Ronning 8BA style distributor on 59A

Nice ideas, folks.

36 T-Bird, Looking at your setup - I can't help thinking that if the alternator were laid over towards the left side of the engine, (right as you look at the picture,) and made adjustable, you could dispense with the idlers and with careful belt length selection have a really neat setup. You would have to lay it over about 45 degrees. The direction of adjustment would want to be parallel with the run of the belt that is passing just under the head of the distributor.

Just sort of thinking outloud here..

Mart.
 
The vertical distributor was made from a cast iron cover. First thing I had to do was make a fixture to hold the cover in the mill. The bolt holes around the cover are symmetrical so rotating it 45 degrees allows you to get the quill in the center line of the distributor . Then using a boring bar I bored a new hole in the proper location. I then screwed a tube of the approximate size to the cover.. Now all I had to do was finish boring it to the right size for a distributor. Then the cover was beed blasted and a thin coating of tiger fir was used to make it pretty and peevent leaks. Still have it. As far as using any other distributor in any of these applicaations,no problem as long as they can give the right advance curve under ALL driving condition's
 
Chris, thanks for the tip about the lawnmower belts. I will check that out.

Jim, it has been so long since I had the front fenders on for mock up, I cannot find the pictures in my computer.

Mart, that was my original thought, but I am not a fan (pun intended) of the asymmetrical load that winds up on the water pumps when you use the offset generator or alternator mount. Also, stationary mounting the alternator or keeping it as low as possible came about because I originally intended to run a Super Dual 2x2. I put 3" risers on it that make it look kinda like a Thickstun and was able to just clear the front bowl of the 97. That manifold would probably be the best performer but now I shifted gears (again!) to go with an Eddie Meyer unit that was missing the top piece and I made a replacement for it. Here's a pic of it.
 

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Fair enuff, just an idea.

With regards to water pump loading, though, the loading isn't equal. due to the load on the generator, the driver's side pump is on the tight side of the belt and the other pump is on the loose side, so the loading is unequal.

If you have to offset the generator, offsetting to the driver's side is the best side to go to, because the pump on that side gets less "wrap" of the belt, but that is compensated by the better tension on that side. The passenger side is the loose side, but benefits from better "wrap".

Oh yes, I'm full of useless snippets of info.

Mart.
 
Guys good thread.

The old school Mallory YL unit is the smallest out there and they are fairly cheap cores ( everyone wants a YL), can be machined for the flathead , give a good advance curve when set up and run great.

100_4711.jpg


Thats a YL in the center. ( red or blue cap) The one on the left is the YL Marine unit using a crab cap for low clearance in a marine app like a boat with engine cover . Also looks pretty cool in a flathead...
 
Mart, I had to read that four times to get it. I'm beginning to believe you have one of those natural engineering minds.

Lonnie
 
GEEEZZZ took me a while to wake up. I've been reading and looking at pics in this post thinking it was titled "Running an 8BA style distributor on 59A". Been seeing some neat stuff, and then it dawned on me that it says "Ronninig an 8BA style distributor on 59A"

Ronning, as in this is how Ron does it.
 
Or an 8BA with 59A water pumps and crank pulley. For that mater you can put a 40 crank pulley on it as well. Just makes the swaps easier.
 
Every engine needs it's own advance curve and the chevy dist is the easiest to adjust . Working with Richard, we've changed the timing curves dozens of times to find what works and what doesn't. We also used a wide band /F meter to determine the amt of fuel we needed for both Power and economy. This takes time and detacation. The Vacuum advance is key to both and again you can buy adjustable ones to suit your application.
 
Regarding the belt issue: I have a belt on the AC of my '50 Suburban that's slightly "back bent" to allow extra wrap on the AC pulley. Wears a little faster, but not bad. I've seen this done factory on some '70s Fords and they were successful.

Don't try this with a Dayco Top Cog, won't hold up. Also, riding mower belts will fail early, they're for 5hp or less.
 
I think Ol' Ron besides being great at teaching an old dog (Me) new tricks, I think he's a mind reader. I had an advance question. Last post was #29 by Carl. I posted my question, came up #32, and Ron answered it in post #30, so I deleted my post question

Hey, now I'm post 32 again.
 
Ol' Ron said:
Over the past few years, many guys would like to run 8BA engines in their early cars but the late water pumps prevent many clearance problems. Using the early pumps interfere with the distributor. I've described this method of solving the problem, but now a few pictures are worth a thousand words. The space is 1/8" thick. This conversion was done on Ken Schmits engine albost 20 years ago. For those using an *bA engine you'll have to plug a few holes and use either Skips or a pump with sealed bearings. Enjoy
Click to expand...

Hi Ron,
so if i get right , the only thing you do put a 1/8 spacer between the
generator and intake ???
Is it really that simple?
Michael
 
I'm afraid so. Your and my biggest problem is the choice of generator brackets and intakes. Set the generator height so the belt misses the bottom of the distributor. Then shim the generator out to miss the body.. You learn by your mistakes.
 
here is a shim detail for your machine shop. Charlie NY made this for me for another reason.....hope the pic works... of course you need to adjust for whatever space you need.
 

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Re: Ronning 8BA style distributor on 59A
I'm afraid so. Your and my biggest problem is the choice of generator brackets and intakes. Set the generator height so the belt misses the bottom of the distributor. Then shim the generator out to miss the body.. You learn by your mistakes.

Hi Ron
Another thought, lenghten distributor housing and shaft to clear belt.
Bruce

Works good
Lasts long time
 
I must be missing something. If the generator is shimmed out, won't that cause misalignment with the water pump and crank pulleys? Or are the pulleys adjusted also?
 
On mine, see previous pics, the belt is clearing the dizzy shaft by about 1/16" without a shim. My eyeball says that the alternator pulley is towards the rear a tiny amount. So, using a shim like Ron does will move it forward for more clearance with the shaft and move the alternator a tiny amount forward to match the tiny amount it is aft now. In other words, we are not working with the tolerances of nuclear reactor machinery here.
 
I like 36Tbirtd's explanation. Once you commit your self to modifying your car you enter the domino affect area, which defy s perfection. Yes the belt willl be miss aligned, and yoe it may ware out faster than if it was in perfect alignment. So you might want to carry a spare belt. I just offered a simple solution that everybody can use or change to suit their application. Using the GM distributor is a major plus. Just think tou can run a 8BA engine in a 40 Ford and nobody will know, except for the Distributor location. They might even think you put the side mount distributor on your 40 engine.
 
I agree the belt misalignment as described is not a big deal. (And if more spacing is needed, the w/p and crank pulley could be moved forward slightly as well.) I'll look into this solution for my 32. I just hadn't realized that the Chevy distributor could be set high enough to have the belt run below the body. That was new for me. Thanks for a very informative thread. John
 
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