59A block, 49-53 Merc crank with a 59A pulley, everything lines up, however the Mallory electronic ignition hits fan belt!! What am doing wrong and what have you guys done to fix this? And if anyone says it is because I have a big ugly alternator on there I will slap them haha. Its a customer engine and I tried hard to get him to run a generator but he wouldn't have any of it.
Hey Kid, I'm glad you posted with pictures since I am looking at the same problem. I think the problem is the double crank pulley but someone correct me. Didn't the 59a come with a fan bolted to the front of the generator, a single pulley crank and a single belt driving everything? I think I have to either use an electric fan, or lose the crab and go to a late dizzy. But if any older geezer than me knows a better way tell us! Revrev
my buddy had to take the gen pully off a 36 37 genny grind the fins off the back, and drill out the hole in the center, mount that to a 8ba gen so he could run 12 volts. then drill new locating hole in the genny for the later 40s mount. then he put the old single belt pully back on.
From the pictures it looks like you need to move the fan shaft and lower pulley out approximately 1/4 inch to clear or go with the other suggestion on a elec. fan.
This is a common issue with that long body distributor. Simply switch that distributor for the stock Ford 42 style distributor and every thing fits perfect. You can run the stock distributor on 12 volts with no problem. The stock distributor runs fine at flathead engine speeds. You didn't specify what you were installing this in but that fan set up takes up a lot of space in a small car.
**** beat me to the punch. Right on, ****. I would double check that crank pulley. Looks like you only need less than an inch of additional clearance. You may have the 8BA/8RT double pulley which may be a tad shorter than the 59AB double pulley. I'm at work so I can't give you the measurements of these two parts. The double pulley was used when Ford went to the 2 piece "crab" style dizzy. The wires were routed out the back of the cap in order to clear the belt. Also, the body isn't as thick as an eletronic Mallory like you have. Would you use consider using a 99A single crank pulley and make a idler fan pulley from an '39 or earlier generator that mounts the fan on the hub?
The Mallory distributor is longer that an original 42-48 distributor witha 42 cap. Change the distributor or use a 33-39 fan on the generator and use one belt. Cut the generator down fit the carbs. DON'T use an electic fan. Michael
The engine is going in a 46 mercury coupe. The generator fan will not work because of the offset gen mount, plus the customer is hell bent on running the alternator. I will suggest using the stock 42 style distributor, but chances are he will suggest to run an electric fan. An 8BA pulley will not fit either, it hits the bottom of the distributor
Also...the basic early Ford distributor design was done by Mallory, and the whole thing is much higher quality than the Mallories made in recent years. Many brand new Mallories (the current ones, not the old 2 piece top ones) need as much rebuilding and more tuning that an original straight from the s**** yard. There are lots of very common issues lurking in recent Mallories.
Don't misunderstand: I'm not saying to run the generator style with the fan. I saying make an idler type set-up. Basically you use the front mount and bearing plate. Cut the armature long enough to catch the bushed bearing in the rear plate. Take out the center gen. part, bolt the front and rear plates together and you got your idler. Those year Ford fans came with various amounts of spacing. I think '32 being the longest with around 8" to some with under an 1". Best of luck with getting this to work.
MAN i'am just setting and grining.WHY? because you folks are the best! man i eat chevy. mills for breakfast, but FLATHEADS your speaking greek to me! HA! i love it. AH the lost art, well allmost.HEY KID you owe these flatys BIG time call me POP...or the old FART!
Ahh okay I'm following you now with 1 piece pulley. I have a junk 21 stud here with a one piece pulley and a generator mounted fan.
Ya cant use the long distributor as is from Mallory. I do have the orginal crabs rebuilt and curved with polished weights etc. Let me know if ya need one ... www.bubbashotrodshop.com
Most guys run the 8RT pulley. It's about a half inch smaller on the outside ring only, (same pulley diameter), and slightly shoter so it clears the mallory nicely, belts ride outside the case. To the best of my knowledge all the RT pulleys were the same, (? I think!). This is what I'm running on my 8 BA fitted with earlier distributor. Sorry, I don't have any extras.
In short....GET RID OF THE DAMN MALLORY ELECTRONIC.......... Problem solved.....................As Bruce said Mallory made the old stock Ford Dizzys......Nothing wrong with them,,,,
If this was my car it would be gone, hell my cars are all still 6 volt!! But the customer is 72 years old, and hell bent on using electronic ignition and an alternator.
Looks like you got help with the distributor. But that GM alternator is ugly. Here is an alternative. It's a mid-60's dodge dart style (use '67), ugly casing in 70's so make sure. There is a mechanical regulator on these early models, really simple to hook-up. Parts are really cheap and over-the-counter at kragen or autozone etc. Then you can charge him for modifying that bracket and polishing it all up. TP
My model "A" ran an 8BA with an alternator mounted on a stock genny mount, Took some clever modifications and messaging to make it work. Is there room to mount the Alternator in stock position lined up so that the rear fan belt will line up? If so I would mount in stock location with a double sheave pulley on the alternator and drive the fan off the alternator.
8rt vs 29A pulley...not really interchangeable. The inner sheave of the late one is farther forward and needs the longer late truck pumps, because everything on the late engine has to move forward to clear the sideways distributor. Fron fan-drive sheave is in the same place.
That Alternator has to go. With as much $ going into the job, that unit is all anyone is going to see as they walk by. Talk him in to one of those alternators that look like generators.
I'm working on it, I showed him the powergens the other day when he was in. And I have also told him how ugly the alternator is and how dissapointed I am that he is running it haha.
was just looking through the speedway catalog, part#560-10999 offy alternator pully for GM alt. with fan mounts. done!
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