Well gent,s, get a load of this and let,s discuss the origin of this twin-ignition unit for a V8 flathead. Guy up the road from me bought this in Australia about 20 years ago. He thought i might know what it,s from but i can only guess. Army DUKW, BREN GUN CARRIER, MARINE ?? Main unit is forged in one piece, has a tacho drive and the two round distributor housings have an AUTOLITE label which reads 10W 4053 8X. Each distributor cam has four lobes.Or is it LINCOLN ? All info is welcome.
Nice piece , are the distributor cams four or eight cylinder ?? Would love to build that one for ya........
This will be fun finding the history on this one! The distributor cam will be the big clue I think. Right and left bank split? Why? Engine to trigger solenoid? I already book marked this thread!
That would be a cool ing. for my tank project! It would fun to find out what it was used on 1941 and older??????????? cool find .
The 3-bolt pattern means it replaces the dome or diving bell type dist., which makes it 1941 or older, as Ol Deuce sez. Bren gun carriers and army trucks used conventional distributors. The fire truck idea has some merit, though most that I've seen were Marmon-Harrington 6x6's with normal ignition. Beats me!!!
i would guess some stationary engine, since it have a tachodrive. Are you selling or buying? http://www.marktplaats.nl/index.php...bbele-ontsteking-ford-flathead-v8.html?xref=1
Blowing up the 2nd photo (middle) it looks like a 6 lobe cam....that would make this item something for a V12 I'd guess - sure weren't any twinplug V6s of the Ford variety. dj
Looks kinda like a Lincoln V8 setup to me. Or maybe some commercial / industrial stuff with dual plug heads. Some of the pieces are a nightmare to find. It's been a while since I've seen it, but it reminds me of the dizzy I fixed on my buddy's father-in-law's convertible Lincoln Continental (late 30s). The right angle drive on the front is probably for a cable driven tach, which makes me think it's more likely an industrial application. That Conti supposedly had every option, but it didn't have a tach that I remember, and having worked on the dizzy, I'm sure I'd remember the tach drive.
Not sure about the number of lobes, i,ll ask him tomorrow.Time to hit the sack over here. He wants to sell , he,s had it for 20 years but never got around to getting a car to put it on. Actually he went the Harley and Indian route.
IFS EIGHT LOBE THEN YOU COULD HAVE TWIN V8S END TO END AND WIRE THEM BOTH . BOY DOES THAT SOUND GOOD........i
There was one of these posted a couple weeks ago. IIRC Bruce said the dizzys were aftermarket units for 4 bangers, to use on a V8.... I'm sending up the Bruce signal now! Flatman
Bump for the Monday workers. We all know you read the HAMB in the bosses time. Strange that there are no Aussies that can ID this thing. That,s where it came from.
Do you know if the points on both distributors open at the same time, or do they alternate? If at the same time, it would likely be for a dual-plugged four cylinder. If they alternate, it's for eight cylinders......
I'd say no to a Fire Engine application. Every one I've seen that used something like this had two spark plugs per cylinder for redundancy. I've got a 1948 Seagrave pumper with the V-12 Pierce Arrow flathead V12. It has 24 plugs, two distributors and 4 coils. The distributors are also dual point, but are different from the dual point distributors that most of us are used to. The points alternately open and close, firing one cylinder for each set of points, rather than just increasing the dwell angle. I know this because when I got the truck, one ignition system wasn't working right. After trying like crazy to set the dwell, I took the working distributor apart and finally figured out how it works. This really looks like it goes on an early Ford, but since there are only one set of points per distributor, that would eliminate dual spark plugs, which tells me it probably isn't a Fire Engine piece. As some one above said, it's more likely for an industrial application. Neat looking piece, however. By the way, for any of you that may have to work on a Delco dual point, quad coil distributor, they use the same points as a '48 Chevrolet. It took me a long time to find this out.
Yeah, not a redundant sustem at all, just two distribs firing 4 cylinders each. Lots of small bangers used similar Autolites...Jeep, Henry J. Austin Am, industrials... I've never seen that particular casting for the Ford mounting, but it is similar to some used to mount two 4 cyl mags on a flathead. Casting looks like a professional job, probably someone added a couple of Willys or whatever distribs to revive it. I don't see any advantage to the thing; a stocker can do the job, and a dual point converted 59A or an LZ would be a cleaner, simpler, smaller, and lighter fix to get split ignition... My opinion of this is that it will bring a lot of money from the folks who want every possible flathead speed oddity for a collection or just plain like bizarre answers to non problems, but that it won't deliver anything useful to justify all the space and packaging problems. I think those distributors use a very common, still available, Autolite point set that fits lots of odd vehicles from the thirties and forties. Go ask the youngest guy at the parts counter for a set of points for a Henry J if you want some entertainment.
MAKSIKAR ,a flathead powered lewis woody ,that belonged to Ron Belshaws father.It ran twin four cyl dizzys on a casting of his own design .It also ran twin carbs and finned alloy heads .The boat set records on the georges river in NSW ,which I am told , still stand in its class .It got old ,salt took its toll and was parted out.there are still photos around of it .
The simple advantage would be that the dwell is increased. Each dizzy fires 4 plugs and has it's own coil. the dwell can be much longer than one 8 cylinder dizzy doing it all. People spendbig bucks on vintage harmon and collins flatty dizzys, that do much the same in one unit. That piece is home made (or at least very low production volume) and would have given a benefit compared to what else was available at the same time. (other than maybe a mag). Bear in mind also it is not located in the USA but in Australia where some more oddball approaches to hopping up the flatty would be made due to relative scarcity of parts. Mart.
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