Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

A

Aarongriffey

Well-known member
Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

The last time I did this was in 1955. Don’t remember much about it.
This engine has EAB heads and narrow belts. Also has car water pumps. No bell housing.
Will the 46 Merc water pumps fit on the 8ba?
Can I use the 46 Merc generator and fan on the 8ba and use all wide belts.?
Should I get a pair of narrow belt truck water pumps? Is there such a thing?
Should I get narrow belt Merc water pumps?
Will a ‘52 truck bell housing do the job. Will the starter be in the right place?
Thanks for any help and advice.
Aaron Griffey
Hayward, CA
 
Re: Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

Easiest way is to get the beltparts for a 8RT pickup/truck.
Anything from an early pre -49 engine bolts on but doesn´t work as belt will hit distributor post.
So 8RT crankpulley, 8RT waterpumps and a 8BA generator with a fanmount on it will get you up and running.
If you have a 10" clutch the car or truck bellhousing will do fine, if 11" only the castiron truck one works.
 
Re: Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

flatheadmurre said:
Easiest way is to get the beltparts for a 8RT pickup/truck.
Anything from an early pre -49 engine bolts on but doesn´t work as belt will hit distributor post.
So 8RT crankpulley, 8RT waterpumps and a 8BA generator with a fanmount on it will get you up and running.
If you have a 10" clutch the car or truck bellhousing will do fine, if 11" only the castiron truck one works.
Click to expand...

The "car" bellhousing would have to be from a 49 50 merc to work with the transmission or 48 to 52 truck but you have to use the matching starter plate to the bellhousing.

Truck oil pan will help clear the draglink also. And truck exhaust manifolds or headers
 
Re: Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

There is another option - it is to change the front of the motor to use the earlier cam/crank gears, timing cover and front-mount distributor - and the cam with the t-slot in the nose. The reason you have to change the cam/crank gears (which is not a big deal) is because the gear teeth are at an opposite angle on 49-53 - pushing the thrust TOWARD the timing cover and not toward the block. You want the thrust toward the block with the earlier timing cover and distributor setup.

If you use the above approach, then all your water pumps, generator, fan, bets, distributor, etc - can all fit. The only issue is that if the engine is together, that you also need an earlier CAM - that doesn't have the late side-mount distributor "nose" on it. This is usually the deal-breaker for somebody who has an engine that is already together. Just wanted to give you another option. I will say that the one big reason I like this approach is that the whole front of the engine "looks" and operates as the original one did - which is a bonus in my mind.

Good luck!
B&S
 
Re: Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

No such thing as narrow belt truck pumps. If you want to stick with narrow belts you have two options. One, find a set of Merc OCM narrow belt pumps that appear similar to truck pumps but the mounting heights are different and require a u shaped spacer. I'm running them on the 8ba in my '39 p/u. Or two, you can fab up a metal bracket that bolts to the original car pumps and then bends to allow the use of original biscuit mounts. I no longer have the car pumps with the fab'd bracket that were originally on my p/u before I changed over to Merc pumps but attached are some photos of the Merc pumps I'm referring to.
 

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Re: Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

For some reason I couldn't load the photo of the back of the pump showing the part number. The part number is OCM - 8504 One more thing, the Merc pumps aren't repopped so if you decide to go that route and you find cores you'll need to rebuild them or have Skip do it like I did.
 
Re: Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

Most importnt items have been covered but I figured I'd add 2 cents worth. The flywheels between the 59 series and the 8BA family of engines are different due to starter ring location. Any 8BA family flywheel will work if it has either has one of the two 10 inch clutches or it is re-drilled to fit a working clutch. The 10-inch Long type clutch from pickups, station wagons, or police cars is good or the Mercury Borg & Beck clutch is good since they all have the 1 3/8" 10-spline just like the earlier 59 series transmissions.

The 8CM Mercury oil pan and half bell is also a good combo for the earlier cars. If you are going to use the OEM side shift transmission in your car then this and other recommendations are good. If you want to use something else for a transmission then there are other bells & clutches that can be used.
 
Re: Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

Wow! A load of good information. Thanks fellows.
I’ gonna stay with the 8ba distributor. It is not my car.
We will be using the original ‘46 Merc transmission.
I can make the motor mount extensions, etc.
I’ll try to figure out the water pumps today. Thanks!
Aaron Griffey
Hayward, ca.
 
Re: Help. 8ba in ‘46 Merc

I think I’ll put the car pumps back on. That’ll solve the wide belt/narrow belt problem.
I can make the brackets needed.
 
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