hp question

Unknown

does anyone have any idea how much hp a 1951 flathead will be pushing with 3 stroberg 97 carbs high lift heads new headers isky # 88 cam and a stroker kit will push out or is there any way to find out

[Deleted User]

This is just a guess, and from what other people have told me it would be around 175 hp.

Unknown

SPEAKING OF high output Ford/Merc flatheads , when was the last time anyone saw some ADRIAN OHV HEADS ? ---BUD

bigboy308

You're not thinking of ARDUN heads, are you? If not, I'd like to hear more on the ADRIANS!!

Unknown

bigboy308 wrote:

You're not thinking of ARDUN heads, are you? If not, I'd like to hear more on the ADRIANS!!

---

Well yuh know howe us hily bilys is, don spel 2 wel . Yeah, that's better. At 74 yrs and LOOONG ago I got messed up , sorry bout that. But anyway WHERE THEY ALL GO TO ? BUD

Lee ODell

Hi Bud,



If you ever get a chance to attend the LA Roadster Show in Pomona, Ca., you will see alot of flat head Fords with Ardun heads in the roadsters. The show is held every fathers day weekend. Great car show and a huge swap meet area with all the old stuff. Even Hudson stuff. Usually someone has a used set of Ardun heads for sale. Also, there is a large area for none roadster owners to show off their cars. There were several Hudsons there.



In the vendor section there was someone selling new Ardun heads. I do not recall who the vendor is.



About 25 years ago my wife and kids started a tradition of taking me there for fathers day.



I must be getting old. By the time I searched the swapmeet and viewed all the cars my feet were dragging and the vendors were closing up. Good thing they have a shuttle service to the parking area. Maybe I'll spread it out and go both days this year. Swap area on Sat. and the cars and vendors Sun.



It would be interesting to find out how much Ardun heads increase HP.



Have a good day. Lee

Unknown

That would be neat LEE but Cal. is a LOOONG way to go to a swap meet from IND.

Lee ODell

37 Terraplane#2 wrote:

That would be neat LEE but Cal. is a LOOONG way to go to a swap meet from IND.

Just tell the family WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND. It's just a little side trip from there.



I went to military finance school at Fort Benjimin Harrison in IND. 1964-65. Cought double nemonia. Survived the winter blizard. Really enjoyed the spring. Got to work in a 6X6 infield concession booth on the back streatch at the 1965 Indianapolis race. The most exciting part of the event for me was when the spectator gates were opened. It's pitch dark and watching all the crazy spectator driver racing all over the infield to get to their favorate spots to park. I was alittle concerned our box might get hit. We were lucky. Also, got to see some of the race on the back streatch.



Is the fort still there?



Meet alot of nice people in IND. I liked it there.



I also went to a stock car road race somewhere around Indianapolis. That was my first stock car race I attended. Don't remember who won but Richard Petty and Dan Gurney were racing there. There was a Studebaker Avanti in the race. If I remember right the Avanti came in 10th. I believe there were only 10 cars that finished the race. All the cars were passing the Avanti like it was standing still. But it finished the race. It was an exciting race.



Do you know the name of that race track?



Lee

Unknown

That was probably what is now known as Indpls. Raceway Park , just west of Indy at Clermont . You think the infield is a hoot you oughta try the night before on the street at the back gate ! WHOOIE ! I used to live on 16th street in Speedway , few blocks from the track , been there many times as a guest. Built and drove Sprint cars in the 60's early 70's , have a comic book with me as the character written/drawn by Pat Vidan the 500 starter for many years . ---Bud

Lee ODell

Thanks Bud.



I've often wondered about the name of the track. It was a long walk back to the Fort from the road course. I was always somewhere between bus stops when the bus went by. I don't know how far it was but it was very dark by the time I got back. Ahh, the memories.



Do you know if the Fort is still there?



In 1961, a high school buddy had a sooped up 53 Merc with a S.C.O.T. supercharged flat head engine. It ran in the hi 14's at the drags. I used to have a formula to determine approx. HP from 1/4 mile runs. But can't find it.



Maybe someone on the forum can figure it out.



Lee

Unknown

LEE , I don't think you walked from Clermont to the fort so that's not the track . There is another track , Indpls Speedrome south of the fort but I don't know if it has a road course and in the old days was sort of a training ground I guess you might say for area guys before they went to sprints or tougher stock car raceing . Was never into stock cars so don't know much about those tracks . And the state fairgrounds is over on that side of town, could possably have been there . If you search Ft. Benjamin Harrison on your browser, Wikepedia has all the details current . Still some remnants of it there , I think includeing your school . BUD

Lee ODell

The track was about 10 miles from the Fort. You jogged my memory. I did walk more than half way before a couple of GI's stopped and gave me a ride. Memory glitch. Wish I could remember the tracks name.



Since NASCAR banned Hemi engines for the first half of 1965 season and Chrysler boycotted NASCAR it may have been a USAC race I saw Richard Petty at. He didn't race a NASCAR track again until July. I had been sent to Fort Sill, Ok by then.



I looked up Indianapolis Speedrome and it is a figure eight track.



Thanks for your help. Lee

Unknown

The speedrome used to be called Kittly because of the street it's on and what you say is my recolletion of it tho I never went there . They used to race what was called Modifieds , forerunners of the sprint cars . You would have to have been at the State fairgrounds , it's a 1 mile dirt oval but they could have graded it in and out of the infield to make a sort of road course . Sure it wasn't an oval track event ? Never any other tracks around there that I know of . BUD

Lee ODell

It was definitly a long paved road course. No dirt oval track. I could not see the whole track. The turns I was setting at, Dan Gurney spun out two times before the turn exited into a straightaway. He was shifting gears like he was at a drag race. Petty drove so smoothly it was as if he were out for an afternoon drive.



I'll accept Indianapolis Raceway Park since it is the only road course around there. Mapquest gave a distance of 9 miles from their to the Fort which is close to the approx. distance I thought it was from the Fort.



Have a good day. Lee

Lee ODell

Bud did you have any flat heads in any of the cars you built? The closes I came to a flat head was when a friend in hi school wanted me to drive his 50 Ford in a drag race. I thought why not, I like drag racing. Did ok until I missed the shift going into 2nd. Had to rebuild the trans. We remain freind to this day. That was my 1st and last experience with a flat head other than my 40 Ply, which does'nt count or my 47 Hud Pu, I don't think that counts either. Oh ya, had another friend with a 50 Ford with 2 strongberg carbs., that one was a gas hog.



Lee

Unknown

OK , I'll go for Indpls Raceway Park--back then it was known as just RACEWAY PARK , Clermont ,In. and like you it's the only one I know of has a real road course . Wouldn't have thuoght you would have walked that far because of a car race . YOU GOT THE DISSEASE BUDDY !! Yeah I had several flatheads thru the years . Raced a 39 coupe one yr in "B" modified class , dirt tracks , then went to the sprint cars , all small block Chevs . Built the first 4 bar suspension car around here .

Lee ODell

No Bud, I wasn't car crazy enough to walk that far to see a race. I don't recall how I got there but probably by bus. Uncle Sam only gave me $65 a month and $50 was sent home, then there were taxes, US savings bond, left me with $5 each month to spend. I don't remember why I didn't just stay put and wait for the bus. But for whatever reason, it ended up being a long walk back before I got a ride. Maybe it is was my army training: HURRY UP AND WAIT.



While at Fort Sill I did see several modified races on a short oval dirt track. Never did see any of your kind of racing except on TV. You kind of racing looked pretty scary and dangerous to me.



Lee