As I embark on a sidetrack project of putting a flatty back in my 53, a little advice would keep me from having to re-do something. I have acquired a complete 8BA engine/bell/tranny that has been stored for years in a building. Spins freely. Plans are to go through it, install dual carbs, and mate it to my 3.03 toploader already in the car. I know some machining is required on the front bearing cover of the transmission, but since it has a dual bolt pattern, looks like all else will work. My rebuild questions- best valve guide assemblies? Best distributor to use with dual carbs? Have the stock water pumps rebuilt or aftermarket? Where to check the block for cracks? It has been 50 years since I messed with these engines and CRS has shown up. Maybe @Bandit Billy can chime in? BTW- it has a SBF in it now.
Cracks are on head surfaces between stud holes, to valve seats, to cylinders, My experiance has been lately that 4 of 5 blocks are are cracked beyond use.
Have your pumps rebuilt by Skip Haney on Fordbarn. I did and am very pleased. George (Skip) Haney Coils and Pumps In my opinion the stock 1953 8BA one piece valve guides work just fine.
There have been great advancements in water pumps, either have them rebuilt or grab a new pair, a hot running flatty aint cool. I run a MSD distributor but only because I run a 471 blower and a lot of timing, I needed a MSD boost box to control the detonation and it has done so for many miles now without issue. I wanted to run a mag (for looks) but it wasn't the best choice for my build. There are better looking distributors out there, @Kim Strobeck put Pertronics guts in his Ford unit and it works very well and has given him no issues. Make sure you match the wires to the distributor, MSD and Pertronics do not like solid core wires. And you can get nice cloth covered, lacquered wires from Rhode Island with carbon suppressor cores that look great on your engine. For carbs I like Stromberg 97s but get real ones, don't waste money on the speedway chinese copies. I like the Holleys too but when it came right down to it I chose the 97s 'cause I like the way they look. I have zero regrets on choosing them. I purchased mine form Clive in England @stromberg-97 , he is on here and @uncle max is the US distributer and very knowledgeable and helpful. Those two make choosing 97's a no brainer for me. Strip the block and have it magged, make sure it isn't cracked. I got lucky and got a perfect block on my second purchase (the first one was garbage but it had some parts I needed so not a total waste of money). @Kim Strobeck bought 6 of them I think and finally found a nice uncracked 8BA for his A. You can bore them open if you like, there is a ton of steel in there. I went .125 over and I have had zero overheating issues and that includes hot rodding in 115 degree Pendelton, OR a few years back. One tip, sandblast the water jacket before you tank it. Henry left a lot of sand and crap in there and you need to replace it with coolant. If you buy heads, have them checked, my brand new aluminum heads weren't flat on the bottom nor on the bosses for the head bolts/studs. I used ARP suds and SS acorns to secure them. I went overboard (over-bored?) on my machine work, relieved the block, a lot of porting, they don't breathe well in or out from the factory. They need a bit of help there if you want a runner. Max-1 is a nice cam as is the 400JR. I found a Merc crank for mine that cleaned up at 10-10. You can use the ford rods but will need merc pistons. Ross makes them for most bores. If you build it, it will run! Hell with the naysayers, long live the flathead.
Cracked blocks are common. The guy I sold my second to last good 8BA block to had gone through 6 blocks before he got mine. However, cracks between head bolt holes and water passages are not serious will not affect the finished engine. As a matter of fact, they are so common that some wags have said they came with their own Ford part number, and so they are called "part number cracks". I have never seen a block that had none of them that was cracked elsewhere.
As far as the 3.03, I used one in my '50 Ford. Stock '50 bell housing and 1964 trans, so only one bolt pattern and it fit the bellhousing perfectly. No machining required on the front bearing cover, but the trans came from a small block and the input shaft had to be shortened 7/16 inch to have cr/shaft clearance. This set up works very well. As far as the distributor goes, I used the Speedway twin carb intake and two Holley 94 Carbs. I used the stock distributor with a new vacuum diaphragm and made up a vacuum manifold that plumbed the venturi vacuum ports on the carbs to the vacuum supply to the distributor. I've heard many reports that this wouldn't work so I did before and after testing as far as vacuum supply to the distributor with both 1 and 2 carbs (stock intake and with dual carb intake), although the vacuum supply was different, the vacuum comes on about 150 RPM later than the stock carb and manifold and the vacuum reading on the gauge is nearly identical in strength and duration. Vacuum while cruising at a steady speed is indistinguishable between the two different set ups. I'm not racing, nor am I worried too much about gas mileage, but performance and mileage seem to be very acceptable. I didn't change the timing from stock setting. I'm sure there is a "better" distributor out there but this is working well for me.
Seems to me that you have a block that is pushing 75 years old. Why would anyone want an engine that is this old. I'll be more than happy to take it off of your hands and I'll even pay the freight charges. I'm that nice of a guy.
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