49 vs 50 car water pumps

[lonewolf]

Was there a reason ford switched to a narrow belt. Is one better than the other. I have a 49 coupe with no engine. I have an 8ba block and a narrow crank pulley and fan but no water pumps. If I go with a wide belt I need everything. Not sure what route to go

[tubman]

I have an 8BA with trock pumps and one wide belt and another with the two narrow belts. I prefer the narrow belts. I can't quite put my finger on why, but I have a gut feeling the single belt is too big and bulky. I also like that the two belts give you a bit of redundancy. If you lose one narrow belt, you just may be able to limp it a little further along, Although I've never had the occasion to go part hunting. I think that the narrow belt components might be a bit easier to find, because they were used for 4 years rather than just one.

[donald1950]

totally agree with the 2 belt redundancy statement.

[V8 Bob]

I think the switch to two narrow belts in '50 was to allow more fan and/or generator rpm adjustment, with each having it's own belt and drive pulley ratio.

[tubman]

Damn, Bob, you have a way of getting just a bit deeper into this than most. I hadn't thought of that, but it makes perfect sense.

[flatheadmurre]

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Originally Posted by V8 Bob

I think the switch to two narrow belts in '50 was to allow more fan and/or generator rpm adjustment, with each having it's own belt and drive pulley ratio.

Since fan has a separate sheeve on the widebelt setup and pumps and generator sheeve diameter can be altered i´m not sure about that being the reason.

The widebelt is at it´s max going over the small generator pulley that takes energy and creates stress in it.
a narrow belt can handle small pulleys better.
And with 2 belt setup the wrap angle of the crank and fan/generator pulley is increased.
So my thinking is that the new setup gave longer time between maintenance.

[V8 Bob]

Originally Posted by flatheadmurre

Since fan has a separate sheeve on the widebelt setup and pumps and generator sheeve diameter can be altered i´m not sure about that being the reason.

The widebelt is at it´s max going over the small generator pulley that takes energy and creates stress in it.
a narrow belt can handle small pulleys better.
And with 2 belt setup the wrap angle of the crank and fan/generator pulley is increased.
So my thinking is that the new setup gave longer time between maintenance.

You may be right, but....trucks kept the single wide pump/gen. belts through '53,....
and the narrow belt iron crank pulley is stepped, which requires the offset pump's pulleys having different sizes to run at the same pump rpm.

[flatheadmurre]

Originally Posted by V8 Bob

You may be right, but....trucks kept the single wide pump/gen. belts through '53,....
and the narrow belt iron crank pulley is stepped, which requires the offset pump's pulleys having different sizes to run at the same pump rpm.

Agree on above but if it only was for adjusting ratio that could probably have been done on the widebelt setup to...changing size of pulleys.
Or maybe the new ratio was for cars only which was driven faster and the higher rpm gave problems with pumps cavitation...and they wanted to keep them apart.

[V8 Bob]

I thought fan noise could have been a reason since Ford switched from 4 to a 3-blade fan in '50, although Mercury stayed with the 4-blade through '53, and used the same narrow belt system and crank pulley.
I have the '49-'51 Ford and Merc shop manuals and can find no explanation why in either. Another flathead mystery!

[dwollam]

I have a stroker 8ba in my '40 Tudor. I used the narrow belts thinking buying a replacement on the road would be much easier. I even run the '51 car pumps with some nice adapters I got with some stuff from a '36 with an 8ba that was being hot rodded. They bolt to the pumps and then use a stock '40 biscuit. All works great.

Dave