49 to 53 water pumps

my4dv8

Well-known member
Who do we turn to for 1/2” belt 49 to 53 water pumps in an early chassis. Meaning narrow belt long water pumps with side ears . The motor is a 50 merc. I just think it will look ugly with 50 merc pumps and 2 1/2” stands to make up the difference.
 
Not exactly sure what you're asking. I'm using narrow belt Merc pumps with the U shaped spacer on the 8ba in my '39 p/u. But if you want narrow belts on 8rt truck pumps so you don't need the spacer they don't exist as far as I know. You might be able to swap the wide pulleys on the 8rt truck pumps with narrow pulleys from 8ba car pumps. This would give you narrow belts BUT I have no idea if the pulleys will interchange and if they would not sure how the belts would line up. You might contact Skip Haney in Florida. If anyone would know I'm guessing he would.
 
I have seen brackets that allowed the mounting of an 8BA engine in a pre-49 ford using regular 8BA Ford water pumps. I think they were homemade, but I could be wrong. Get some 1 1/4" wide by 1/4" thick strap steel and start bending and welding. I remember that when I first saw them, I thought "Why didn't I do that?".

I'm not certain of those dimensions, and you may need to add some gussets, etc., but I believe it could be done.
 
Here's some helpful photos of the mount spacers and pumps.
QUESTION: What year, make and model chassis are you working with?
 

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I always used the 8RT pumps and wide belt. Not sure if the narrow pullies will fit the shafts tho/
Gramps
 
We want the single narrow belt pulley with standard mounting ears out the side , not the raised mercury ears, which I just removed. The motor is a 50 mercury in a 32 chassis. Don’t want The 8ba type passenger pumps . So I guess we want truck pumps with the narrow 1/2” belts.
 
This is the pump we are looking for, this one is not suitable to rebuild.
 

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Bryan I may have what you need. Truck pumps I believe and just last week Skip said they are hard find. I have just landed in NZ for 5 weeks. Can check when I home is you have no found any by then.
 
Sure they're not the OCM Merc pumps? Wide belt 8rt truck pumps are reproduced and available from various vendors. On the other hand the narrow belt Merc pumps are not available as reproductions and are harder to find. As I understand the OP wants 8rt style truck pumps but with narrow belts not the similar in appearance but different Merc pumps. If you do have a set of 8rt truck pumps with narrow belts they are indeed rare and my guess is that someone changed the pulleys from wide belt to narrow belt. But I could be wrong.
 
Those truck pumps have oiler caps so they are early or they are something the Canadian Ford Company made since the sheaves are a little different. 1948 was the first year for the 8BA but they were only in Bonus Built trucks here in the USA. Canada may have followed suit but I don't know. The 1949 Mercury pumps are a one year only pump due to the different front mounts and the wide belt pulleys plus they also had bushings with an oil hole to lube the bushings.

Changing sheaves largely depends on where the belt or belts need to run. They press off and on but they are thin so they will bend if a person doesn't use tools that fit well enough around the periphery. Trucks and the 49 Mercury used the single wide belt. Ford and later Mercury cars used a belt on each side and different fans. The Mercury Fan can be used in some early ford swap applications but not all. Model AV8 alterations don't have room for too much frontal stuff. A person can change to early pumps but it required an early style cam and other changes for ignition and stuff. Going early required all early stuff on the front with a fan that barely squeaks by in there.
 
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Just realised some long forgotten person had fitted a narrow belt alternator ( albeit chrome) along with incorrect matching narrow belts , which was throwing me off. The pumps are regular 8RT wide belt. So have to now find a matching wide belt alternator pulley.
Possibly looking at speedway. Stock 50 merc with 3 carbs, yes stock distributor will need an upgrade too to get the correct advance.
What is the alternator anyway?.
 

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That looks like a GM alternator to me. There are at least two manufacturers that sell wide belt pulleys for that type of alternator.
 
Just realised some long forgotten person had fitted a narrow belt alternator ( albeit chrome) along with incorrect matching narrow belts , which was throwing me off. The pumps are regular 8RT wide belt. So have to now find a matching wide belt alternator pulley.
Possibly looking at speedway. Stock 50 merc with 3 carbs, yes stock distributor will need an upgrade too to get the correct advance.
What is the alternator anyway?.
535491


535492
 
The GM 10SI converted to 6-volt has been used on model As and N series tractors for years. Wide belt sheaves are available but most are small diameter to get a quicker self activation for the alternator to charge. I have to increase my Ford 850 rpm a bit to get it to start charging but once it's activated then a person can go back to regular idle rpm.
 
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