<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #d1d1e1; COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1 itxtvisited="1"> <!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->
another ez question for you guys. I have a 52 V8 block with its original cam in place and I have a ,I hope 4" mercury crankshaft to go in it . The cam gear to the crank gears don't mesh togeter, one is reverse of what it should be. Could the crank gear be on backwards or do I have an older maybe 1948 crank and gear? The crank has the larger oil plug holes and with a ruler I measured 4" throw , but on the old paper tag from a machine shop it says 1939 <NOBR style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_0_0>ford</NOBR> ,along with the under cut measurements. Did the other flatheads have gear teeth reversed from the 49-53? HELP!! tony in buffalo ny
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Yes, early and late are opposite helix. There are other differences, and I don't know them all. Have you compared it to an 8BA crank? Can you just take the crank gear off your old crank and swap them?

No '39 engines had 4" cranks; it could be a Ford crank that was offset ground to 4" stroke. Are there any casting #'s on the crank? Like "EAC"? Look here: http://flatheadv8.org/boomer/crank.htm

 

I've heard early pushes against the dist cover and late pulls away from it. On the other hand............

I have an EAB that had an alum cam gear - block has a crack so it sits waiting stitching.

I also run a 51 8CM merc that had the fiber gear explode. I went to put the alum EAB gear on the 8CM and found the teeth were opposite cut. Both are bolt on so I know one isn't late and the other early. Both are late.

Bill Boomer was able to supply me with the correct cut because he had both.

Don't know if it's merc vs ford or what happened, but both are out there.

 

I have to believe a 4" crank with a tag that says '39 V8 just means it has the crank gear for an early engine, it has to be an 8BA (offset ground) or 8CM late crank.

Tim, your situation is a puzzler all right.