Mounting a 8BA Flathead in a 36 Ford Coupe?

I recently discovered that the current 1941 Flathead in my 36 Ford coupe is Junk...
-Cracked pan rail: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=240576

I have been on the look out for a replacement motor for the car. I have found locally a nice running 8BA flathead with an adapter to run the early transmission. I have not looked at the motor yet, but just wondering if the mounting positions are the same for the later style motors as the earlier ones? Please excuse my lack of experience here, but this is the first time I've ever messed with these motors. I want the swap to be as pain free as possible so I can focus on the other things I had planned to do to the car this winter (drop axle, posie springs, juice brakes, etc...)

I have tried searching here and on the web and havent really come up with anything about installing this motor in a 36 ford w/ a toploader trans.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Dan

 

Don't know much about the mounting,just make sure you take a head off of the 8BA and check for cracks before you commit to it.

 

Drop it in and drive.

 

Some people have suggested that I would have to swap over all the front components (pulleys, ignition, fan, generator, etc... )

Is this necessary to clear the front cross member, since the 8BA is longer than my 41' motor?

 

You will definitely need water pumps from a truck, as car pumps had a goofy angled mount. Speedway sells new pumps, and I think you can get them in wide and narrow belts. Then you have to worry about the crank pully conflicting with the crossmember. Not sure but it may hit, and you can't just raise the front of the engine with the stock trans and other misc.

Then, you may have fan interference since the 8BA fan is mounted different as well. And the upper hoses are a different diameter.

Basically, not just a drop-in like some guys say. You probably need to find a guy who has done this exact swap and find out every detail before you plunge.

I'd think it would be easier to find another 39-48 block and reuse all your accessory parts. Plus, everybody thinks the early blocks look better.

 

ill second that....

 

I installed an 8BA into my 37 with a toploader. I can't imagine anything here would be different on the 36 model.
Yes. F1 truck pumps from speedway.
The oil pan will probably interfere with the crossmember alittle. I used the 8BA pan but dented it alittle to clear. There are pans that will fit.
I used the stock ignition location and had to use an electric fan hidden in front of my radiator to clear the pulley setup from the stock located distributor. You will have issues there if you don't change over to the 59A distributor setup.
Other than that..I can't think of anything else to mention.

 

One more thing.
Your radiator (I believe) has the top hose inlets at a drastic angle. (my 37 was no problem (straight out).
You may play hell trying to find ahose that will fit that angle.
Your option would be to change over to 59a heads too.

 

Thanks Petejoe!

Thats the info I was looking for. I'd love to see some pics of the motor in your coupe.

 

Oh boy!

 

If you use an early distributor you will need to use an early cam. And as you know, to change the cam you'll need to pull the heads and all valve assemblies. Lotta work to an already-to-run engine.

 

Bringing this one back up to see if there are any other suggestions since it looks like I'm buying an 8ba. It is a 52 motor out of a truck, so I'll already have the waterpumps, starter plate, and bellhousing. All rebuilt w/ 2x2 intake and mopar elec. ignition.
Anything else I'll need to do the swap?

 

There was a thread on here a couple months back on 8BA into '34 - I think you'd share some common challenges with fan mounting, hoses, etc. I'll snoop around & see if I can find it...

 

I just posted a newbie thread asking for help on interference between my 8ba oil pan and the front crossmember of my 36 cabriolet. Can you share any more detail or pics about denting in a stock 8ba pan to solve this clearance problem?

 

I've been running the 8BA in my car for the last 6 yrs since posting this. My car sits very low so I needed to dent the front of the truck pan in to clear my tie rod and drag link. I just heated up the front when it was off the car and hammered it in across the lower front of the pan. It has made contact over the years of driving, but not enough that I am worried about it.

Not a great pic, but the area behind the drag link is where I pushed it in. If you wanted to do it correctly, I would suggest cutting and notching the pan here.

 

Looks like your question has been answered. Lots of room inside that pan. I understand the 8BA truck pans also provide clearance for the cross member. This is also great opportunity to also install a PCV system. Best thing you could ever do to a flatty. Do a search volumes written on the subject.

 

Dan, So what all did you have to do to make it work? (Fan, ignition, crank clearance?) I'd be interested in a full report please. You know... just encase. Thank you.

 

I did not change the ignition on the 8BA. I did use 8RT truck pumps and I used a Power Gen for an 8ba that had an adjustable bracket. I used an Offy alternator pulley adapter to mount my stock 36 fan on. I had to clearance the fan by about a 1/4" to clear the radiator. Its been together for several years and several thousand miles and all works good.

 

That's fairly straight forward swap then. By 1/4" clearance on the fan do you mean a spacer or triming blades? Looks great by the way.

 

I just trimmed the length of the fan blades down a bit. I wasn't too scientific with it, but it seems like it balanced out well and didn't have any issues so I ran with it.

 

Got it. The fan runs in a pocket on a 36 so that makes sense. Thank you.

 

For what it's worth,I put a 53 truck engine in my 51 coupe back in 1956 after blowing up the 8BA and that engine was a slug, no matter what was done to tune it, it was so bad I ended up selling the car. Most people said at that time that the trucks had different cams that prevented mhigher winding RPMs. Not sure if that's right or not but worth a check? Ralphie