[KOOLKAR]

i'm looking at maybe buying a barn "fresh" f-5 cabover ford truck with a flathead v-8 in it. it's complete (down to the original air filter) unstuck, and has at least some compression.

i know nothing about them.

i've seen a few guys who rod them, and i have no intention of using the thing, but would like to maybe sell it to help finance a power stroke i would like to put into the truck.

assuming i can get the engine to fire up, what's it worth in running condition?

yeah, i know. it's a tough call. let's assume it runs but smokes and has some oil pressure. (and yeah, i'm bein an optimist. the thing is, body wise, the truck is very complete and in not too bad shape)

is a truck engine "desireable"? i found out the hard way about tall block 427's when i was a kid.

[matt167]

depends on the year and condition of the engine. with a flathead V8, they crack, so it might run great but be junk all at the same time

[KOOLKAR]

thanks for the reply. i didn't know that. i owned a 50 ford when i was a kid that should have blown up a thousand times, but held together despite my missed gears, burn outs, and assorted abuse. it finally did throw a rod, but even then kept running long enough for me to drive it into a lake at about 20 m.p.h..

(yeah, i was one of THOSE kids).

i may pass on this thing. i don't sell stuff i'm not pretty sure of, and i'm not about to put money in an engine i probably won't use.

i have to think about it some more.........

[trees]

Basically, there are not any flat heads Ford motors being produced so if you offered one for sale, there should be a buyer. From my experience , I have sold complete running motors for as much as $500 and as little as $150. The earlier Ford flatties were the same in cars as tucks, but not sure about the later ones. I would go to a little trouble to see if it ran, but from a buyers stand point, that does not influence my offer much because I would expect to go through a complete tear down and rebuild.

Trees

[techinspector1]

Agree with Trees. Anybody who knows what he is doing will not buy a flathead block until he has it magnafluxed for cracks. Learning my lesson at an early age, I have not bought a complete running motor of any type for nearly 4 decades. I buy pieces or core motors and build my own. TRUST NOBODY.

[Irelands child]

You might want to take a look at that engine - it might not be the passenger car 24 head stud version in that truck, but might be a 27 stud Lincoln 337 cid version that Ford used in most everything beyond the F1/F2. Heavy monster at ~850 pounds!!!!

Lots of on-line references found by Google.

Dave W