Inliners International Forums General Discussion Ford flathead six

I'm building a H.P. 223 Ford flathead SIX motor. Anyone interested in exchanging info. let me know. Vinny G.

I'm starting a 1948 version of that motor. I've got the car rewired and converted to 12V neg. ground so I'm ready for more projects.

Thanks,

Ed

Many years ago, I had a '51 Ford 2-door with a 223 FH 6. I had the head milled .060, made a set of dual outlet headers and installed a single barrel carb from a GMC 302 ( with some strange linkage) and proceeeded to whip most of the FH Ford V8s around town. It sounded good doing it, too! The horsepower rating was only 5 hp less than a V8 and it had more low-end torque. Did I ever have fun with that sucker! Several people warned me that it wasn't nearly as strong as a Dodge or Plymouth FH, but I drove the crap out of it for two years and it never quit.

'51 2-door came with a flathead six that was the H series 226. Cool looking engine. Anyone know of parts suppliers for these engines?

soooooooooo what have you guys came up with??? this engine looks cool to me for a rat rod roadster!!! what are the specs.? bore stroke? and so on. are there any hot rod parts out there?

Troy, there are still dual carb manifolds popping up on Ebay once and a while. For the exhaust they take a car and truck manifold and cut each in half. Then weld them back together for a dual setup. Pick up a copy of California Bill's Speed Manual from the early 50s. He has performance building tips, and stroking the 226.

we've made several ford flathead 6 split manifolds here @ Kansas Kustoms in the last few years for Inliners. we only use 1 manifold to do it. i'll try to post a photo or 2 later

i just picked one up!!! i think i will just make my own intake and header. does anyone do cams for them???? i'm thinking two 97s??? what do you guys think?

Mike,

I'd like to see pix of your dual exh setups for the 226 Ford using a single manifold. I have pix you sent me of the ones you've made from two manifolds but I dont have two of them. Thanks!

Nick

I have a 226 in a '51 car. I've driven it for 15 years. It has a Nicson Engineering 2x1 intake manifold....the only one I have ever seen. I have had the best luck running square bowl Holley single barrel carbs from a '56 Ford truck. Nielson Cams (somewhere in Utah, they used to advertise in Hemmings) ground my stock cam to a 3/4 flathead grind. The cam worked out ok except lifter noise increased considerably, I guess due to the lift. I modified a car exhaust manifold by blocking the center and adding a truck outlet for the front three cylinders.

Does anyone know if a 226 can be safely bored out to 3.5/254 pistons.

I don't believe even one of these engines ever reached Australia...

We only ever had flathead V8s between the B-model 4-cyl and the Y-block. The 250 ohv six came along later, and then the Falcon, but never a flathead six.