Hi, I have a 46 ford sedan tudor with a straight six flat head and manual three speed. I want to install a 53 flathead V8, what is the easiest manual combination to go for to install this engine and get reasonable performance and ease of set up with a manual box without too much modification! THANKS, ANDREW
I've read this question about four time and am still not quite sure what it is you're after. If the six is running and in good order, you will be very disappointed when you swap in the V8. There is virtually no difference in performance. If you want to hop up the engine, then the 8 has more potential and there are more performance parts available. As far as the mechanics are involved, as far as I know, you pull out the six and plug in the eight. You may have to juggle water pumps to get the right mounts
The 8BA is as close to bolt in as it gets,... you'll need the bellhousing from a 50 Merc overdrive car, or from 49-53 Ford trucks. That's because the 49-53 (8BA) eliminated the upper bellhousing Be sure to get the correct starter mount / lower cover to match. Either the stamped steel, or the cast iron verson will fit and work. I'm not certain, re; which water pumps to use, sorry. 4TTRUK
Thanks for the advice and sorry i wasn't clearer in my description. I have a straight six in there at the moment and have a built flathead with eldebrock heads, inlet etc etc. the v8 is coupled to a late 5 speed box, but my concern is the amount of work to get the late model T5 box to work and am thinking that it would be easier to go with an earlier 50's transmission. Thanks Andrew
The late model 5 speeds are for "open" driveline. 1948 is the last year Ford used the torque tube (closed) driveline, so that's the "latest" transmission you could use. I'm not aware of any way to adapt the 5 speed, to the original torque tube. 4TTRUK
Doesn't somebody sell an adapter to convert the torque tube rearend to an open drive? Speedway maybe?
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