Traditional A-V8, for the Race of Gentlemen (drag racing rules) group build

[Ace-Garageguy]

Below are the parts of the Ford 8BA flathead sourced from the stock Revellogram '50 Ford pickup. Besides internal upgrades, the 8BA engine, the last iteration of Ford's flathead V8, had a separate bellhousing to facilitate adapting a wide range of gearboxes, and a conventional looking distributor that was much more accessible than earlier versions. Both of these characteristics make the 8BA the most desirable flathead for any real performance application.

The black bellhousing looks, at first glance, to be very similar to the Hildebrandt (NOT Halibrand) LaSalle gearbox adapter, but after more research, I found it's not really right at all.

Below is a real Hildebrandt Ford-to-LaSalle gearbox adapter. Though it looks like the black part above, it's actually very much smaller.

To do a realistic looking LaSalle gearbox swap, I removed the bellhousing and gearbox from the engine assembly. Dark blue part is a LaSalle gearbox from a Challenger one kit, light blue thing on the right end is a trophy base from an AMT "Trophy Series" kit. Black part won't be used.

In preparation for making a right-looking LaSalle gearbox adapter, I laid in a crankshaft centerline marker of 1/16" styrene rod to keep everything concentric. I'm saving the Ford gearbox as well, so it gets some material added to its front face to replace what was lost to the saw kerf.

Just checking to see that everything looks square before proceeding...

Edited May 13, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[stitchdup]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Below are the parts of the Ford 8BA flathead sourced from the stock Revellogram '50 Ford pickup. Besides internal upgrades, the 8BA engine, the last iteration of Ford's flathead V8, had a separate bellhousing to facilitate adapting a wide range of gearboxes, and a conventional looking distributor that was much more accessible than earlier versions. Both of these characteristics make the 8BA the most desirable flathead for any real performance application.

The black bellhousing looks, at first glance, to be very similar to the Hildebrandt (NOT Halibrand) LaSalle gearbox adapter, but after more research, I found it's not really right at all.

There is another option, the french army used flatheads well into the 80s that have better cooling among other upgrades. I think they only stopped casting them in the mid 80s and a lot of the drag race flatheads in europe use those blocks. There was a load of them, still new in the crate available towards the end of the 90s.

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

...There was a load of them, still new in the crate available towards the end of the 90s.

I remember that, have a flathead ref. book around somewhere with a deep-dive into those.  

[stitchdup]

3 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I remember that, have a flathead ref. book around somewhere with a deep-dive into those.  

who'd a thunk rodders would be using engines from a slow gun carriage, lol

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, stitchdup said:

who'd a thunk rodders would be using engines from a slow gun carriage, lol

Who'd a thunk rodders in the '90s through today would be panting after flatheads that were considered scrap metal in the '60s?

Edited May 13, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[Dennis Lacy]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I remember that, have a flathead ref. book around somewhere with a deep-dive into those.  

I learned the hard way that the exhaust manifold bolt holes on the French blocks go through into the water jackets. That explains why they came with studs installed  in those holes! ?

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 5/13/2023 at 6:12 PM, Dennis Lacy said:

I learned the hard way that the exhaust manifold bolt holes on the French blocks go through into the water jackets. That explains why they came with studs installed  in those holes! ?

Ouch.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

The firewall on a real '28-'29 body doesn't look much like what the kits give you. Note the recess and the prominent flange the hood sits on.

The plan is to get rid of the heavily glooed firewall installed by the previous builder and substitute something mo' better. I need to get it in place prior to establishing the location of the new engine, which has to be done to get the driveshaft length right, which has to be done prior to getting the rear radius rod mount bracket in the right place.

The old firewall was removed carefully and saved for something else, then the old mounting flange was ground back to the thickness of the cowl, and everything cleaned up. Heavy gloo residue on left, getting righteous on the right.

A flange for the hood to sit on was made from .010" strip and installed. The hood was test-fitted, and it snuggles down nice and flush with the cowl.

Then a blank firewall was fabbed from .020" stock and test fitted.

Stay tuned. More to come...   

Edited May 19, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[Dennis Lacy]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Ouch.  

It wasn’t painful, just plenty moist! ?