Technical Save me from the Electric Fan

I'm looking for some guidance or, suggestions. I have an 8BA with a '39 transmission bolted to the stock "K" member in a '32 five window. I am running a two sheave crank pulley on the front of the flat motor. The mechanical fan is driven by one wide belt, the water pumps and generator by the other. Very much like a '46 Ford. To make all this fit, I had to move the radiator about an inch and a half forward of the front cross member. I have been running with no hood. I have now found an original '32 hood that I would like to run on the car. Of course, it won't fit because... My question is: is there any way possible to move the radiator back to it's original position and still run a mechanical fan? I could quite easily replace the mechanical fan with electric, run the hood and, it would be hard to tell. Might even be an improvement but, I'd really rather stay traditional to my mid-fifties Hot Rod build. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

 

Lengthen the hood

 

You need a generator with the fan on it. make a block to shim it out to match pump pulleys you will use one belt. Joe

 

Don't think that will work judging from his avatar. Has triple carbs, generator is offset. Possibly could use shorty alt/gen and fit it in there.

 

The old trick was to use the front and rear plate off an early generator with the shaft shortened so you could bolt the two directly together, then using the right pulley that the fan bolts to and the right length fan [ they come in various lengths ] you will be in business, Make sure you use new bearings in both the front and rear plates. and then you can bolt it to the front bracket on the manifold and you will have plenty of rear clearance to the carbs.

 

My Carb setup has changed since I posted the avatar. It's running two 97's now with the generator straight up in front. I was pretty sure the solution might have something to do with running the fan on the front of the generator. I appreciate the Info. (flathedtommy) and will now attempt to get the parts together to make it work. Lengthening the hood is a thought, maybe a little beyond my skill set. I just love the deuce with the hood on it. It's a highboy now and I need to change the avatar. Thanks again, guys.

Dale

 

Lengthening the hood is out of the question , go simple and just run the fan off the generator , Be Old school and save a ton of frustration.

 

This is my 32 with a 50 Mercury engine with the correct placement of the fan.

 

You would have LOTS of room if you went back to a 39 and earlier fan/hub style generator. The '32 fan is an easy one spot as it has a long hub to project the fan closer to the radiator where they got shorter (closer to generator) as years went on.

 

Ben Haag made me a set up for my coupe. Drop him a line


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Well it would be work but you could always move the engine back.

Here is the problem, there is only so much room in the envelope. Everything is a trade off of sorts and you just have to decide what you are willing to trade.

 

I have been running that very same set up on my '32 peek-up for a number of years now. I am using a Walker radiator in the stock location. I will grant you that the clearance between the fan and the radiator is pretty close, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch but it does work. And it cools like a son-of-a-gun.

 

Search member Bruce Lancaster's posts on here. When I was looking for info for the 59AB in my 32, 8BA info popped up.

 

Guys I,m pretty old school and have been in this since the mid 1950,s and love the flatty engine however I would run a electric fan and also a good electric fuel pump, and save some head aches. Heres mine fan and electric fuel pump.

 

We don't need no stinkin' electric fans... How can you have your pudding if you don't eat your meat???

 

What do you think the difference might be? Do you have any close up pictures of your fan/radiator setup?

 

I have found a fan with a short hub and, it looks like it will work. I still have to determine if the hub will fit my 6 volt (converted to 12 volt) generator. If it does, I may be in business. The fan I found is bent and, I know they are very hard to straighten.

 

That is exactly where I'll be directing my efforts. Thanks for the pictures. Was it difficult to put the early heads on your 8ba?

 

Not at all, Just hold a early gasket against the block and you will see the 2 water passages that have to be blocked. you can either tap them and plug them or what I use are the very small freeze plugs with a shoulder, thats it !

 

I'll see if I can get a better photo today when I go to the shop. The only difference I can see is that I am using a 12 volt generator from a '56 Ford in the original location of the 6 volt generator. But that shouldn't make any difference.

 

Let's see if I can upload a better photo or two............

 

IMO... 59AB engines had the belts and pulleys close to the block, leaving more room to the fan...
8BA engines had the pulleys and belts extend forward to clear the distributer shaft, leaving less room to the fan...
would converting to 59AB distributer, crank pulley and pumps pull everything back toward the 8BA block then by using the 8BA fan help with space ? ... been years for me so I may be way off...

 

I do believe you have that exactly right. I have a king’s ransom wrapped up in a Mallory dual point distributor along with belts and pulleys. Push come to shove, I will entertain changing what I have to the earlier style which, by the by, I like better anyway. This deuce is my “‘til the end of times project” so who knows where it will end up.


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Sidevalve,

Thanks for the pictures. I can see that you have a shorter hub, forward of the fan pulley, than I have on my fan. My fan, hub and, pulley are all one piece and cannot be shortened. What I need is the same exact fan that you are running. If I can score that I believe I will have it whipped. Can you tell me what that fan came off of? Good looking peek-up by the way.


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Not a 32 but I wanted to use the stock hood with an 8ba block in my 30 using wide belt truck water pumps.

I got it to fit but just barely.. I modified the fan bracket by heating it an pushing it back a bit to just clear the ends of the waterpumps. The belt is out of alignment a bit but has been wearing ok.

I dont have a better pic on my phone.

 

Did you get your Chevy distributor from Bubba’s?


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It is the fan set-up from a '48-'49 Ford pickup and others. Here's a drawing I copied from Mac VanPelt's website.


It uses the wide belt.

 

Yes, that distributor is a Bubba special.

 

Good diagram, mine was similar.. I heated the back portion that bolts to the intake and moved the shaft further back and put some tack welds on it so it wouldn't move

 

You would also have to change your cam to move the distributor to the front of the engine.