Lightweight Flathead?

There’s no doubt we love our Flatheads here at Honest Charley, and we had a visitor this morning that loves his, too. He loves Flatheads so much that he created his own and cast it out of aluminum! The block, heads, intake manifold and water pumps are made out of aluminum, making this a very light alternative to its cast iron brethren. The sight of this engine certainly drew a crowd when Mark Kirby opened the hood of his full fendered ’34 Ford five-window coupe.

The block is cast from aluminum and features a great number of changes from the original cast iron design. There are several reasons for developing a new aluminum block for the Flathead. The new block is capable of much more horsepower because of additional webbing and four-bolt mains. The block also has a number of upgrade internally, in terms of its intake and exhaust ports, as well as its valve guides.

The man behind it all is Mark Kirby of Motor City Speed Equipment, out of Dundee, Michigan. He decided to drive the coupe down to Daytona Beach, Florida for the Turkey Rod Run, and enlisted Phil Goller of Goller’s Hot Rods to ride shotgun. After getting a good dose of sunshine and warm temperatures, they decided to pay us a visit on the way back home.

Motor City also manufactures aluminum cylinder heads for Flatheads, and plans to build these all aluminum Flatheads in crate engine form. The Flathead in the five-window coupe is the test mule, and Motor City plans to begin production soon. It was great to meet Mark and Phil, and we hope they have a safe trip back to the cold and snowy territory called Michigan.