37 Ford Fitting a newer style Flathead

R

RandyLPeterson

Junior Member
A guy came in the shop today and was wondering if he could fit an 8ba in his 37 Ford and hook it to his original Trans.. I am sure this is possible but cant remember the combo needed.. Thanks for any Info..
Randy L Peterson
 
A bell housing from a '48 to '52 Ford Pickup, or
a bell housing from a '49 to '51 Mercury will
fit the '49 to '54 Flathead and fit the '48 and
older style transmission.
Either of those bells are about 4" wide, and
also, make sure he uses the starter plate that is
the correct one for which ever bell he uses.
He may have to use a different oil pan and
waterpumps, too, as well as a few other small things.:)
 
RandyLPeterson said:
A guy came in the shop today and was wondering if he could fit an 8ba in his 37 Ford and hook it to his original Trans.. I am sure this is possible but cant remember the combo needed.. Thanks for any Info..
Randy L Peterson
Click to expand...

Randy, It's not that difficult to put an 8ba in an earlier Ford. You need the bell housing and correct starter mounting plate as someone else has already mentioned. There is a Tech Article on all the different bell housings and starter plates that I can post the URL location for if you do decide to make this swap. You may also need the "U" shaped spacers that go under the water pumps at the engine mounts depending on which pumps are used. You could also use the 24 stud center outlet type heads by blocking some small water passages and swap other parts around to use a front distributor. These old Flathead engines are so flexible with what you can do by interchanging parts, that by the time you get done putting that 8ba in the '37, the engine could look almost like an original '37 engine. Cheers, JM
 
RandyLPeterson said:
A guy came in the shop today and was wondering if he could fit an 8ba in his 37 Ford and hook it to his original Trans.. I am sure this is possible but cant remember the combo needed.. Thanks for any Info..
Randy L Peterson
Click to expand...
I did one about 35 years ago, I put a 53 merc engine in a 35 pickup. I cut the bell housing ring in half and used the top half with the stock 35 pan and starter. I changed out the timing gear cover and used a little plug (I don;t know what they are called) that fit on the end of the cam that allowed me to use the stock distributor with the later engine. It worked good.
 
Ol' Ron said:
Now I never heard of an adapter for an 8BA cam to early distributor. Could really use one.
Click to expand...

Your eloquent post brought back some memories,

Here is the adapter plug I was talking about.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Flathead-Distributor-Drive-Adapter,6003.html

I musta put an aftermakret high performance cam in it or something. I recall I had an aluminum flywheel on it.

Its been so long ago, (actually closer to 40 years ago) I don't rightly recall. I was in my 20's and fresh out of viet nam and the army.

I remember I used a used set of adjustable tappets and I had a devil of a time keeping them from moving. (they musta been bad) I think I ended up braizing the adjusters in place, after I got them adjusted

Gary in Mozarks
 
I don't want to be beating a dead horse but is this the type crank pulley to use with 8RT pumps on an 8BA engine when using a 21A distributor in a 37 Tudor. I need to look for one and need to know what to look for. Is this a 46-48 truck pulley ? If not can someone post a picture of what I need to look for. Thanks Zeke
 

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Zeke, that's a 46-48 pulley. You can use that on your 8RT by removing the seal sleeve on the 8RT and use the 37-48 water pumps, and if you change the cam you can use the front crab dist. You may have to cut off the front sheve on that pulley, you won't need it in the 37. Don't cut it off with a hack saw, put it in a lathe and just cut the pulley, leave the inside the same length. Walt
 
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