Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

i just talked to a friend who is going to lend me the Car Craft issues. is it legal/ethical to post copyrighted material on the net?
tom

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

anybody?

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

I have one built way back. It is complete with wires and caps. The caps have the brass strips soldered to the terminals. The housing patina and the old wires and tape really takes you back to when the flatheads were raced. The holes in the housing are slotted for more advance. It has the bottom of the Lic. coil converted so hotter coils could be used. I have a dual coil set that uses the light bulbs inside as voltage reducers. pics if interested.

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

Back in the late 50's we had a Hot Rod Club, we had a club car. 39 coupe. I built a 296 for it. Some where we bought a kit to convert 39 dist to the Lincoln setup. I remember the rotor was special. It wasn't to hard set up. I remember after we had it all built we brought it to tune up shop and he set it up on his Sunnen dist machine. We run at Sanford Me. drag strip. We thought we gained 100HP. It's a wonder what you cam emagin when you a teenager. Walt

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

Actually what they did is take a regular V8 cam and precision grind off 4 of the lobes (or not so precision in some :eek:).

I'm going to build a jig to use with one of my precision grinders (surface or tool-post) to do this part of the job.

Will keep you all posted!

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

Heck - can't see anybody really getting concerned about a scanned set of images from 60 years ago. Especially as you're not trying to profit from them.'

I'd love to have a good and clear copy so I can read it and also to create my templates (in 3D CAD) for how I'm going to handle the point locations.

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

Bored&Stroked........interesting about the regular V8 cam with the ground off 4 lobes. Sounded dead on until I checked with a regular V8 cam, and the position of the lobes do not line up with the mounting holes....unless there are variances on the V8 cam/distributors. The 4 lobe cam I have is professionally done...as I can see the grinding stone fine marks...it is too perfect to be an amateur job. Was this done from possibly a new un-ground core at the time?? I also found a detailed installation sheet....it may be of some help. Robert

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

let`s see if this works.

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

If you are looking for help or info on older performance ignition systems, Pat Mason at Mason Racing Ignitions is the man. He originally worked for Scintilla Vertex, and is very knowledgeable on LZ, H&C and Spalding systems. He also may have what you are looking for or haven't though of yet.

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

Thanks a bunch - might as well contact him and see what he knows. When I was younger, Joe Hunt Magnetos was down the street from me (Torrance, CA), he took me under his wing and helped me with my Harman Collins dual coils as well as Harman Collins magnetos. He was a heck of a nice man - and I had fun working with him after school on some of he special sprint car and Offy projects.

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

Check with Honest Charlie's Speed Shop. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have info and maybe some parts. I have a 45 V/8 60 Midget that had a dual coil set up. Ford distributor, LZ rotor, 4 lobe cam coil adaptor plate with 2 carbon brushes and used 2 46 type coils that had different numbers on them than any I have seen. I took it off because of radiator clearance and mounted a crab. I can't remember if someone borrowed it to look at but haven't seen it around. G.M.

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

I recently saw one converted using a Pertronix magnet ring for a 4 cylinder vehicle, then 2 modules to trigger the spark. It was set up using an Old Sunnen distributor machine. If I had the room in front for one, I'd make every effort to get one. Very COOL looking.

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

Thanks Bruce , i just bought all three on Ebay.......

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

It's a fascinating conversion, and very low tech. There are a lot of details in there to rotor right and so on...whoever did this the first time was a clever and patient person!

Re: Flathead Ignition Conversions
 

Frankly, about half nuts! These early pioneers had to use what they could scrounge at a local junkyard, apply some very basic and sometimes crude engineering ideas and see if they could make something work. When you look at the insides of some of these conversions, you quickly understand that some knew what they were doing (and more importantly WHY), others did fairly good copies and others hacked and slashed their way through it - probably with poor results.

At least these people had the guts to try things - they didn't just save their money and go to Jegs! :D