In watching some of the you tubes showing how to rebuild a flathead, it's pointed out that the drive gear that spun the gear attached to the cam shaft was some sort of nylon/plastic/synthetic material in order to reduce the noise of metal to metal gears.  Seems that Henry wanted the engine to run as quietly as possible.  The contemporary replacement part is made of aluminum now.

I would add that the car that I first remember my parents having was a '38 Ford 2 door sedan.  Riding in the back seat, I became enamored with the rhythmic sound of that engine note that was quite audible inside the car.  Not a lot of sound proofing.

Quote from: FoMoJo on April 17, 2024, 05:43:34 PMGood information.  As mentioned, the Ford V8 had some teething problems, but progressively got better.  The V8 flathead, in the '51 Mercury I had as my first car, it was 8 years old when I bought it, ran so smoothly and quietly you could hardly tell it was running, but there was a lovely sound coming out of the tailpipe.

The quietness makes sense: no clattery valve gear sitting up top.

Edit: Also low compression ratios generally make for less racket.

LOLS

"Inventor of the Miata Reacts to Tiktok Miatas".


EDIT:

FASCINATING history!

I had a hybrid Sienna as a rental a couple years back and was amazed at the mileage. I was seeing 35 mpg in mixed driving. Also the radar cruise and lane keeping was pretty good.

Last week I had an Equinox rental. It was fine. Not great, not terrible, just fine.

Rented 3 minivans in a row last week on a family vacation. One in Los Angeles (hybrid Sienna), one in Maui Hawaii (Pacifica), and one in Kauai Hawaii (Pacifica). Wanted to get an Odyssey (to check out the three main brands) but they didn't have any on the lot. With 5 people (myself, wife, two kids, and mother in law) wanted 3 rows and especially with luggage, felt the minivan was the way to go. 

Hybrid Sienna - Averaged 30 mpg which to me is amazing for a vehicle shaped like a large refrigerator on wheels. Other than that, I expected to like this car more. It was fine but engine was really loud and coarse when accelerating rapidly. Pain to move the 2nd row forward to get to the third row (had a base model where it was manual).

Chrysler Pacifica - Drove like a 4 cylinder Camry (which I had owned in the past). This is a good thing. Perfectly competent A to B transportation. No problem driving up 10 thousand feet on the side of a volcano with a decent load of passengers.

When we got back, drove home from the airport in our Infiniti QX60. Yeah the Infiniti is a softer quieter ride than the minivans I had rented and the interior is nicer but that's to be expected. 

I'd rent the minivans again over a 3 row SUV if total passengers exceeded 4.

Seems to be an entire industry around salvaging and rebuilding/hot-rodding these old flathead engines.  Many parts are being manufactured either to spec or for performance.

Quote from: Morris Minor on April 22, 2024, 07:32:07 AMDon't know the details (& finding it really difficult to visualize ) - but I remember someone saying exhaust gases in these can cause overheating problems because the exhaust ports for the two middle pistons in each bank of cylinders pass through the cooling jacket in restricted areas. The exhaust ports for the two outside pistons in each bank also pass through the cooling jacket, but on the outside of the cylinders.

Flatheads are definitely limited by their cooling. Most are under 200 hp, supercharged ones can get into the 300 hp range.

Some salt flats racers have gotten up to ~700 hp but obviously not a street engine and those might all be running nitro or other fuels.

They had one in an auto museum near here. Got this shot of it a while back.You cannot view this attachment.

Don't know the details (& finding it really difficult to visualize ) - but I remember someone saying exhaust gases in these can cause overheating problems because the exhaust ports for the two middle pistons in each bank of cylinders pass through the cooling jacket in restricted areas. The exhaust ports for the two outside pistons in each bank also pass through the cooling jacket, but on the outside of the cylinders.

Metcalfe in a base Model 3.