45 to 48 fltwheel

flywheel.jpeg
This photo was posted before but I found it helpful when I was looking for one for the 59 A-B that went in my 42.
 
It's been a while but if IIRC the pressure plate holes on an 8ba go all the way thru while the ones on a 59 are blind. I'm sure someone can confirm
 
It's been a while but if IIRC the pressure plate holes on an 8ba go all the way thru while the ones on a 59 are blind. I'm sure someone can confirm

You can see the holes coming right through on the 8BA wheel in the comparison pic above.
 
The prewar flywheels with 10-inch clutch are same as post war 59 series. 8BA family have the starter ring in a different location but they will bolt on to an early crank and I'm sure a few folks found that out the hard way that they don't interchange.
 
rotorwrench, i've got a 40 block with a late 4" merc crank, now which fly wheel do i use ?

kurt
 
The flywheel follows the block. The starters in the 8BA family are located differently due to the lack of the half bell. The 59 series and older engines all use a similar starter mounting. Crankshaft mounting is similar on all Ford 221/239 flathead V8 engines. The big crankshaft changes were the length of the snout and the diameter of the journals in the flathead V8 years. The 8BA brought in the new style rod bearings so the rods follow the type of crank mostly due to the number of oil holes drilled in the journals. The 4-inch crank didn't exist till introduction in the 1949 Mercury. Folks have cut the snout down and in some cased modified them to fit in the earlier large bearing 221 blocks so about anything is possible if you throw enough time and money at it.
 
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My 8BA had an 11” clutch and my flywheel was not usable. For an 8BA be sure that any replacement flywheel you get is for an 8BA (not an earlier V8). The easiest way to tell is if the pressure-plate bolts are drilled all the way through. If they are blind, it is an earlier style and will not work (even though it will bolt up, I found out the hard way)! Also note that there are 2 different styles of pressure plate. The “Long” (Ford) style has 6 bolts in 3 pairs close together. The “B&B” (Mercury) style has 6 bolts equally spaced. Apparently, the B&B pressure plates are getting scarce. The clutch disc is the same either way. I looked into redrilling a flywheel, but it was less expensive to find the correct used one. I know this is late and you need early, but maybe this helps someone.
 
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