In a nutshell here they are: 1) We really need to use early water pumps on our 8BA. Do the Bob Drake pumps have sealed bearings? Or is there some other way to deal with this? It's a pulley alignment issue. 2) Early heads on the 8BA as well. I know what 4 holes to block. Specifically, what is the best way to do this? I've heard to tap with a pipe thread and a plug. What size? Or some other way just as good? 3) We are set up to use the early crab distributor. It was my dad's, he swears it's a Mallory dual point, I don't really know or care at this point. Maybe you can tell from the pictures. Where do we get points for this thing? The rotor ****on is ridiculously sloppy, so we need that too. Any tuning tips? 4) We were going to do a little "m***aging" on this manifold. It would make our planned induction flow better. I don't think it's rare, but I don't really know, so check out the picture please. If I shouldn't touch it, let me know. Thanks
if it's an 8BA cam still, you will have to change that to an early type, and also change the crank gear and cam gear as the cam thrust is opposite direction on an early motor. The manifold looks like a stock mid thirties one that been polished? Not rare or valuable really. The distributor looks like a stock 2 bolt crab 42-48 style to me. Points aren't hard to find, if you can find old production ones they are better made than what is produced now, and will last longer.oh , the bob drake pumps are great from my experience, sealed bearings.
Thanks for the info. I was worried about the pumps because of the oiling issue, the Bob Drake website does not specifically say the early pumps are sealed. Surprised how cheap they are too. We're set on the cam, it's an early one with the proper gears, already installed and valves set by the machine shop. The weird thing about the manifold is that it seems to have holes for dozens of bolts, it has all the ones for the 8BA plus alot. My 16 year-old has been attempting to polish it, that's how far he has gotten.
Although manifolds are interchageable there are extra holes that you just don't worry about. It'll work fine. If you put it on an 8BA you will need to vent it at the feul pump riser as it doesn't have provision for the draft tube. I wouldn't try to do anything with the runners in the manifold except clean it. It won't get you anything preformance wise.
If you want a stock manifold with more CFM the merc used a bigger 4 bolt carb, like a 283 chebby carb. Maybe Canadian Mercury were even aluminum.
You could use a front cover from Tom Roberts Design, http://www.tr-designs.com/PriceGuide.htm. It has the collar to hold a later distributor or a re-worked Chevy distributor in place in lieu of the 8BA head hold down. There are ways to run the early water pumps with this set up. You have to have the early crank pulley, of course, and you can use an off-set generator or alternator mount that bolts to the head to get the belt past the later distributor. See GMC Bubba on here to get a re-worked Chevy distributor. Here is a picture of how I am routing my belt, still in work. We've discussed these options over on the Fordbarn.
You can use the early pumps with modern sealed bearings, or with OE style bushings, but with oilers added. The early engine blocks have small holes behind the pumps that allow splash/gravity oil to lube the pump bushings, while the later 8BA blocks do not have these oil holes because the these pumps have sealed bearings.
We have a Merc intake, we may fall back to that later. This is my dad's old '41 2dr that will be my son's car. He wants to put a slingshot on this manifold for shock value I guess. He has been told that it won't run right and will probably end up with one working carb and one for show. We just want to match the carb flange to the bottom of the slinshot. No illusions about performance here. There is a Fenton 2-carb intake deposited in one of the many layers of parts in my dad's garage. When and if it turns up, we will use it. We are using a custom crank pulley that came with a Camden supercharger kit 30 years ago. It has a custom alternator bracket with a 1-wire alternator that requires the use of the short pumps. How do you add oilers to the early pumps? The rest of the supercharger stuff is in a big crate, it will be my son's problem if he chooses later in life. I've spent enough on this already. Thanks for all the input. Still wondering about the best way to plug those coolant holes. Thanks
Early heads, 8BA (late, 49-53) block; On the right (p*** side), plug the front most water hole; Set your head on the block. and note which water hole is not covered. Run a pipe tap in and use an allen type plug. if you want, I'll send pics of mine. The left (driver side) head will need the hole plugged that goes to the water pump by-p*** hole. No need to plug any block holes on driver side. I hope this helps...... 4TTRUK
PS; I believe, (perhaps incorrectly) that any of today's replacement water pumps have sealed bearings.....If so, no need to have oiling concerns. A point re; belt alignment.... Flathead Jack was marketing a variety of aluminum water pumps and crank pulleys , and can provide what's needed for different belt / accessory combinations. When using early (crab) dist on 8BA,. you will need to locate #1 TDC, and establish timing marks, as well as mfg a pointer, because the crab dist front cover has no timing pointer. 4TTRUK 4TTRUK
Pps; If using early (59A) intake on late (8BA) block, you will need to either shorten, or remove the crankcase vent tube that's in the front of the lifter gallery; It protrudes far enough above the block's intake deck to interfere with the front of the intake. 4TTRUK
Kentucky, use a 1/8 pipe tap and plug on the rt. side block water hole, add a bit of "hardening" type "Permatex" and you're good to go. A "core plug" , approx 3/8" will work on the driver side head. I dug thru an ***ortment, to find one that was a snug fit. I hope some of this helps.... Keep us posted !! 4TTRUK
I don't have any pipe taps, guess I'll buy a few small ones. I think pump rebuild kits come with improved impellers, wonder if they come with sealed bearings too? Plenty of7 cores laying around here.
I have a friend here in kansas that needed one pump, called Drake and at first they would NOT sell their pumps separatly. The parts manager says, We have to sell them in pairs, caz thats the way we buy them. Well, thats BS. If a customer wants just one to get out of a jam, sell him one. But to argue on the phone and standing behind their policy to sell in pairs, left a bad taste in a potential "good customers" mouth. I have my own business, and try my best to be open to any/most customer requests.
On the distributor...the early Ford design was based on Mallory patents for both the dual point arrangement and the vac break on the advance. The first generation '32 version was entirely patented under Mallory's name, later mods had patent moved to Henry's name. Anyway, it is a good distributor and not hard to work on. NAPA has all the basics for tune up.
My Bob Drake pumps are great. No problems at all, and they flow lots. On the crab dissy, the rotor is often loose, even brand new ones. I tighten them up with a little piece of paper on the flat of the shaft. Works just fine.
The NAPA/Echlin rotors fit. Like all early Ford stuff, there is a considerable quality range in current aftermarket and repro sources, including some stuff that is close to unusable...
If you need just one water pump,...try Sacramento Vintage Ford, or Speedway. if you want aluminum pumps, Flatead Jack has those. Depending on budget, Mallory has a good electronic ign distrubitor that works great. Any hardware store will have a 1/8 pipe tap,...and they are inexpensive. If you'd like, I can email pics of how I did mine. jaycee6760@comcast.net 4TTRUK
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