1940 flathead tach drive distributor?

Scott H in Wheaton

Scott H in Wheaton

Well-known member
is there such an animal as a distributor with a tach drive that fits a 1940 flathead?
I found a cool looking vintage tach but it looks to be cable driven, not electric.

Am I looking at $$, $$ squared, or $$$ cubed?
 
Ran off the crank and Stewart Warner made them. Original intent I think was for industrial stationary motors. I would be a lot of work to make one fit in a 40 ford
 
Williamson's if I remember correctly can convert a cable drive tach to electric. Don't know if the cost would off set the coolness of the tach in question. JMO
 
I think it would be very difficult to do on a 40 with the fan configuration but I wonder if it could be done using the rear plate on the generator like is used on some tractors.
 
cmbrucew said:
I believe Bubba posted pictures of one conversion last year.
Bruce
Click to expand...

From this link, you can see that these SW rigs don't come cheap, and obviously DO sell!

http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120148&highlight=stewart+warner+tach+drive


Here's the very-nicely backyard-engineered distributor that Bubba posted a while back.

100_8908.jpg
 
SW made a mechanical tach "package" for 39 DeLuxe and 40 Fords with the crank mounted fan. There, of course, is the tach unit itself, with a bracket to mount it to the steering column tube. The cable is driven off of the generator. Straps around the generator hold a rod that in turn hold a clamp that supported the drive in front of the generator. Kind of Rube Goldberg and almost impossible to find a complete assembly today. Much rarer than the normal drive that ran off of the crank nut.
 
Amazing info in such a short amount of time!
I seemed to recall a tractor part as a solution, and then there is the convert-the-tach option. Good to know!
Considering the cost of a 6v positive ground tach maybe this isn't too much of a pipe dream
 
This is a picture of a complete n.o.s. 39, 40, and i suppose 41 SW generator driven tach assembly. Happy hunting!!
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2016-06-26 at 9.15.16 PM.jpg
    Screen Shot 2016-06-26 at 9.15.16 PM.jpg
    15.3 KB · Views: 89
Scott,
I did one of these for a customer in Maine except he had a generator
device that triggered his tach..........you could say it was a mechanical drive for an
electronic tach. The casting thickness at the front of the dist housing is very thin
so I chose to epoxy the extension to the housing and then gussetted it. Machining
the female square in end of the rotor shaft was a bit of a challenge but it all worked
out.
Charlie ny
 
Scott: A while back someone posted a photo of the 37-41 style distributor with the mechanical Tach. drive molded into the front of the body. They were wondering what it may have come off and there were only guesses such as air compressor or aux generator or air plane. You need a bit of room between the distributor and the radiator to come straight off the distributor.
 
For those who've never seen one, a couple thousand words worth from my ol' '30 hiboy
 

Attachments

  • 001 (2).jpg
    001 (2).jpg
    76.5 KB · Views: 58
  • 002 (3).jpg
    002 (3).jpg
    68.8 KB · Views: 55
wow, thanks guys!
looks like a tractor generator would be an easier route to take, or modify the tach, or just buy an electric one!

this is what I was looking at:
tach.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top