OK guys, my next door neighbor is looking for a flathead motor he can build up to put in a hotrod he is planning. He has a couple of motors sitting in the shop, but he has read some stuff about the French Flathead and thinks one of those would work better than one of the old ones he has.
Anybody have one they want to part with...
Bob,
Contact Ed Pink. His latest Ford Flathead repops have been using blocks produced in France, sometime in the 1950's. NO idea about the availability, supply or cost. But according to the recent article in Race Engine Technology, the French blocks are new old stock, and don't have the corrosion problems of old used Ford USA produced parts. He has sold Ed Pink Racing Engines and now has a separate facility somewhere in So Cal. I'm sure some SCTA guys have his contact info.
Water jacket corrosion/erosion is a HUGE issue for the early 1960's English Ford 4 cylinder engines I used to specialize in. The cylinders would "pinhole" into the water jacket when going as little as .060" overbore, thereby requiring installation of sleeves in some or all cylinders. Expensive and time consuming. Not to mention some blocks were just "unusable".