8RT into 39 DLX/40 car

[JHFORD51]

What exactly does it take to drive the waterpumps and gen when installing the 48-52 truck motor into the 39 DLX/40 Chassis? 8RT motor setup has the required rear sump oil pan and 1/2 bell housing covered, easy enough to swap the crank pulley over to run the crank driven fan, BUT what about the pumps and gen? The truck motors are set up with offset pump pullies to clear the top mount distributor. Generator height keeps one belt tight and the mid mount fan (mounted to gen bracket) keeps the other belt tight. How do you work this out when installing into crank drive fan application?

Do I change over to front drive dist and earlier waterpumps (meaning I need to drill oil passeges into the block) or use the truck fan pulley minus the fan as sort of a dummy shaft. What is the simpler/easiest approach to this as I am sure lots of folks have done before.

Thanks in advance!

[fortyfords]

I put a 51 8rt in my 40, I had the fan mounted on the center pulley, adjusted by the gen.. The only thing I did was to cut the fender brace cross bar out to clear the crank pulley. I used the truck 10 inch flywheel and clutch and pressure plate, all this went together great.

[flatheadmurre]

Changing dizzy takes another cam to make it happen.
Early style pumps with ball bearings dont need the oiling.
But you have 2 waterholes in the block you need to seal up.
And you need to either use the old style heads (more blocking of water holes) or buy the aftermarket water outlets with larger hose diameter.

[19Fordy]

JHFORD51: Please post a photo of the engine you are planning to use including photos of the front of the engine showing the belt system. I ask this because the 8RT Ford truck engine I installed in my 40 didn't come with offset water pumps. It used the Ford wide belt truck water pumps, wide belt generator pulley, wide belt crank pulley and wide belt fan pulley. One belt goes around the crankshaft pulley and drives the 2 water pumps and generator. The short belt goes around the crank pulley and drives the fan pulley. I am curious to see what you are working with. No need to drill any oil holes or change distributor. Thanks.

[alanwoodieman]

truck water pumps have the proper mounting locations and one belt drives both pumps, generator, second belt just drives the fan. also truck pumps use
the wide belt not the narrow belts

[Charlie ny]

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JH,
I'm running a '53 truck motor in my '41 1/2 ton......same challenges as '39 del and '40. I used truck pumps, GM alt and a modified '39 del- '40 and '41 truck crank/ fan mount pulley. One wide belt drives everything. I started with the
'39 del-'40 crank pulley assembly and relocated the pulley itself up closer to the
fan mount flange, so it aligned with the pumps. I indicated TDC on #1 and marked the pulley and added my own timing pointer. I will admit a nice lathe, milling machine and welding stuff did help. Came out quite clean. I can send you photos.
Charlie ny

[Ol' Ron]

Charley, I really feel sorry for some of the young guys trying to do this kind of work. When you and I were young the aftermaket didn't really exist and the local junkyard was the only place you could go for any help. There were no lathes or milling machines and very few of you friends had a welder or cutting torch. Plus we didn't have much money, that's why we were trying yo get a piece of junk running, so we could take our girl to the movies and park under the Moon. My first car was a 26 chevy and it had now shift lever. Is hifted it with a long screw driver. I paid $12 for it. When My Dad caught me he junked it for $5, but somehow we persevered.

[Charlie ny]

It is my pleasure to help the guys Ol'Ron just described, young or up in years, but
especially the younger guys. I avail my shop and time to anyone who is willing to
work with me whatever the 'challenge'.
Alice and hope to see you in Chester this summer.
Charlie ny

[JHFORD51]

Let me double check my parts inventory. I've got most stuff stored with belts and fans off to make moving it around easier. If I mispoke about pulley offsets (and got confused with the shoebox car set-up my apologies). If I can just leave the entire 8RT front dress on (double sheave wide belt crank pulley, single sheave wide belt pumps, late style gen mount with sliding fan mount) and run the smaller diameter 49 car (wide belt) fan rather than the larger 6 blade truck style fan and still clear my radiator that would make this a rather bolt in and easy job. I am aware of Drake selling the "wide mouth" 8BA water necks for this purpose.

Mine is 39 DLX so no issue with the center bar in the front fender cross brace like a 40 used. FortyFords picture pretty much looks a bone stock 8RT (minus alt of course) with a 40 style Donaldson oil bath air cleaner, early Ford green, and chrome caps.

[fortyfords]

jhford51, you are right, the 8RT is a pretty stock engine. I just doubled up on upper radiator hoses at the water outlets and I never had any problems with water leaks. In the end, you will be very happy with this set-up as the extra 15 HP makes a wonderful difference in power and the engine ran very normal on temperature. Look close and you will see that the downdraft tube is gone and a PVC system installed to the rear of the carb. I even used all my original gauges with the 12 volts with a Ford 6 voltage gauge regulator and a resistor that I made up for the volt meter so it would read correctly. Glad you didn't have to cut your fender support.

[fortyfords]

I did one other change, I shortened the oil filler tube and cut the tube at a slight angle so the tube didn't rub against the radiator hose. I thought it looked better than a long tube.