[masraum]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

I took my dad for a road trip yesterday to go pick up the 8BA flathead that I bought sight unseen. I got it home and pulled off a head with my son. Despite being in a 50 Mercury F1, it is a stock 239 8BA flathead… not a 255 Mercury engine.

I’m now looking for a Mercury crank.

I think I found a shop that can bore my block .125 over, I will confirm this tomorrow.

My plan, based on advice from The HAMB is to get it to 276 CID with the .125 over bore and a Merc crank, get a high lift variant of the Merc cam, get some Edelbrock or Offy heads and run a small 4 bbl carb (or duals). My target is 150 HP.

I have always been aware of them, but have never driven one, and I don't know that I've ever seen one run. There's something cool about them, simpler times and motors and all that.

Kind of funny, so much work, huge overbore, long crank, fancy heads, and a 4bbl and still only 150hp. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Are they (relatively) low RPM torque motors or are they just old and therefore not as powerful as more modern motors. I'm more familiar with the old SBC (before the LSx).