge leap in technology from the 50s new high flow water pumps are next and these will be the last parts keith installs for us we got to put some fuel lines on it or you do because i got to get back and get to work we've been gone long enough keith did what he came to do reviving an important piece of history really a fun project to come back and work on something this old and i'm very confident that we're going to get some good results out of it and if keith says so so it shall be you heard the man up next dino time we're back and ready for the dyno but as it turns out i'm not alone after all another high profile engine builder pat toppalinski came by to watch the run but i'm putting him to work instead they're easy to modify easy to work on oh yeah i love him telling the truth you may recognize his face he helped us with our driveway rescue segments in the past but his claim to fame is being a team member of kb racing's multi-championship winning nhra pro stock team where his duties included clutch and transmission setup engine development and anything else he could get his hands on and today it's a flathead you know i came here to watch but i'm a horrible spectator if you didn't come here to pitch in you shouldn't be here anyway patriot tight tuck street rod headers will direct the exhaust gases out of the engine now to set the belt tension we're using edelbrock's offset alternator bracket and topping it off with powermaster's powergen 90 amp 12 volt alternator edelbrock's triple deuce fuel line kit will make the plumbing super easy now the 94 two barrel carbs were born in 1938 and production stopped in 57. in 2010 edelbrock made them available once again to feed nostalgia engines like this remember that oil pump pickup we installed earlier well the screen is the only filtration a flat head ever got which isn't good enough so keith made some modifications to the back side of the block now that's going to let us run a remote oil filter now the blue fitting is pressure into it and the black fitting is pressured back into the engine from the mylodon remote filter adapter re-ran the two lines to the fittings at the back of the engine and one more line to monitor pressure at the dyno console now the all-important filter we'll prime it with five and a half quarts of royal purple break-in oil here comes water a quick check for leaks no man we're golden pressurize the fuel system to fill up the bowls beautiful cool keith hey how are you i made a courtesy call to let keith know what was going on i'll call you this afternoon oh wow all right that time it was dead-on our distributor has 14 degrees of mechanical advance built in to start we'll run 24 degrees of total timing and advance it from there now we can break in the camshaft by running the engine from 15 to 200 rpm for 20 minutes with great oil pressure the recommended fuel pressure we're ready to adjust the carburetors we're going to set the throttle blades on each carburetor so they open evenly then we need to set it up so they're synced together based off a vacuum now for that we'll get help from the unison tool from edelbrock now it's time to fire it up we'll get the engine to idle by opening the throttle blades of each cart evenly now place the unison on the center carb and turn the airflow control to get the red indicator in the center of the tube without changing the air control valve place it on the other carbs and adjust the idle control screw to make the red indicator reach the same location as the center car now we can reattach the linkage and chase down some old-school grunt got your seat belt on and your helmet's set i'm ready you better rip chater chip 156 247. awesome i like it let's uh let's throw some timing at it and see how it likes it we'll sneak it up to about 26. 159 264. nice that's nice nice smooth graph two and it's still climbing there yep yep to find its threshold we tried 28 degrees and lost a little bulb 157 253 is still cool for being over 60 years old yeah no this is our coolness factor on this one's off the charts so it's back to 26 degrees for one last poll we'll claim victory at 159 horsepower and 257 foot-pounds of torque you glad you came by i'm glad i came by i'm glad i got to be able to help with that this is uh this is ultra cool it's a it's a great little engine it looks great we tip our hat to pat toppalinski for pitching in the extra set of hands was awesome thank you man thanks very much we also credit this build to keith dorton who shared his skills and knowledge with all of us and for passing it down to his son jeff to keep the legacy alive for the next generation here's something for you harley guys that have a 2002 through 2008 touring edition it's excel's stealth super coils for v-twin engines now these things eliminate ignition wires by mounting the coil directly to the spark plug now the cast aluminum housing actually acts as a heat sink to pull heat away from the cylinder head now all the wiring is hidden for a clean custom look and the coils come with a limited lifetime warranty now you can find yours at summitracing.com powersports superstore for just under 230 bucks safety is always our top priority and this sparco jade top driving suit is an easy way to make it yours now this is a one piece three layer design made of flame retardant cotton it surpasses sfi's 3.2 a5 standards and is available in two-tone color combinations now you can pick them up in several sizes colors and they're available at summit racing for right at 300 bucks now if you plan on going fast you've got to stay safe we'll see you next time

Channel: POWERNATION

Views: 885,135

Keywords: Car, PowerNation, howto, how-to, diy, automotive, cars, trucks, automobile, do it yourself, automobiles, auto, powerblock, engine power, horsepower, engine build, ford, ford flathead, ford engine, ford flathead v8

Id: IWxwB9rs_tU

Length: 18min 43sec (1123 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 24 2021