| There are tons of old speed equipment around for flatheads. They can make more power than they did stock, but reliability is less than wonderful, especially with big bores. Since the flathead design runs the exhaust through the block for a fairly long distance, they tend to have bad overheating problems. Flatheads require huge radiators. Before I started building up a flathead, I would make sure the block was not cracked. Many of the blocks I have seen over the years were cracked between cylinders. That can be fixed, but it is expensive. Back in the old days, hot rodders really bored out the flatheads a lot, but often those big engines didn't last very long. If I was going to build a flathead now, I think I would leave the bore as close to stock as possible. There have been a bunch of books written about building flatheads, many by people that have built many of them since the engines were new. I have a couple of them and have enjoyed learning from the authors' experiences and mistakes. Flatheads can make more power with higher compression, better induction, better exhaust handling, porting and relieving, and decent ignition. I wonder how much compression would work with today's gas--back when I was a kid, we ran "ethyl" in my brother's Ford, and I don't think that the compression ratio with the Edelbrock heads was over 9 to 1. It pinged badly on regular leaded gas. I think that it is possible to mate a C-4 automatic with later flatheads like you have, and there may be other combinations available too. You might look up flat-o-matic on the internet. Another thing you might want to consider is replacing the engine and transmission with a later model overhead V8 and the automatic that fits the engine. If you could find a good used engine and transmission, you probably would end up with more horsepower than a hotrodded flathead for a LOT less money. The more or less stock later V8 and matching automatic transmission would also probably be much more reliable than a highly stressed modified flathead. I have known several guys with small block Chevys in early 50's Fords. They said the conversion was pretty easy to do. One of my friends has an F-1 with a 302 Ford and C-4 that he has driven around for about 20 years. He bought it converted, and has had to do almost nothing to it other than normal wear replacements and maintenance. It is a really nice ride, that even gets fairly good gas mileage. If you do a bunch of changes to the powertrain, you probably will need to add a more modern, stronger rear end with a more appropriate gear ratio. And the stock brakes are not nearly good enough for today's roads and speeds. Lots of people change the front suspension on old trucks to later independent suspension systems, for a better ride, some handling and less problems getting replacement parts. The flatheads look neat and sound neat, but there is a reason that Ford and all the other manufacturers quit building them--the later designs work better. But you can sure do what you want with your truck. Good luck!
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