My first dumb question

Welcome to the ‘Barn!.....we love pics so, let’s see your car. And while your at it, drop in a YouTube link (if there is one) of you playing. A lot of music lovers on here to!.......Mark
 
To clarify the carburetor situation. The earlier (circa 1940) and 8BA engines use almost identical Holley model 94 carburetors. A lot of people can't tell the difference and confusion reigns. In 1949 ('48 in trucks), Ford went to a post-style distributor that used a specialized advance mechanism they called "Load-a-Matic". This distributor has no mechanical advance capability and relies solely on vacuum signals from the carburetor for advancing the spark. A special version of the Holley 94 was developed that supplies that specialized signal through a port about half way up the backside of the carburetor. If you don't have that special version, the distributor advance will not function. Simply connecting the distributor advance line to manifold vacuum will not work, as it supplies the wrong vacuum signal to the distributor.

Most people that are not using strictly original engines in their old Ford's usually want to change the carburetion system to multiple carbs or maybe a 4 BBL. It should be noted that updated carburetion systems will not work properly with the "Load-a-Matic" distributor, requiring it to be replaced. The usual replacements are an old Mallory dual-point intended specifically for these engines or an updated SBC distributor reworked to fit the flathead. These have a regular mechanical or vacuum over mechanical advance mechanism.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the barn! Another tip on the correct 94 Holley Carb. Not positive but pretty sure all the stock 8ba’s required a Holley 94 with a vacuum port on the base for vacuum advance on the stock distributor. Many of these carb’s if not all were marked 8BA 7A486A7B-13D6-4F82-A11A-B37BBE7EF327.jpg
 
One last bit of information. "8RT" is the model number for 8BA engines insttalled in trucks. "EAB" is the designation for '52-'53 passenger car engines. These are all "regular stroke" 239 ci engines. "8CM", 1CM", and "EAC" are Mercury versions of the 8BA. These all have the 4" stroke crankshaft yielding 255 ci.

Being a "Corvette Guy" myself, I will give you a bit of a warning. There are various casting codes, etc. on the 8BA engines. Except for a date stamp that may be present on the intake manifold surface, most of these have no known meaning and can't be interpreted by a "matching-numbers geek".:(
 
WELCOME to the Fordbarn. Great that you got a 40.
Enjoy and ask lots of questions when you need help.
 
Congrats on your first flathead and, asking the first dumb question if your life! Actually the question wasn’t all that stupid.
 
o2bnkc said:
I guess that would explain the 2 throttle linkages. Duh! I guess the third one is the choke?
Click to expand...


The throttle linkage on the right (passenger) side is the for the floor pedal (was called the "foot feed") and the left (driver's) side is for the hand throttle which is handy for holding fast idle for warming up or charging the battery. Generators do not charge at idle so you need to raise the RPM a little to recharge the battery if you've idled awhile, especially with the lights on. You will notice this by watching the headlights. Notice how they get brighter when you rev up the engine. This is normal.
The hand throttle was also used as a sort of cruise control on level roads but not a good idea because in a panic stop, the car didn't slow down very well as the engine was still trying to maintain speed until you remembered to push the throttle in.
 
40 Deluxe said:
The throttle linkage on the right (passenger) side is the for the floor pedal (was called the "foot feed") and the left (driver's) side is for the hand throttle which is handy for holding fast idle for warming up or charging the battery. Generators do not charge at idle so you need to raise the RPM a little to recharge the battery if you've idled awhile, especially with the lights on. You will notice this by watching the headlights. Notice how they get brighter when you rev up the engine. This is normal.
The hand throttle was also used as a sort of cruise control on level roads but not a good idea because in a panic stop, the car didn't slow down very well as the engine was still trying to maintain speed until you remembered to push the throttle in.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top