Gas Pedal Travel

[Zeke3]

Front of the engine too high makes a lot of sense. The nose of the engine being raised would reduce the clearance between the top of the engine and the dash panel, aka firewall. The engine may have been installed with its nose up to improve the clearance with the steering linkage.

[19Fordy]

Zeke makes a very good point. Photo posting time?
It would be interesting to know what modifications were made by the previous owner?
when 8BA was installed.
That's why it's so helpful to keep a written record of what modifications you make to your vehicle and the parts you used.

[38convsedan]

Got it…will post pics this afternoon when I finish my 9-5.
Thanks for all input and insight! I’m so appreciative!!

[19Fordy]

38convsedan: Were any other changes made to your car that would effect engine placement? Does it have stock transmission, drivetrain and rear end?

Does your car have wide belts or narrow belts on the water pumps?

Please post photos of engine showing belt configuration on pumps, crank pulley, generator, fan pulley etc.

Are your fan belts narrow (3/8 in.) or wide (9/16 or 5/8 in.)?

What year 8BA engine do you have?

Be sure to post photos of your entire carb with linkage hookup.

Below are photos of what the 8RT Ford truck water pumps look like and what the 1949 to 1951 Mercury pumps and spacers look like along with the water pump spacers.
The 8RT pumps use wide belts. It would be helpful to see your entire set up.

[38convsedan]

Was told by previous owner it’s a 1950 truck motor..

[19Fordy]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

The 8RT numbers on the pumps and the fact that they are wide belt pumps indicates they are 1950 Ford truck pumps (like mine).
Your engine appears to not be too far back.

It appears that there is some sort of spacer between the ear of the water pump and the top surface of the motor. Is that so?

What happens when you shorten or lengthen the rod with the home made turnbuckle in it?
Does that effect your gas pedal travel? Try and see.

Could you post a photo of the top of the firewall with the throttle, accelerator and carb rod coming thru the firewall?

Right now, I am running out of ideas.

[tubman]

I think it's time to remind everyone that '35-'40 Ford front mounts are lower relative to the rest of the frame than those for '41-'48. The truck water pumps place an 8BA properly when mounted in the later chassis, but the engine will be too low in a '35-'40 chassis. To get the engine at the proper height in the earlier chassis, spacers are required between the mounts and the pumps.

[38convsedan]

Shortening the rod allows carb to open closer to WOT while losing idle setting.
Lengthening the rod results in correct idle while losing WOT. Given current throttle linkage travel, I can’t achieve correct idle and WOT. As stated in post #1, I’m about 2/3 of WOT.

Not sure about any water pump spacer—I included a side view of water pump mounting on block.

Looks like there are several shims under radiator-not sure if that’s normal…

Could an aftermarket pedal/cable throttle assembly be a solution?

[38 coupe]

I have helped install a couple 8BAs in 36-40 Fords. We did not use spacers under the water pump ears. The truck 8BA water pumps have the ear at the same height as the 37-48 water pumps. Spacing the front of the engine up is what is causing the linkage problem. On a recent 8BA install into a 36 we used an electric fan on the radiator, machined the front sheeve off the crank pulley, and "massaged" the oil pan with a torch and hammer to get clearance to the steering (massaging was done with the pan bolted to a scrap block, not on the good engine).

If you remove the spacers you may create new problems. The oil pan may hit your drag link. The front of the crank pulley may be so close to the cross member you can't change a belt. The later fan will probably hit the radiator (I'm amazed to see it in there now).

[tubman]

I guess it's personal choice; I'd rather raise the engine a bit and adjust the throttle linkage than "massage" the oil pan.

But that's just me.

[38 coupe]

Originally Posted by tubman

I guess it's personal choice; I'd rather raise the engine a bit and adjust the throttle linkage than "massage" the oil pan.
But that's just me.

I respect that. We didn't want to affect the clutch linkage, throttle linkage, exhaust pipes, or any of the other stuff that gets fiddly and causes more trouble. The 36 motor was pulled, we dropped in the 8BA, and reassembled. We had one weekend to get it done 200 miles away from home at a friend's place. We got it done.


My personal preference is an original type engine in the car, then no compromises need to be made.

[38convsedan]

So any thoughts on increasing pedal travel in this situation?

[38 coupe]

Can you lower the front of the engine just enough so that the engine clears the throttle linkage, but doesn't cause a bunch of other problems?
Remove that clamp piece in the spliced throttle linkage, use a die to cut threads (maybe shorten one side first), and use a turn buckle to fine tune the length?
This is the trouble with modifications, they lead to other modifications...

[38convsedan]

Oh, in response to an earlier question—car has 1950 truck 8BA with 1938 transmission-torque tube-rear end.

I’m reluctant to lower front of engine as I’m fearful other issues would arise.
Trying to solve pedal travel with least invasive surgery…

Sounds like after market (ie Lokar pedal/cable throttle) might be best (although not cheapest) solution…

Would love to finally experience WOT with the old girl!!

[al's28/33]

Of the linkage from firewall to carb with the turn-buckle, trim the longer rod maybe 1/8" to 1/4" shorter to give the pedal more room to achieve full WOT.... since yours is cut already..... that may be the simplest solution.

[38convsedan]

Shortening linkage from firewall to carb does not affect the limited travel of lower linkage. There is only 1 1/4” of lower linkage (pedal) travel before lower linkage contacts engine near the oil line boss for oil canister. There should be about 3” of pedal travel as pointed out earlier.
The limited lower linkage travel is not allowing the upper linkage to travel enough to go from idle to WOT. The limited travel means I can adjust carb arm length to have either correct idle or WOT, but not both.

I’m thinking that if I somehow moved (bent) lower linkage arm forward (away from fire wall) AND upper linkage arm backward (toward firewall), I could achieve necessary travel.

The only hiccup there is now the pedal would be moved forward from floorboard, necessitating shortening the linkage rod connected to the pedal to bring pedal back to a manageable height from floorboard. The pivot joint in all likelihood would be exposed in the cabin versus being hidden under floorboard…
OR… go aftermarket pedal/cable linkage which I’m beginning to think might just put this issue to bed.

[glennpm]

Late to this thread so I could be missing something.

Would rotating the firewall mounted ball end up 90° or a full 180° solve the interference? I understand that you can't remove the assembly since the engine is right up tight to it.
You could protect parts with a canvas welding blanket and a wet rag around the throttle spring, heat it up and twist the ball end.



Glenn

[38convsedan]

That might work...rotate the ball end so the 10.44" carb arm will fit.

[19Fordy]

Not sure this will provide any help but here is the carb I used on my 8BA when it was in the 1940 Ford.

As a side note, a friend of mine is having a similar problem with the gas pedal in his 1940 Ford. He wants to install a Holley 390 in his 40 that has an 8BA engine with a blower built by Mark Kirby years ago. To achieve this he has ordered the Lokar accelerator kit as the stock gas pedal and linkage would not work for him.

It's not installed yet so I can't provide any photos.

That might be the best and easiest solution.

PS: Unless my eyes are fooling me the base of your 2 barrel carb looks to be a different design than mine. Could this be causing a "misalignment" of your linkage geometry due to the location and height of the carb linkage hook up on the carb itself?

[glennpm]

Originally Posted by 38convsedan

That might work...rotate the ball end so the 10.44" carb arm will fit.

Yes