Ok. Like the title states, I have a mild 8ba flathead in my 49 ford. It's. 060 over, Johnson lifters, and isky 77b cam with an edelbrock 3 deuce intake with a trio of 94s. I will be replacing the original loadomatic distributor with a more modern electronic distributor such as an msd, pertronix, stromberg, mallory. I do not want to use points so please do not say to change it back. I currently have a brand new joe hunt look alike distributor that my father bought before he passed, but I don't really want to use it. Out of the brands I listed, who has had the best luck with which one?
I used the Mallory Dual Point on my 289 Pinto. I never had a problem with it. I replaced the stock electronic distributor on my off topic 1979 Cutlass with a Mallory electronic distributor and never had a problem with it. Almost everyone I knew back then was using Mallory ignition systems in their rods and never had problems. I was happy with it.
I'd probably pick the MSD because it comes with a vacuum advance. It makes the engine cruise easy at part throttle (you get extra spark advance).
I would run the Joe Hunt mag look distributor if it was mine (especially as you already have it and it was from your dad). But before using it convert it to run an external coil. That way it will be as per a petronix setup. I have done this on my 8ba and it is easy to do. If you don't convert it then likely the internal coil will fail and yes I have first hand experience with this.
I guess my big thing with the hunt, is that I don't understand the instructions. It says get the engine to TDC compression on #1, which I get, but then to rotate the engine 20 degrees or something and then drop the distributor in. Why would that be? With a regular distributor, I get it to TDC like usual, line up the marks on the balancer and pointer, and drop the distributor in with the rotor pointing at #1 ( roughly the 6:00 position.
How do I go about converting it? I'm good mechanical wise, but have never been able to grasp the electronic side of things.
I would buy a Stromberg. I've never used their 8ba distributor but i have an efire on my 59A flathead. Their product quality is great and service backup/advice is 2nd to none.
I just took an MSD ready-to-run (from before they got bought by Holley) out of mine to install a custom SBC turned into 8BA flathead setup with points. Runs much better now. 6 years of thinking the problem was elsewhere... Anything is better than the stock distributor with no centrifugal advance. Anything! A vintage Mallory would likely be the best quality if you can find one that's not worn out AND you can find tune-up parts for it. The rest of your list is simply Chinese junk. To address the Joe Hunt setup - TDC no longer works for a timing setting now that ALL fuel is loaded with EFI additives. Mine is set to 18-20 BTDC at idle with triples. You may want to try the same.
Sure, at part throttle cruise (light load) a properly setup engine had pretty good vacuum regardless of the carburetion. You can run either ported (no vacuum at idle) or manifold vacuum to the advance unit. The only difference is that manifold vacuum gives you full advance at idle. That can be a plus for an engine with a somewhat radical cam.
I think you are overthinking it - The Joe Hunt mag look distributor is at its heart just a fancy looking distributor. You drop it into your block the same way you would any other distributor. I think you have gotten hung up on their instructions which I have attached below. What the instructions are trying to say is find TDC, then turn the crank back before TDC and then rotate it forward towards TDC but stop at the 2, 3, 4 or whatever degree you want before TDC then drop your distributor in with the rotor pointing at number 1. The 20 Degrees at the crankshaft to which the instructions are referring to is just trying to tell you that the distributor itself has been set to give 20 degrees of advance it does not mean turn the crank to 20 degrees and then drop it in. Think of it this way if you want your 8BA to have say 25 degrees total advance you would set the initial advance at your crank at 5 degrees before top dead center, then the centrifugal advance (preset in the distributor) is going to give you another 20 degrees at the crank, to give you a total of 25 degrees when all the advance is in. Different engines are going to respond differently to the amount of advance that you can put into it. Just remember that your flathead is not a small block chev or ford and generally speaking it will not take the same amount of advance as the small block ford or chev. If you do some research on the conversion of the small block chev to the 8BA you will find that the chev distributor has to be recurved to remove advance from it to work in your 8BA. What the instructions are trying to say id find TDC, then rotate the engine back (before TDC) then turn in forwards again towards TDC but stop at 2, 3, 4 or whatever degree you want before TDC and then drop the distributor in (pointing the rotor to #1) - the install is the same as you always have done with your other engines.
It is relatively easy to convert your Joe Hunt Mag look distributor to an external coil. I am no wordsmith but will try to explain it as best as I can. Basically the Joe Hunt mag look distributor functions the same as any other ready to run electronic distributor. The point of difference is that rather than use an external coil it has an internal coil, which keeps the main high tension coil lead inside of the distributor and in turn allows you to use the sexy magneto cap (and yes you can use the Joe Hunt or a Vertex Cap). Unfortunately it appears that the internal coil is also the weak point in the design. If you read through the negative posts on these distributors the most common complaint is that the coil overheats and fails. Which is exactly what happened with mine – and yes I did follow all of the installation instructions down to the letter – and no I did not attempt to send it back to them for repair as I am in Australia. Fortunately it is pretty easy to convert these. There are at least 2 ways to the conversion. The first way in my view is pretty agricultural, quick and dirty but it does work. Basically take the cap off and remove the spring that contacts the internal coil. Cut coil wire short so it doesn’t go into the cap. Drill a hole into the cap where the coil wire goes and put a screw into the cap with a nut on the top of the cap to hold the screw tight. You can then attach your high tension coil lead to the top of the cap. You also need to disconnect the wires that go from the ignition module to the internal coil and reconnect them to your new external coil that you can mount anywhere you please. The ting I don’t like about this method is it means that you have the new coil lead coming out of the top of your distributor cap. The second way is a bit more elegant. When you take the cap off you will see 4 hex socket cap screws (2 hold the ignition module in place and 2 hold the aluminium internal plate in place). BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE SCRIBE MARKS INTO THE ALUMINIUM TOP PLATE TO MARK THE EXACT POSITION WHERE THE SCREWS ATTACH - SEE ARROWS IN PICTURE BELOW). You will see that the plate has slots in it which allows for the plate to be rotated to change the advance curve. You do not want to change it by altering the position of the plate. When you put it back you want it to go back into the same position. That way the distributor advance will remain as it was set at the factory. Carefully remove, the rotor, electronic module (2 SCREWS), the trigger for the module and then the top plate. The internal coil is bolted to the top plate and when you lift the plate out the coil will come out with it. Unlike most other distributors the main shaft that runs through the Joe Hunt unit is in 2 parts. The bottom part of the shaft (that has the drive gear attached) remains attached to the bottom housing. The top half of the shaft has the centrifugal advance weights on it, passes through the coil, the top plate and has the pressed on bushing to which the magnet ring attaches. Note the magnet ring presses onto a bushing, the bushing is held onto the main shaft by a cap screw. Whilst the bushing has a flat side (so the magnet ring only goes on one way) the bushing itself is a tapered fit – there is no keyway on the internal shaft for the bushing it is a tapered fit so if not maked your rotor position will be out of alignment. Once you have gently removed the magnet ring you can undo the cap screw and remove the bushing. BUT BEFORE REMOVING THE BUSHING MARK / CLOCK THE FLAT SIDE OF THE BUSHING IN RELATION TO THE ADVANCE WEIGHTS). You can then remove the main shaft, cut the wires to the coil. Before you throw the internal coil over your shoulder you will need to make a bush the length of the coil to fill the space where the coil went and to stop the shaft moving up and down. You then drill a hole in the outer casing of the distributor (in an unobtrusive place) so you can run your new external coil main lead through the body of the distributor and into the cap. Basically your new coil wire goes inside the cap the same as where the Joe Hunt one went. You will need to make up some fixing points to keep the wire away from the rotating parts ant to keep it in place. Then it is a simple matter of reassembling in the reverse of how you disassembled it. Provided you marked position of the bushing in relation to the advance weights and the top plate in relation to the cap screws then you will not have altered the set advance of the distributor. So if disaster strikes and you did not mark the position of the tapered bushing to the centrifugal weights all is not lost. You can set up the whole unit on your workbench with a coil spark plug and battery. With the main bushing loose on the shaft (with the magnetic trigger attached you rotate the central shaft by hand and note where unit makes the spark plug fire, tighten the central cap screw down once you have clocked the rotor so that the pointer aligns with the position where the sparks fly. The process is not easy to describe but once you start pulling the distributor down you will be able to work through it.
Well, I have one to practice on as dad did have one in the car prior and he must have put the cap on wrong and the rotor wacked the coil wire. That's why he bought the new one, but never got to install it.
I am using the SBC from Charley but if I had it to do again I would get it with the Vacuum Advance because I would like to try it (it can always be disconnected if not wanted). The truck is still 6 volt so Charley says only points, electronics fail with 6 Volt , so that’s what it has.
MSD + BTM6. I don't use the vacuum advance. I haven't touched it since I dropped it in there 6 years ago. But put a black cap on it. Sell the red one at the swap meet.
Thank you ACME 30 for that post about converting the mag look distributor to external coil. For me the timing was perfect!! I have had my Mainline on the road since December 2021 and hadn't experienced any issues with the Joe Hunt unit, but a few weeks ago, and only one week before I had a Unique Cars magazine scribe coming to prepare an article on the ute, the flame went out on me whilst driving locally. Changed down to 2nd gear and nothing.....pulled over and checked the spark and there was big fat zip. A couple of days later I found some threads on here about the Joe Hunt unit and was ready to throw in the towel until I saw your post and saw a glimpse of hope. I headed to Burson Auto and bought a GT40R and a carbon lead. By Thursday I had pulled the mag look unit out and assessed the situation, made some changes to the wiring, disconnected the internal coil but left the wiring in there just tied up. After carefully drilling a perfect size hole in the side of the unit for the external coil lead to pass through, I fitted the coil under the battery tray and ended up with a very neat install The engine fired up right away and sounded better than it had. But, that probably had a lot to do with finding numerous cracks on the inside of the mag cap. Those things must be made of absolute garbage plastic. I didn't have a spare one of those to throw on, so I have sealed all the cracks with black high temp silicone for now. I will persist with the Joe Hunt unit because I love the look of it and it owes me a bit of money........but if it screws up again, I might have to go for one of those Stromberg units and go back to vacuum advance. Thanks again for the advice
No drama man. Great that it worked out for you. In regards to your cap... The Joe Hunt is a copy of the vertex cap. I am led to believe that the vertex is much better quality and is certainly going to be easier to obtain in Australia. Also make sure you do your research on here before you go for the Stromberg apparently the earliest ones were good but maybe not so much now that they are manufactured elsewhere. Nice engine by the way. Cheers
Thanks for the tip regarding the Stromberg unit, I see they are readily available in Australia new which was appealing. I'd seen a lot of positive comments about them on here but didn't realise the manufacturer had changed......same old story, I guess. With regards to finding a Vertex cap in Oz, do you have any suggestions on where to look? I've done some searching online with no results for an 8-cylinder cap anywhere, let alone here. Just a 4-cylinder cap in the UK and a few 6-cylinder caps in the US. Pop quiz......on my engine, what do you think those mini '54 lookalike oil bath air cleaners are from? They were one of those random discoveries that worked out beautifully
If they are the ones I am thinking of, they are not oil bath. I believe some guy on this forum makes (or made) those. I remember seeing his thread about them several years ago; I'm sure someone has a better memory than I do. I like 'em. You might want to check out he "Stromberg" distributors on "The Ford Barn". Some guys over there have had less than sterling experiences with them.
That would have been the simple way for me to do it from the start when the engine was rebuilt, a pertronix conversion on the original distributor with external coil. But, in the name of bling and oohs and ahhs at car shows, I went for the Joe Hunt on looks alone. Lesson learned...... If my dad had his way, the engine would have been completely stock standard original, and the ute would have stayed pale blue in colour with a red vinyl interior . This is what it looked like when we found it, awesome patina but horrendous rust issues...... And what it looks like now
I had no idea someone was going to the trouble of making mini versions of the air cleaners, that's awesome. But mine are old oil baths and had to have the tiny rust holes in the base brazed up, as they had sat on old sidevalve V8's out in the weather for God knows how long with the water that got inside getting under the oil. Think British Ford......
In regards to the Vertex cap in OZ I think your best bet is to talk to some of the speedway suppliers (not Speedway Motors) but actual speedway / drag racing performance parts suppliers. If you get stuck there are unbranded caps on ebay Aust NSW seller AT Racing World https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?...ngworld&_oac=1&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211 Item https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1321407...X2VGEZ&hash=item1ec433be2a:g:DTAAAOSw~G9mnXse I purchased my Vertex cap at a local high performance swap meet from a random seller. As to your air cleaners I give up - They are definitely cool but I certainly could not identify them.
Sorry to leave you hanging, those oil bath air cleaners were taken from Thames Trader cab-over truck engines. Nice and small so they fit under the engine cover! And the air cleaner elements I fitted are for a CF Bedford van, it took hours scouring an air cleaner parts book to find the right dimensions.......
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