8BA distributor on 1936 engine possible?

collinrestores

collinrestores

Junior Member
I'm tired of the helmet distributor. I have had nothing but problems with it. And even if I got it working perfectly, sent it off to be adjusted properly, etc., as soon as the points go bad I have to take the whole thing off and go through the same rigamarole again. I'm going to be driving this car and I just want a normal distributor that I can open up and work on without taking the whole thing off.

Has anyone swapped the 8BA timing cover and distributor onto a 1936 engine? Is this even possible? Did they change the bolt pattern etc.?
 
Sounds like a good idea. I believe that there would be significant interference between the distributor, water pumps, and fan belt with a stock engine. Maybe a later engine would make it easier? But that defeats the original goal.
 
your points should last about 10k miles, are you running 12 volts without proper balast, or coil to burn them up?
 
tubman said:
Sounds like a good idea. I believe that there would be significant interference between the distributor, water pumps, and fan belt with a stock engine. Maybe a later engine would make it easier? But that defeats the original goal.
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Yeah I have to look into this and make some measurements. I have access to an 8BA engine to reference.

cas3 said:
your points should last about 10k miles, are you running 12 volts without proper balast, or coil to burn them up?
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I know. I haven't driven it 10,000 miles yet, but I will. The next time I replace the points I do not want to take the whole distributor off and have to have it recalibrated etc. I just want to take the cap off and put new points in. I'm running 6 volts with proper ballast and the correct coil, that's not a problem. What I'm saying is I'm unhappy with the helmet distributor as designed and would prefer the 8BA distributor setup.
 
You must have something wrong,on my 33 and 34 with the stock ign,they will do thousands of miles without attention,BUT, you must use quality points,and condenser, and dist bushes must be good.
Lawrie
 
Aren't the cams in a '36 221 and 8ba different?? I.e the 8ba has a gear on the front of the can that drives the dizzy and the 221 drives the dizzy with a slot? I have two 36's and have driven them for years and miles, never had to touch the points.
 
I have 16k miles on my 36 pickup with points. No issues, and its not a terrible job to remove the distributor.
 
Please you guys, read my posts! The problem I have with the helmet distributor has nothing to do with the points failing prematurely and everything to do with having to take the whole darn thing off every time I want to work on it! My points have not failed yet.

put a later crab dist on it, , two bolts and it's off points right there to work on.
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I've looked into this as well. I would still prefer the 8BA if possible.

Aren't the cams in a '36 221 and 8ba different?? I.e the 8ba has a gear on the front of the can that drives the dizzy and the 221 drives the dizzy with a slot?
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Good question, I don't know. This is the sort of thing I am trying to find out in this thread.
 
While the timing cover will fit, there are a lot of other issues:
a) Front of the cam is different - even if you use a "bolt-on adapter" - there is no oil coming through the cam to lubricate the front thrust - so the timing cover gets eaten up.
b) The later distributor will hit your water-pump belts
c) The later load-o-matic distributor was designed for a different manifold and carb - so the "advance curve" will probably be wrong for your 36 (even with a carb swap).

My recommendation is to go to a later Crab Style distributor (still front mount) - but a LOT easier to work with. You can have one on/off is a matter of minutes.
 
Bored&Stroked said:
While the timing cover will fit, there are a lot of other issues:
a) Front of the cam is different - even if you use a "bolt-on adapter" - there is no oil coming through the cam to lubricate the front thrust - so the timing cover gets eaten up.
b) The later distributor will hit your water-pump belts
c) The later load-o-matic distributor was designed for a different manifold and carb - so the "advance curve" will probably be wrong for your 36 (even with a carb swap).

My recommendation is to go to a later Crab Style distributor (still front mount) - but a LOT easier to work with. You can have one on/off is a matter of minutes.
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Thanks for the info. This is helpful.
 
If you use an 8BA cam and timing gear, you will have to change your crankshaft gear as well. The teeth on the cam and crank gear have to match. They will not if you try to mix them from a ‘36 and 8BA
 
What V8fordman said. It would be much easier to keep a complete setup distributor in a box to swap out. Not to mention all the issues with the Loadmatic distributors. A properly set up helmet or crab distributor will run many thousands of miles with NOS Ford points.
 
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With the diver you can add a stud or 3 for mounting ( lock tight ) ,turn the caps so they fit loose /File them in a drill .shorten the vacuum pipe to a 1" Join it with some windscreen washer rubber pipe . , don't run the gen wires through the conduit .The diver has one of the best lube systems .
 
I can say an 8ba will fit in a 36 and 38 cause my friend has a a 36 with an 8ba but he runs an electric fan as it's very tight. We have a 38 that has an 8ba as it came to us like that and it still has the belt drive fan, but again it's a bit tight.
 
I understand you hate the helmet distributor. In it's defense it is a very reliable unit. Yes, not the most convienent to access, however it will provide many, many miles of good service if set up correctly.

You could switch to the crab type distributor. Still it is a front mount and will require removal to service.

I have experience with the helmet, crab, rabbit ear and 8ba style distributor. Oddly I suppose, my least favorite is the 8ba distributor. I swear it off just as you do the helmet.
 
The OP was asking about putting an 8ba distributor on a 36 engine, not running a complete 8ba engine. Very different problems as mentioned by others with water pumps etc.
 
And yeah, even if you could get it to fit, a Load-a-matic would be a bad choice. You'd be better off with a Mallory mechanical advance or a "Charlie NY" conversion.
 
I do admit I like the centrifugal advance design much better than the Loadomatic.

It really is just the frustration of having to take the whole distributor out to change the points or rotor etc. and it needing to be adjusted on a machine that I don't have and probably won't ever have in order to work perfectly.
 
I understand your frustration. Thirty years ago, I had a real nice '36 3-window coupe, a car I had lusted after since high school in the fifties. I built it to replace the '51 club coupe in my avatar (which is a nice car in its own right). After five years of dealing with tapered axles, torque tubes, and the other peculiarities Henry built them with, I decided that it was nicer to look at than to drive, so down the road it went.

I still have the '51 and don't miss the '36 one bit. Some of us are just hobbyists, I guess.:rolleyes:
 
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