I have a 29 ford roadster with a 8ba 50 merc. and 51 merc half bellhousing with the clutch shaft using the large throwout bearing. im using a late 60s ford 4 speed fitted with speedways adapter on mainshaft to run the large bearing. my problem is clutch wont release, the fingers hit the disc.its also a 60s ford disc.has anyone ever run this combo merc. to ford fourspeed trans. ? what clutch plate & hat do I need. any help is appreciated.
"the fingers hit the disc" Can you explain this more? Got a picture? Need more info, but sounds like the wrong pressure plate.
You probably have a pressure plate from an 8BA made for the small throwout. The fingers are too long if so...you need an early Ford '35-48 pressure plate (various diameters exist) or '49-50 merc. That suggestion raises a BUNCH of issues because Merc pressure plate require merc bolt pattern and the '49-50 ones are rare now. Ford wheels are mostly for 10 1/2 PP, which does not exist in early Ford finger length, or they are for the 11" truck clutch which gives you an easy solution but a lot of weight. Somewhere I have a post listing out the numerous late flathead clutch solutions If you have the rare 10" 8BA wheel (taxi, police), no sweat...'46-8 For clutch parts all fit common 10 1/2 can apparently be custom rebuilt with short fingers Merc wheel (even spaced hole) needs 49-50 PP, '51-3 used long fingers
The nose of your input shaft is pressed up against the end of the crank inside the pilot hole. You need to cut about 1/8" off the end of your input shaft. Ask me how I know......... I drilled the flywheel to accept an 11" clutch and pressure plate from a 1985 F-150. I had trouble finding a clutch disc that would fit the transmission and also fit with the pressure plate. So, it was easier to drill some holes.