Carbs, wires and throttle linkage on. Working on the water lines next.  
  

  

  

Still working on the coolant lines but we did get the fuel pump on with the pressure regulator. We briefly started the engine today and didn't have any fuel leaks. Fuel to all 8 carbs and actually got an idle right away. 

no work on the engine lately, my partner had eye surgery and is mending. We have all the pieces we need to finish testing. Once we're convinced we have it dialed in, we will pull the 302 and put her in the 54 Merc. Finding a dual port inlet radiator with transmission cooler is proving to be difficult. Champion wants a small fortune to customize one. Will probably be able to find one so we won't have to combine the water ports in to one. Separate 1-1/4" inlets is the desired set-up with a trans cooler built in. So far all I have seen is for a 54 Ford truck which is a different size than the sedan.

After running the motor for a time, we are discovering the vacuum advance distributor is not delivering enough advance for our set-up. Replacing the OEM one with an aftermarket mechanical is not possible because of lack of room with the Weber set-up.  It's just too darn tight to get a new style distributor in there.  We're looking for someone that can convert our vacuum one to mechanical. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

You could use the vacuum distributor to trigger an external, programmable ignition box.


Lawrenceville, GA

Or switch to a post-'56 Y-block distributor, just change from the 14 tooth Ford drive gear to the 15 tooth Lincoln drive gear. The distributor is one of the few parts that interchanges between the LYB and the Ford/Mercury Y-block.

It looks like the problem is any distrilblutor other than a load o matic will be too tall for your build.  As Charlie suggested, use your present distrubutor to trigger one of the available programmable boxes.  I believe Pertronix makes a unit for the LOM distributor. That being said, I have used a Pertronix to trigger a 6A MSD box - worked perfect so I'm thinking that a simple Pertronix should be able to trigger other boxes that would be suitable for your purpose.  That would be a simple straight forward method but there are olther systems available that use a trigger wheel mounded to the damper pulley etc.. Will be interesting to see what you come up with..............

64F100 57FAIRLANE500

Well, we thought it over and after weighing all the options, decided to go with the guy in Oregon that converts the Load-o-matic to mechanical.  His final product is tailored to what we have for engine, carbs, and transmission so the unit should cure our advance issues with the 8 stack system. We won't know anything more until he examines our unit and can reassure us the new one will be the same size or smaller.

... decided to go with the guy in Oregon that converts the Load-o-matic to mechanical.  

Now who is that?

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Outfit called FBO Ignition out of Cottage Grove, OR.  They have a website on the internet.