the build
 

Hello all my ford barner friends. Well here I go with my V8 build for my 41 pickup. The 8BA that is in it is as tired as they come. It smokes so bad you can't drive it with the windows up, and when warmed up no oil pressure but that's kinda nice as it doesn't smoke then. The motor I have to build is a 1953 8CM my brother and I pulled out of a 53 mercury sedan we parted out 40 odd years ago. We didn't see any cracks then when we pulled the heads but still haven't pulled the pan to check the rails. Hopefully it will be a sound block. It has never been bored. My plan is to use the block ,crank ,rods and pan. As much as I like the mercury heads I read here on the barn they are not that great so will probably run milled 8BA's. This will be a turn key driver for my wife to drive to the farm and garden store or me to the junkyard or where ever the need for a pickup takes us. So no lumpy cam just a stock 50 or 51 mercury for some pull. I will run a pair of Holley 94's and some Fenton headers that cam on the same parts car. So feel free to chime in and let me know what I'm missing here. One question I do have right now is 50 or 80 psi oil pump? Pros, cons?

Re: the build
 

All of the 8BA series engines came from the factory with 80 lb pumps. Why would you even think of using a 50 lb pump?

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I think there is really only one pump that was used from 49-53 in Ford and Merc flatheads . . . and it makes 60 - 80 lbs when the oil is cold. The 8BA style pump is what I use on ALL my flathead builds.

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I was unaware that 80 psi pump was the norm for 8BA's . My 41s guage goes to 50 so I guess it will be pegged most of the time. Next question is,are all cam gears aluminium now days? When I was a young man these were available but very noisy so I shied away from them. Is this still the case? Thanks for the knowledge.

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I have them in both of my engines; the '51 Merc in my '51 club coupe and my "HotRod" engine that is going into my Tub. I can honestly say that I can't hear either of them. I have only run the second one on the test stand, but I have had the Merc in my coupe for 4 years and have never heard anything.

The reason I like aluminum gears is that the only fiber gears available are either over 60 years old or foreign made. I have heard that the newer foreign gears may self-destruct after 5000-8000 miles. Also, I don't want to trust my build to a 60+ year old gear that has been stored in unknown conditions.

Re: the build
 

I'd experienced a catastrophic failure of one of the new repop fiber gears just a few years ago. DESTROYED a fairly fresh (less than 1000 miles) Merc engine (1940).
I use ONLY NOS gears - both aluminum and fiber. No issues.

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Suggest EAB heads instead of 8ba's. Also, with dual carbs what are you planning on for a distributor? The stock Loadomatic won't work properly with dual carbs.

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Like you I have deep expectatioins and dreams for a stock 255. Not a fan of lopey cams. I am 68 and never been to a drag race, and only one real car show. I just want to go up hills without downshifting and I LOVE the single point distributor that I can work on. I wish I had more to add, I just want some low end power without the hassle of two carbs.......

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I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I really like a small base 2G on a bored out Merc manifold; the same throttle area as duals with only one (probably better) carb.

Re: the build
 

How do you identify a Merc manifold?

Re: the build
 

The carburetor is bolted to the intake with four bolts/studs instead of three. Some of the intakes were cast iron, some aluminum.

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Didn’t the 53 Mercs have EAB heads from the factory,,,,,can’t remember ?
It should make a great running engine .

And like Tubman said,,,,the factory Mercury intake is hard to beat .
It has 4 mounting holes for the carb,,,,,,and take his advice on the carb deal.
Open the intake bores,,,,and keep one carb,,,,works great for a semi stock build .

Tommy

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They have "EAC" heads; not as good as "EAB"'s because they have larger chembers to keep the same compression ratio as the Fords with the Mercury's longer stroke.

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Thanks. Good to know

Re: the build
 

So heads marked 8BA or 8CM do not flow as well as the EABs. How hard are the EAB heads to find?

Sorry pistonbroke, not trying to hijack your thread but I am in a similar situation and am trying to learn. Have a decent stash of parts, but it's looking like I need to find more.

Re: the build
 

You have to remember we are not talking OHV engines here, so with Ford factory heads anyway, flow is not a factor. The question is compression; the EAB heads have the smallest combustion chambers of all of the 8BA series heads, so (unmodified) they are the best choice. With some judicious milling, all flat heads can be made to have smaller chambers, which raises compression.

Of course, if you are getting into this, there is always the subject of modifying the heads to maximize compression and "quench" (which promotes optimum combustion). Ideally, you should get the clearance over the tops of the pistons to .045"-.050" which will maximize both. In addition to milling, his takes some work measuring the clearances (using clay or aluminum foil balls), and then some clearancing with a die grinder. In my opinion, this is the single best thing to do to increase performance (and economy) in a Ford flathead. This has been covered here many times, so the information of how to proceed is available.

Re: the build
 

Zaox40 , We are all just trying to do the best we can with the parts that we can lay our hands on and the knowledge we can glean from others. I am enjoying and learning a lot from this thread. I plan on driving this old truck anywhere , near or far (like the east coast) . My experience with the ford flathead is all from the 1970s when I had a 8CM in a 42 pickup and a 292 V12 I did for a 38 Zephyr I had. A lot has changed since then and I'm all ears. Tim

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Hey 5150BAT, What will be the out come or down fall running dual carbs and a loadomatic dist? I road in a 53 customline this Saturday with this set up and it (seemed) to work very smooth with good snappy acceleration . What am I missing here? Again , just trying to learn. Thanks, Tim

Re: the build
 

Did it have the advance unit on the Load-a-matic hooked up to at least one of the carburetors?

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It's hooked up but I can't say to one or both. I sent him a text to find out.