Odd Ford Distributor

Ian NZ

Ian NZ

Well-known member
How is this for a Ford V8 - V12 distributor, I would like to see inside it.
 

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With 8 terminals per cap, looks like it might have been a dual spark plug set up for 8 cyl.
 

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I believe that Flathead powered World war 2 landing craft had a similar distributor but it does look dual spark plug set up as per Big deuce.
 
Dual coil to probably since it has 4 condensors.
Four coils and 16 wires will turn a head or 2 !
That´s a real slick setup.
 
It's got to be completely different inside than a stock distributor; think of the plane the rotors have to operate in. Cramming all of the stuff into that small housing must have been quite a feat. Indeed, I would like to see what's inside it as well. There has to be a gear setup to turn the rotation 90 degrees on both sides, as well as two breaker plates and their associated components. Either that or it's a dummy somebody put together on a whim.
 
Not only 2 breaker plates...one is reverse rotation so can´t just machine down a couple of 8BA´s distributors and stick in a 90 gear in it.
This is a challenge for the mind..i like it !!!
 
Great catch on the "Dual coil" Mauritz... each cap has the posts for 2 coil wires.
16 plugs ... 4 coils .. what a wee beauty!!!
Cheers
Tony
 
Ol' Ron said:
Wonder who made the heads, good design.
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those look like standard eddie meyers heads that were welded up and machined for dual plugs. cool. I would love to see a set with the second plug in the transfer area though.

that dual coil distributor is completely awesome. initially I was thinking what a pain it would be running the wires to cross over from each side to get the dual plugs firing correctly but the dual coil solves that nicely. i can only imagine that the dual coil caps came from a dual plug ignition for a four cylinder??
 
How about aircraft use? Aircraft engines have dual ignition systems for backup (the right mag/left mag thing). Flatheads were converted for aviation use by as few companies. Was Funk one of them? Memory's a little vague.
 
40 Deluxe said:
How about aircraft use? Aircraft engines have dual ignition systems for backup (the right mag/left mag thing). Flatheads were converted for aviation use by as few companies. Was Funk one of them? Memory's a little vague.
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Nope, Funk Brothers used a Model B engine for 6-8 years, then went to regular aircraft engines. So far, I found a couple companies using flatheads, but before WWII they could be certified for aviation use with stock ignition systems. One guy even built an air cooled version. He made his own crankcase with bolt-on finned cylinders and heads but used all stock flathead internals, carb and ignition.
 
I think you should send it to me! I'd love to take it apart, figure out the details and run it up on my Sun distributor machine! :)

Totally cool and seemingly well designed by the looks of it.
B&S
 
When I saw this photo I just about said "I think I saw one like that in a cabinet at the early ford store once" I guess Bill hasn't found a taker for it yet.
 
Well... after doing a little research it looks like if someone wanted to make something up like this mid 80s Nissan 4 cylinders had dual plug heads so you can get two cap and rotor assemblies with 4 coils and adapt it to a home brew dual distributor setup.
 
Two four cylinder caps ain't gonna feed 16 plugs. It might be a good idea for single plug heads, though. The more I think about it, the more I think I was right the first time. I would be willing to bet that this thing NEVER ran on an engine.
 
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