Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

19Fordy,

I have a good 8BA crankshaft (checked at the machine shop), that I can't give away.

Tubman

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

I know I have a 'good supply' of blocks and cranks! :)

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

Just remember the 258 is one mean reving machime, and cheep to build.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

Ron,

Seems like you might need a crankshaft,:D now there's shipping costs..............

Tubman

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

I have few as well. About 15 years ago I built up several 276 engines to sell and one 258. All had L-100 cams along with a bunch of used heads I picked up at fla markets. At that time I would mill all the heads .040" and carve my own combustion chambers. I also had a dyno. I sold the 276 engines right away one put out 135 HP and the other 140. but no one wanted the 258, so I made it my test engine. The dan thing mad over 150 hP@ 5200. All the others peaked at around 46-800. I'll admit it had a 4bl on. I sold it to a guy in New Hampshire. Never heard from him again. My first Hydro engine was a 258 and it was clocked at 61 mph The 284 that replaced it only made 58 MPH
I woukdn't throw them short strokers away, For just a set of pistons you could have a nice engine.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

the flathead eng has one big flaw that is the exhaust gases pass through the block .back in the day the traffic was not like it is today.it,s a hard eng to keep cool in heavy traffic. i know there guys that say thers run cool. have they ever been on the l.i.e or ca freeway at rush hour if you want to drive your car every day in heavy traffic which is just about every where. it,s not a good choice. i hate to say this but you can get a sb chevy a lot less then a rebuilt flathead . & go every where but if you just want to drive to car shows or back roads the flathead is great. or you live in a low traffic area

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

In the later ('49 and up) cars at least, I think they had the cooling problems mostly sorted out (I'm not an expert with the earlier cars). When I finished my '51 38 years ago, it had a recored radiator and a clean block, and I've never had a problem. I was in Chicago for a car show a year or two after I finished it (drove it there from the Twin Cities). I got lost and ended up in a huge traffic jam in 95 degree weather. There were modern cars pulling over to the side of the road because they were boiling (probably a good number of them were brand "X"), while I just drove on through.

If you get and keep everything maintained the way it should be, there shouldn't be a problem.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

That's great! Good advice, Ron! Funny, I remember one of friend getting the flyer or something with those engines for sale back in the day. If I recall, none went for over $2K, right?

Somewhere along the line, I picked up a set of Edelbrocks that you worked over. I got them second hand, but the guy bought them from you at York many moons ago.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

My eyesight was a little better. Yes I bought Offy 400 heads because they were thicker thicker than to older heads and I could make my own chamber. This was before CNC. I could knock off a set of heads in a day. Yes the base price was 2700 less intake and dist. I dynowed every one with my intake and dist. sold allot of SBC distributors, only had mechanical adv. It' nice to know several are still running.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

Ol Ron please share the details how dose one get a flathead to 258 I'm very nterested in the combination of parts you need to assemble this motor

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

+1

-

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

It is a combination of a stock 3 3/4 stroke crank with a block bored to 3 5/16 (1/8" overbore).

With the shorter throw crankshaft, they should really rev up fast. Also, cheap to build in that you can use the earlier 59AB crank, stock 29A rods and floater bearings (which are a bit expensive and harder to setup), or just take the Ford 49-53 crankshafts that everybody has laying around (cause they put 4" merc cranks in them) and use a set of 49-53 rods with insert bearings and you're good to go. Easy engine to build with the cheapest parts available - you'll love it!

My personal favorite for a hot street engine is a 4" Merc crank and a 3 5/16 bore - 276 cubic inches.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

That's a 3 5/16" bore with a standard 3 3/4" stroke. In other words 3.3125" bore X 3.75" stroke.

You take a Ford block and bore .125" over and viola! 258.5 cubic inches.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

wonder if you can bore a 3 1/6 th 21 stud 1937 type motor this far make my 32 project run faster

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

The 221 blocks don't have a lot of meat in the cylinder walls. A person could sleeve a block out to go big bore but I doubt that it could take a bore job that large without sleeves. Folks don't usually bore them much more than 3 3/16".

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

Yepadoodle!! That's the way it's done. Sportsman racing rules said 1/8 0ver bore stock crank and valves any cam one carb. A 258 block 400jr cam. 2GC carb, fixed IGN atrt 17 degs and go racing. Set em up loose. I knew a fellow that would buy a Sears rebuild ($139) put in a cam and run a season on it. put the stock cam back in it, and get another one.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

Back then a new Merc crank cost 65 bucks. Who could afford one.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

Hey Ron! Thanks for "making a market" for my old crank! You know I'm building my own 258". Almost the same as you're talkin' about : Isky Max-1, Edmunds heads with improved "squish" and extended tip plugs, Navarro "Universal" manifold with 2 94's (to start), and an old Mallory "flattop" distributor and "The Best Coil I Ever Made". As you can see, I'm going for an "old-timey" look. Because of the smokin' deal I got on a set of pistons from Speedway's garage sale section, I expect to be in it for less than $2000. We'll see.

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

What would the French have done with the tooling for the casting and machining of the flatheads?

Re: Could Edelbrock cast a flathead block
 

Good question! Their blocks were different but not different enough to be a problem. If a person could get the core molds and box, they would have most of the work done. The core molds that were different could be changed to get rid of the lump on the back of the block and improve the intake runners. There is a good probability that they were scrapped but you never know.