I went out to the garage and found two late model flathead distributors for our gear placement experiment. I also found three Mallory dual points and a few Lincoln V12s too, even one converted one that I had forgotten about. I have a Sun ignition scope and a distributor machine crammed full of distributors, mostly flathead stuff
The gear driven distributor was a new adventure for Ford in 1949 compared to the slot driven front mount distributor from ’32-’48. Even the Ford 8N tractors switched in ’49 to a gear driven distributor Being that the gear drive was new there were probably some issues early on. Both of my distributors have riveted on gears and your does not. Maybe this means these are later versions and the earlier ones might have had a gear slipping issue. Notice these two distributors do not have a shaft extending below the gear. The extended shaft was another late 8BA modification they made. Most likely without the shaft supported on the end the distributor bushings would have a side load on them and when the bushing wear got to the point the shaft had play the points could not hold an accurate gap.
I included a picture of early cast iron cover on an engine without the extended shaft support and a NOS aluminum cover with the support. I removed the cover so you can see how the shaft is supported. This is a lot nicer setup. That cover has been on that KRW engine stand for 25 years. Someday, the engine is going in a 4” chopped ’32 3-window. The Mallory dual point distributor was so dusty I didn’t realize it was NOS until I saw it from the backside of the cover.
That is a standard bore ’51 Merc block that was acid dipped 25 years ago or more. The Merc crank was turned 10/10 and polished. It has new truck pumps with the mounting pads cutoff because I’m using the stock ‘32 motor mounts which you can see bolted on there. The pulley is a ’49 Ford, the ’49 pulley has the wide belt that matches the truck pumps. The heads are kind of rare. The late model block -lettered heads were only made for about month when the ’49 engines came out. Edelbrock called them the “new-forty-niners” I think that was in the December ’48 issue of hot rod magazine. After the first month Edelbrock switched to the modern script heads. I don’t think they sold very many of them. Not too many people would have been tearing the heads off their new ’49 Fords. I’ve only ever seen two other sets of those late block lettered Edelbrocks. The intake is an original Eddie Meyer 8BA The air cleaner was something I saw on a ’36 Ford years ago, and I asked the guy where he got it? And then I ordered one. I don’t think advertised. It wasn’t cheap, but it was just too cool. The guy that made them said the very first ones had small louvers but then a customer called and told him the small louvers were choking off the air to his flathead, so he made the louvers larger. It has been so long, but I think it has a F-100 filter element inside. I have a new Melling pump, new timing gear, Clevite cam bearings, Felpro gasket set and Isky springs. I have reground adjustable lifters and I had a Potvin Super 3/8 cam ground before Bill Jenks at Moon eyes passed away. He was the only cam grinder Potvin ever had. Basically, it just needs pistons, crank and rod bearings, a new clutch and the machine work done, and I could be cruising in a chopped ’32 3-window. I have twenty vehicles and a retirement budget to maybe work on one or two. My vanishing IRA is not helping things.
Here is what I came up with, a square laid across the top of the housing and down the side of the hold-down (I could have used a couple more hands to hold the pieces and take photos). I lined up the rotor, so it points straight up at the 2" mark. Then I took a pair of dividers and measured from the square over to the center, top, of that tooth, and I came up with exactly 1" on both distributors, which they should, with a rivet hole to align the gears. I’d like to check one without the rivet. I might have one like that in a core engine. The idea of a set screw is probably a good one.
