8BA Starter Plate ID

J

John R

Well-known member
This starter plate is a definite oddball. It has the large semi-circular cutout like a 49 -52 truck plate but is completely flat with no indented area for the truck seal retainer. It’s not clear to me how any seal retainer would work with this. A completely flat plate with the angle bracket on the bottom could be for a Mercury, but as far as I know, they only used the small cutout. I’d appreciate a definite ID on this. Thanks. John
 

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Definitely '49-'50/early '51 Mercury. The angle bracket bolts to the three studs on the bottom of the Merc oil pan. Regular '51 Merc production used the same plate without the bracket.
 
Although the '49-'51 pan had the three studs on the pan, the bracket is not welded to the plate. On the ones I have it is separate and bolted to the bottom two holes.
Also the cutout for the seal in the crank bearing area looks bigger than the Merc's.
 
51 MERC-CT said:
Although the '49-'51 pan had the three studs on the pan, the bracket is not welded to the plate. On the ones I have it is separate and bolted to the bottom two holes.
Also the cutout for the seal in the crank bearing area looks bigger than the Merc's.
Click to expand...

The 49-51 Merc starter plates came in two versions, one with the bracket attached and one with a separate L-shaped bracket. Yes, as I mentioned in my original post, the oddball part of the plate in my photo is that it has the large, truck-type semi-circular cutout, not the usual small cutout. The mystery continues.
 
V8 Bob said:
Definitely '49-'50/early '51 Mercury. The angle bracket bolts to the three studs on the bottom of the Merc oil pan. Regular '51 Merc production used the same plate without the bracket.
Click to expand...

As far as I know, the "typical" 49-51 Merc had the small semi-circular cutout at the crankshaft, like the Ford cars. The one in my photo has a large cutout (5.75" wide), like the trucks. Have you seen Merc plates with the large cutout?
 
It has been my experience with putting a C-4 automatic behind a flathead you need to use a "flat" starter plate to avoid the studs that pass through the flexplate from rubbing on the starter plate. I think that's why they were used on Mercurys with automatics.
 
Anyone know the thread # of the 3 studs to the crankcase? My car engine has a plate like that shown and I can't find the nuts I removed. While I'm not concerned having no nuts there, they must have a purpose in life. Car is 50 Merc, engine is Ford flatty.
 
The nuts are 3/8" X 24 tpi P/N 33925-S7 and they are relatively thin like 7/32" or so. Some of the plates had the bracket bolted on and some were spot welded.

If I had to guess, I'd say that was an real early version or a clone. Both of my 51 Mercurys are early in that model year and they still have the 8BA type dust seal rubber that goes on the top of the plate and the half bell type transmission used in 49 & 50. Those early 49 models may have had a different dust seal or someone converted one to fit a Mercury Pan.

PS: The 1952 chassis parts book lists 8CM-6366-B & 8CM-6366-C but there is no mention of an 8CM-6366-A or basic number so there may have been some early differences that aren't in the book.
 
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Rotorwrench,
Thanks for your input. I tend to agree that this plate is either an early version with limited production or a conversion of some sort. Maybe a conversion because the angle bracket at the bottom doesn't quite look OEM. If an early version, it must have used a seal retainer different than the usual truck aluminum piece since there is no indented area.
John
 
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John R said:
Rotorwrench,
Thanks for your input. I tend to agree that this plate is either an early version with limited production or a conversion of some sort. Maybe a conversion because the angle bracket at the bottom doesn't quite look OEM. If an early version, it must have used a seal retainer different than the usual truck aluminum piece since there is no indented area.
John
Click to expand...

You guys may be correct, as I didn't catch the larger seal opening initially. I'll go through my manuals and will post anything I find that will help ID the plate.
 
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