8ba engine going in '40 sedan problems

[cb ndrhsr]

Greetings; I have installed a warmed over '50 truck, 8ba into my '40 sedan and am having problems with clutch and pressure plate. Engine is in the car and starts and runs great. Went to drive to the muffler shop for new exhaust, and can't get in gear. My engine builder used my '40 flywheel with some machining work involved, and i am assuming the '40 clutch and pressure plate, and throw out bearing. It is being mated to the stock '40 trans. I don't know what was done to the flywheel but whatever it was, he said it had to be done to work right. I cannot get in touch with him ( sick or out of town ) I suppose. The clutch rod is out as far as it will go, and you can hear the throw out bearing spinning, but it won't fully engage the fingers on the pressure plate. By the way, I still have the original '50 flywheel, pp and clutch. So to get to the question at hand... what should I be using between '50 8ba and stock '40 transmission. Any help would be terrific ! Thanks for taking the time in advance. CBN

[19Fordy]

This may help.
http://fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113451

[richard crow]

remove the inspt plate on the trans. first make sure clutch plate is not in backwards .at rest there schould be about a 1/4 inch or a little more clearence between fingers & bearing. the three release fingers schould be even with about a 1/4" clearance from the cover if all checks out so far push the clutch pedal down. bearing & collar schould move foward at least about 2" if it don,t possable fork pin broken. i am assuming you have a stock 40 ford pressure plate & disk not some mod.

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

It will never work right with that 48 and older flywheel, you must use the an 8BA wheel with an 8BA engine. that 40 wheel set about 3/8in. in tored the engine, it's a wonder it's not scrubing on the bolts that hold the rear cam plate on. Walt

[tub1]

how the hell did he get that flywheel on and get the engine to turn over

[tub1]

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don't worry about the exhaust get the engine back out and re drill the 8ba flywheel to suit the 40 pressure plate then put it back together and drive to the exhaust shop then

[fortyfords]

I put a 8RT truck engine in my 40 sedan and I used the truck flywheel and clutch and press. plate with the 40 fork and throw out bearing. It worked great

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

Originally Posted by fortyfords

I put a 8RT truck engine in my 40 sedan and I used the truck flywheel and clutch and press. plate with the 40 fork and throw out bearing. It worked great

Yea, the big 11in. 8RT clutch and pressure plate will work fine in you 40 car BUT, It weighs a ton, it takes HP to turn that heavy brutt. If you have that 11in. wheel redrilled to fit your 9in. 40 car PP you'll have a snappyier engine. But just think, you have a clutch big enough in you 40 to haul 10n yard of gravel out of sand pit. Walt

[cb ndrhsr]

Let me get this straight.I failed to mention that the crank is a Merc 4". Does that have the same bolt pattern as my 8ba flywheel ? I'm assuming that you guys will tell me that it does. Anyway, I should use the ( 50 truck ) 8ba flywheel for sure. Either use the 11" clutch and pp for stump removal or redrill that same 8ba flywheel and use the smaller '40 clutch and pp for a happier RPM band. Either way, I should use the '40 throwout bearing and fork. Correct ?

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

Originally Posted by cb ndrhsr

Let me get this straight.I failed to mention that the crank is a Merc 4". Does that have the same bolt pattern as my 8ba flywheel ? I'm assuming that you guys will tell me that it does. Anyway, I should use the ( 50 truck ) 8ba flywheel for sure. Either use the 11" clutch and pp for stump removal or redrill that same 8ba flywheel and use the smaller '40 clutch and pp for a happier RPM band. Either way, I should use the '40 throwout bearing and fork. Correct ?

You are correct. The crank bolt patten is the same. Walt

[Kurt in NJ]

Back in the 70s we had a 46 truck for hershey and other fleamarket selling, I didn'[t know it wouldn't work --- I used the 59ab truck flywheel on the 49 Merc ---all I did was take apart the starter drive and grind some off the pinion so it would move into the teeth ----and I am sure this was found out after the engine was in ---it was a very good swap, more power, better fuel mileage, and the wipers worked climbing hills (dual pump) ---made i think i can get to the top of the hill to pass me if you can

[cb ndrhsr]

Thank you gentlemen. After I pull the engine and see what my engine builder did to use the early flywheel, I'll report back to you. And when I've taken your advice and got my '50 flywheel resurfaced and drilled for the 9" clutch, and all put back together, I'll let you know how it all shook out! Thanks again , friends. C.B.N. ( 100 miles from the salt and yes, I will be there with all 4 of my boys this year!)

[fortyfords]

I don't know about 11 inch clutch's but my truck motor had a 10 inch clutch, when I replaced it, I bought a 10 inch from Baxters in Lawrence, Ks.. The 100 hp motor didn't have any trouble turning the clutch, the engine was made for the car, it was a perfect combination in my opinion. Just my opinion.

[cb ndrhsr]

Gentlemen, again. Turns out that the flywheel that was installed on my 8ba engine was not an early flywheel as I had mentioned earlier. I was lead to believe that it was a 59ab which in fact it is not, like you guys mentioned. It did have a 9" pp and clutch disc installed. It appears to be a passenger flywheel identical to my 8ba except that it was drilled only for the 9" pp. In the mean time ,I have surfaced my 8ba flywheel and have sent my 11" pp and clutch to be rebuilt by a reptuble source. ( 6 States) in Salt Lake. I still don't understand why the pp and clutch-9'' didn't work ! Unless it was not set up correctly. The pp had 3 wide fingers ,for a better lack of words,on it and the adjusting nuts had been "staked". Is there a dimension that I could measure from the flywheel to the pp fingers that possibly not be correct ? Thanking you some more !

[rotorwrench]

The best clutches to use are the old rebuilt originals. New manufacture 10-inch Long type units may come from China for all I know and may or may not have the centrifugal weights. The Long 10-inch and the 49 to E51 Mercury Borg & Beck units will cross over to early transmissions with 1 3/8" 10-spline input and the big 78-7580-A T/O bearing. the early 9-inch will work OK as long as its not a real big heavy car. You also have to have the correct disk for the clutch cover you use and it has to be installed correctly to work. Some folks just put any old 10-inch disk in there and find out the hard way on the differences.

[richard crow]

i guess you never read my post

[Bob's 41 coupe]

I'm going to replace my Grand fathers original '41 business coupe flathead with a '50 truck/industral 8ba motor in the next couple weeks. I found the information here very helpful about which flywheel and clutch parts to use.Going with the 11in.stock set up.Wondering how it went with your's? Also did you have any issues with the water pump's or gen. pulleys? Thank's for your time.Bob

[Ross F-1]

Most F-1's used a 10" clutch, and that would be preferable to the 11" for sure. Have you measured it yet? Just visually, the 11" goes right out to the edge of the flywheel, the 10" is 1/2" in.

[George/Maine]

I'm doing the same thing a 8rt in to a 47 Ford.
The case iron bell is 3 1/4" on the 8rt.
It puts the fingers 3/8 into the trans bell.
The 59a has NON adjustable fingers and are just about even with the trans surface.

So it looks like I will have to adjust the clutch and back off the 3/8"
Those 3 fingers are not to be adjusted only AT FACTORY.

[41LjH]

Tub1 is dead on..
I had the same problem with my 41 pickup. Once the 8BA flywheel was re drilled everything worked fine.