If you try really hard (like when you are in a rush) you can put an early distributor on with the tang upside down. The distributor housing breaks when you hit the starter. My dad rebuilt a distributor for a friend then watched it break when the friend got in a rush.

 

I know that this is a Really old thread. I just bought a 1953 Mercury 255 V-8 Flathead and I've found a set of 1948 Ford cyl. heads with a 3 carb intake . What I would like to know is will the 48 heads and intake be a direct bolt onto my engine. I don't want spend the money only to find out that nothing fits. Thanks for any help with this.

 

Do the 48 Ford heads have casting numbers with "8BA" on them? Water outlets at the front ends of the heads? If so they will fit perfectly. If the manifold has the draft tube at the driver's side front, with the oil fill tube next to it, it will fit too. Can you post pictures?

The only "trick question" here is that 1948 Ford Cars used the older 59-series flatheads, while 1948 Trucks got the newer 8BA engines. From '49-on they all used the 8BA's (or Merc 8CM's).

Note that to use the 3-carb manifold, the generator needs a special bracket to move it to the side, it won't clear the front carb.

 

@ALBUQ F-1 , The 8RT engine was introducing and used I trucks in 1948 while the passenger vehicles were 59A. The 8BA was introduced in 1949 for the passenger vehicles while the 8RT and continued on with the trucks. The block and such of the 8RT and 8BA are the same, but the 8RT has some upgrades in some accessories with wide belts, larger oil pan, truck specific carburetor with truck specific controls, 7RT exhaust manifolds (for clearances with the dipstick and other routings) and such.

Mercury engines had their distinctions to while is using this same Ford block. The easiest indicators are to look for Mercury accessories, usually with an 8CM, EAB or EAC set of heads. However, as all the heads on the Ford/Mercury 239/255 flatheads are interchangeable including 8BA and 8RT heads, this is far from definitive. The biggest draw of the Mercury engines was the crank with the desirable 4" stroke (an additional 1/4" over the Fords). Mercury also made use of different Holley carburator variants than Ford.

But the bottom line is that all the last generation Ford/Mercury 239/255 heads of this post 59A era are physically interchangeable.

 

Thanks for both of your reply's. No I can't post pictures that's above my pay grade. The cyl. heads are aftermarket Offy's as is the intake. I probably should have made that clear. That's my mistake. The water outlets are in the middle of the heads. So if I'm understanding you both are saying that the intake and heads will fit my engine.?

 

Center outlets on the heads, if following the stock placement, is indicative of a 81A, 41A, or 59A blocks and their engine variants. I do not know that these 24 stud heads are interchangeable with the later generation heads previously discussed. I seem to recall some adapting heads across these generations, but i don't recall the specifics, but I think it involved tapping, plugging and modifying some of the water ports.

But let's go to the source, Offenhauser, for the right fitment/application information (noting that they are using 49 as the break year between the middle and later flathead generation even though trucks broke in 48). Also note you can see some of the porting differences in the heads:




https://offenhauser.co/wp-content/up...87.pdf#page=32

 

A 52 Merc (or Ford) flathead should have heads with the forward water neck openings, and the intake should have the the front road draft tube next to the filler neck. The venting inside the engine was revised to allow for better breathing and the location of the draft tube was part of that revision. The parts you're looking at are not correct for your engine.

 

Mike Herman from H&H Flatheads just sent me an e-mail saying that the parts would fit my engine. Since they build them for a living I'm gonna take his word for it.

 

At minimum, you can see the not all the ports on the heads line up between the two generations in question, and like I said, they may be able to be made to work with modifications, but I don't believe that they a simple direct bolt on as you asked.

 

They will physically fit IF you know how to adapt them to the late series engine. It's not a bolt on and run situation as the guys have been explaining. Mike knows what it takes to make them work.
There are design changes in water ports that must be dealt with. Make sure you keep Mike's # close by.

 

That's kinda what I was thinking. Fit is not the same as work.