Tag Archives: flathead

HOT ROD magazine 97 Manifold Smackdown!

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Most days are pretty good here at Stromberg, but some are off the freakin’ scale. And today is one. We got the new HOT ROD Magazine 65th Anniversary issue today, and it’s crammed with new 97s. There are three on Dan Webb’s beautiful So-Cal Streamliner recreation (which we featured here a short time ago – click this link). And five pages-full in the ‘Ford Flathead V8 Intake Manifold Smackdown’.

We quote, “Several companies offer Stromberg lookalikes, but H&H says the best, most reliable and least troublesome are the real Strombergs made by the re-formed company, now from England.”

If you haven’t got the magazine already, we urge you to do quickly as it won’t available after 11th December 2012, and it’s packed with great features by the HRM team. We’ve scanned the relevant pages and added them here for when the mag’s no longer on the stands. Who were the winners? Navarro, pretty much, though the Edelbrock Slingshot 2×2 acquitted itself very well, too. The winners are summarised on page 104 – the last page below. Huge thanks, of course, to Marlan Davis at HRM. Dan Webb and of course, Mike Herman at Stromberg dealer H&H Flatheads for helping organise the awesome feature and helping us get involved.

Rare flathead stuff. Big Boy Heads!

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Bob Denton sent us a cool picture of his flathead motors – one with Stromberg carbs. “Here is my flathead with three Stromberg 97’s on an Evans manifold. The heads are custom by Big Boys”, he said. Ok, I thought. Got me there. Never heard of ’em! I better find out more..

“Big Boy heads were made in Bakersfield, California”, says Bob, “by a company called CMC Engineering. I do not believe there are more than a dozen sets of these heads around. As you can see, they are quite thick due to the increased cooling capacity and they have a Ford V8 60 type water manifold on them. The company is gone. I bought these in the early nineties along with a new French block, pistons, 4” crank, and everything I needed to assemble a mean flathead. I never got around to it. And I still haven’t. However,  I’ve decided to use the heads on the Mercury because I wanted to use the Evans intake with the Strombergs and Evans didn’t run a fan/generator bracket on the front of the manifold. As with all 8BA heads, the water port precludes the use of a side/head mounted generator. I am still debating this intake. I may wind up, if I stay with Evans, putting the generator low right and running a a separate belt off the crank for it.

The 8BA in my roadster is my prized engine, but it runs two DCOE Webers. The engine itself is an “overbuilt” flathead. Chevy valve seats, big valves reinforced bottom end, etc. The blower is by Jerry Magnuson. It was designed by him to go on a SBC. Jerry’s friend Tom Roberts made the pieces to put his regular (conventional) blowers on flatheads. The many pieces needed to put this blower on my flathead were made for me by Roberts. Again, this is probably a one-off. Quite honestly, I’m terrified to start it for fear I’ll blow it up. I have that much money invested in it. And I’m getting close to it being ready. Clive, I love flatheads. Always have. My first flathead was in a 1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe I bought in 1956 for $24.00 and drove it home. My mother had a fit. How could I waste my money?”

Chrome 97s. Blown Lincoln V12!

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Stromberg dealer, Mike Herman at H&H Flatheads really came up with the goods this time! Not a lot to say to plenty to look at. A supercharged Lincoln V12 flathead motor with four new chrome Genuine Stromberg 97s on a very special blower plate made by Mike at H&H. Check out the adapter then listen to it roar!

You can find H&H Flatheads via our dealer network button at the top of the page.

Merc of the Year 2011 – also Stromberg Equipped!

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You’ve got to love Ron House of Lake Grove, NY. I mean, he doesn’t just love customs. I mean he LOVES KUSTOMS. So for Ron, life doesn’t get much better than winning Merc of the Year at The James Dean Run 2011. At the 2012 event, his ’50 Merc convertible will appear on all the event T-shirts, Hats, Jackets and Sweat Shirts. As he said, “My Merc came together better than I ever dreamed and being the 2012 T-Shirt Merc was the frosting on the cake.”

Ron’s a real ‘Back in the day” kinda guy and for him a Full House Flathead means bored, stroked, hi-compression aluminum heads, full race cam, hot ignition, exhaust headers, dual exhaust and of course, a triple deuce manifold. So in August 2010 his fabricator Anthony Bordonaro (aka The Kustom Kid) contracted Gary Sharkey at The Engine Shop, Babylon, New York to build exactly that. And we’re talking…are you sitting down?… “Full House Flathead”, 294 cubic inches, Edelbrock High-Lift large chamber heads (PN 1116), 3 5/16 Ross pistons, 4.250 Eagle crankshaft, Scat con-rods, Isky 88 Full Race cam, Sanderson tubular headers (PN FH1) with Stainless Specialties custom 2.250 tubing, mufflers and exhaust tips, Power Gen alternator, Power Master XS Torque starter and an MSD electronic distributor (PN 8573). The cooling system is a Griffin Radiator with high flow rebuilt water pumps and 160 degree Robert Shaw balanced sleeve thermostats. Naturally, the whole motor was  balanced, blue-printed and dyno tested.

Did I mention the tripower? I have now. Edelbrock 3×2 intake manifold (PN 1109) with new Genuine Stromberg 97 carburetors, TwoStep fuel line and progressive linkage kit, with a trick Kustom Kid fabbed throttle set-up.

On September 14, 2011, Ron headed West in the Merc for a 2200 mile road trip, taking in  The Rebel Run (Lima Ohio), Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, Michigan), The Ducktail Run (Gas City, Indiana) and The James Dean Run (Fairmount, Indiana). The flathead V-8 performed flawlessly, the Convert received great reviews, winning awards along the way,  before arriving at The James Dean Run. A dream come true.

Ron told us, “I just came from Anthony’s and he stated my tripower 97 setup needed no jetting changes. He just wired the chokes open on the front and rear carbs, and did all the fine adjusting on the center carb. He also ran an Aeromotive pressure regulator with a return gas line to the tank, so he could adjust the pressure at a steady three pounds. This Full House Flathead (294 CI) runs super with your 97s. I had to pull this heavy Merc over some big mountains in PA, but no problems. When I needed that extra push, the other two carbs would kick in and this Turnpike Cruiser Merc ran like a superstar. The Stromberg 97s were the key to success for my Full House Flathead.”….Rave on, Ron! Enjoy the pics.

‘Jungle Find’ Desoto gets Stromberg hop up

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Move over Steve McGarrett. Say aloha to Gordon Cline’s 1951 Desoto Hilo Sampan Bus, one of only 12 known to exist. Sampans were used as rapid transit on the Big Island of Hawaii from the teens to 1995 when Gordon’s DeSoto was retired and sold at auction. Talk about Barn Finds! Man, this is a Jungle Find – from the Island of Kauai. Gordon says the patina on his Sampan was very cool, but having owned it since 2005, he’s now in the process of restoration, trying to keep it looking like it did before, without over-restoring it.

“I wanted to add my touch to the Sampan, but not change the look of it”, says Gordon. “Being from So-Cal all my life and being around hot rods and race cars, I wanted to make it look like it was right out of the early 50’s or 60’s. So I decided to hop up the engine with old and new vintage speed parts. The engine is a Flathead Plymouth, so parts are very hard to find, but the hunt was on. I started with a custom-made aluminum head from Earl Edgerton’s Edgy Speed Shop in Santa Rosa, California. Than I bought an electronic distributor and 12 volt coil from Langdon’s. Headers & finned side plates were found on ebay. I had the headers jet coated at Reward Headers in Camarillo, CA, and a one wire GM chrome alternator was installed. I was going to run a single 97 but a good friend, Mike from MikeCo Antique and Kustom parts in Camarillo, showed me a rare Edmunds intake made for Stromberg 97 carburetors. I had to have it. I had it polished with the Edgy head and side plates and it looked to bitchin’, I called Dan Collins at (Stromberg dealer) Old Gold Garage in Ventura, CA. and bought two new Stromberg 97s (one with a cable choke lever built in), and a new Stromberg 9249S linkage is on its way. The engine is stock, with just a new valve job and bearings. It also has an overdrive transmission.”

Gordon’s trying to get his Sampan done for June 2012 so he can send it back to The Big Island and participate in the “Cruise Paradise” car show and cruise. It’s only held every three years and in 2009 they had over 300 cars. What do we think? Book him Danno….this car is murderously cool.