BeSeeingYou, my brother had a sweet 49 coupe with a 53 motor. It had a 2 carb intake, 4" stroke mercury crank, an alternator, offy heads, harmon collins magneto and tube headers. It was really solid but not enough to withstand the tree that fell on it. We also built a 50 stock car, the flathead was at a disadvantage to the 302 GMC 6 bangers but we usually beat the hudson hornet that was still running.
A little marvel mystery oil would keep the lifters from sticking, today's oil probably keeps that from happening. There were actually injector bottles to feed a small amount into the motor.