Even if you're not all that familiar with pre-war American engines, most modern American gearheads have at least heard of the Ford flathead V8. If you have heard of it, you're probably conditioned to think it wasn't special performance-wise. In fact, the first 221-cubic inch (3.6-liter) iterations of this engine made less than 70 horsepower stock back in the early 1930s, and it'd never make more than 110 horsepower from the factory. That might lead you to think there's not much room for hot-rodding an engine like that, but you'd be so, so wrong there.
Just ask Jeff and Kieth Dorton from the Automotive Specialists Racing Engines team out of Concord, North Carolina. As one of the East Coast's most trusted and dependable names in custom-built performance racing engines, the ASRE team was well suited to taking a nearly century-old motor design and modifying it with modern hardware until it's jetting more power than most high-end sports cars these days. It started by taking a Ford flathead V8 removed from land speed racer Doug Kenny's 1929 Ford Roadster and buttoning it up with the latest and greatest in performance hardware.
Kenny's engine had already been modified before the ASRE team got their hands on it. It was fitted with a set of Ardun heads, which allowed for a more sophisticated overhead valve arrangement for more efficient combustion inside the engine and, therefore, better power numbers. If you're wondering, these Ardun cylinder heads were developed by Zora Arkus-Duntov and his brother Yura before the former had cemented his legacy working on the Chevy Corvette. The Arkus-Duntov brothers only managed to sell a couple hundred Ardun cylinder heads before they set off on other pursuits. One of which is fitted to this particular flathead V8 today.
Add on other trinkets like a Procharger F1-R Supercharger, a 750 cfm carburetor, modified Chevrolet main seals and vales fitted to run on Ford hardware, and a healthy ten psi of boost pressure, and it's clear this engine is far and away from anything Henry Ford himself would have commissioned for his own engines. With all the shiny, new chrome work on the exterior of this engine, there's almost a steampunk-like appearance to the motor in the state it sits now. With the prominent supercharger protruding out from the front of the engine to the silver-plated valve covers, this is an engine as pleasing to look at as it is uber-powerful.
We're talking about dyno runs reaching 722 hp and 654 lb-ft of torque to play with with a 5,800 RPM limit. Whatever way you slice it, that's enough power to crack more than a couple of Bonneville Salt Flats speed records. Congrats all around to Keith and Jeff for their remarkable achievement.
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