Technical A Kid's First Project: 1957 Fairlane 500 Town Victoria.

its oil is clean looking, but i'll remove the distributor and see if that works, and i only noticed one missing bolt, and the bolt is just missing, i put a wooden rod down the hole and it seems to not have a bolt stuck in it, im gonna go ahead and start gathering parts. the original owner has an old 62 ford pickup thats a parts car for body since he says that the motor is junk, it should have a couple good parts., i'll see about getting parts off of it, and remove the distributor to check. this is the first time ive touched anything older than 78, so i have some knowledge, but far from enough.

also, clutch works, we had to use it as a brake getting it off the trailer. i'll remove the starter while its getting tires and see if it works.

another note, i used an air nozzle and sprayed all the dirt, nests, needles, and more out of the engine bay, now it just looks old rather than dirty

 

i messaged the original owner, his son took it for that truck, its a parts truck now, but it wasnt when this car was parked originally, so thats cool if i can get that back somehow...

 

Where are you finding that info? Every bit of documentation I've seen lists the C code as a 4-barrel. They do show two HP levels, but that reflects the compression ratio change between the stick and automatic cars.

Now I did find a reference to the fact that Ford was short on money/parts at the beginning of the model year and substituted 'wrong' parts if they were short of the correct ones so some oddball stuff leaked out but a 292 2-barrel wasn't listed as a RPO.

 

My '59 had the remnants of a rubber mat on the floor, it was toast. Which is a blessing, it it were carpet with padding, it may have held moisture and rotted out the floors.

 

Good news, i removed the plugs and it turned nicely with my 1/2 inch socket, i can hear a slight clicking (as if something was touching the teeth on the flywheel) but other than that its nice and free

 

That's great!
This changes the direction a little. With a free engine, you can try to run it. Once it's in the shop and all is in order, you can do stuff like compression tests to get a better idea of condition.

 

A lot of those "old-cars" came with just rubber mat flooring instead of carpet.
In 57 there were still A LOT of dirt roads and the mud they made were not kind to carpet.
6sally6

 

found some bad news, there are two bent pushrods, yet no stuck valves... very odd

 

I would start by carefully checking the timing, pull pass. Side valve cover and verify tdc against harmonic balancer , and check piston is at tdc

 

It may have bent valves on those holes with the bent push rods but will most likely still run, they’re tough engines. Your just looking to see if the harmonic is slipped or the dist is wrong

 

i think i figured it out, it sat for 15 years before it was brought up here, wanna bet he bent them when he tried to start it when it was up here?

 

That’s my guess as well, I looked at quite a few y blocks when I was searching for one and almost all were stuck, the 2 I did find that the pistons weren’t still had valves that were stuck.

 

i feel like a massive idiot now, i dropped one of the washers for the rocker shaft bolts, so now im short a washer because i cant find it... any tips?

 

Get a hardened grade 8 washer from a bolt supplier.

 

thanks, that will help a ton

 

i got a washer... but the only ones they have had a zinc coating., not sure if that works in an engine but i got it anyway.

 

You can get a Magnet with a handle. It's used to pick up nails out of your yard. Roofers use them. You should be able to find one at Lowes, Home Depot, Ace or the local hardware store. If you are going to work one out side, you'll need it.
You can get a small extendable magnet at the parts store and a little grabber. These are useful when you drop a part goes in a hard to reach spot on the car.

 

i'll make sure to pick one up, i might even find the lost washer.

 

The original drivetrain (71,000 miles) ‘57 Skyliner I had was a “C” code 292 2 barrel with 3 on the tree.

From the 1957fordforever website:
Engine Choices for ’57! Three V8’s and a “mileage-maker” six are offered for ’57, each with major engineering changes, including higher compression ratios, freer breathing, new ignition and better exhaust flow.

Top muscle man of this group is the Thunderbird Special V8, available as an optional engine in any model; it is not standard on any ford. It’s a big 312-cubic-inch engine, with 3.80-inch bore and 3.44-inch stroke. Using a compression ratio of 9.7 to 1, it unleashes 245 hungry horse (at 4500 rpm) that are fed by a special low silhouette four-venturi carburetor.

Next in line is the Thunderbird V8, a 292-cubic-inch (2.75 bore and 3.30 stroke) engine 9.1 to 1 compression ratio. When it’s used with Fordomatic it’s rated at 212 horsepower at 4500 rpm; with a standard box, it rates at only 206. A two-venturi carb is used, regardless of transmission. This engine is standard on the Fairlanes and Station Wagons.

The little brother of these power mills is a 190-horse V8 that’s used in the Custom and Custom “300” series. It’s The smallest V8, being 272 cubic-inch, with 3.62 bore and 3.30 stroke. Compression ratio is 8.6 to 1. A double-barrel carb is used.

 

Well, I can see you with this site... The Classic Ford facts about Classic 1957 Ford Engines and raise you this one...
Specs 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Club Sedan Thunderbird 292 V-8 (man. 3) (automobile-catalog.com) ... both of which specify Holley 4-barrels on all 292s. Wikipedia doesn't say one way or the other, and another site I found doesn't show the 292 at all!?

In '56 Ford offered 12 different V8s according to the factory service manual; four of each size. In the 272, they offered low (standard trans) and higher compression (automatic) versions with 2 2-barrel and 2 4-barrel offerings. All other V8s had 4-barrels, with compression differences between both standard and automatic as well as regular and premium fuel versions. Letter identifiers overlapped, so you'd have to check casting numbers to nail engine size down. To get a definitive answer for the '57, I suspect we'll need a factory manual.

 

I’m not going to argue with you. I know what I had, and I know what a “C” code is.
Believe what you like.
As far as the 56 info. I have never seen a factory 2 2 barrel set up. I don’t believe they exist. The dual teapot four barrel carb set up which was the “E” code on a 312 in ‘57, I also don’t believe was ever available on a 272 or 292.
The sites you referenced definitely have some errors on them.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

You misread what I posted. Ford offered 4 different 272 motors in '56; two of them were 2V, the other 2 were 4V. Each carb type had a low/high compression ratio for manual or automatic trans, all for were rated for regular fuel. They had similar splits in the 292/312 versions (all were 4V), two regular fuel, two premium in each size. All 4V-equipped motors got dual exhaust. This is straight from the factory manual.

 

Maybe the "C" stands for (C)arter???

Actually, Carter built two carbs for Ford in 1957 - both 4-barrels for the 312, but I have digressed.

I do not have Ford internal documents in my source library, but I do have pretty good Holley records and decent Autolite records.

Both Autolite and Holley list ONLY 2-barrel carbs for 292 passenger engines in 1957.

4-barrel carbs (Autolite, Carter, and Holley) are listed for the 312.

Jon

 

Steve - if the 2 2 barrel (I bold and underlined above in your post) is not a typo, would like to see documentation as to what carburetors were used.

Thanks.

Jon.

 

Al T misread it; there was two 272-2V versions and two 272-4V versions. Ford didn't offer multiple carbs in '56.

I'd still like to see the '57 engine lineup as published in the factory service manual.

 

I’m tapping out…. after saying this for 1957 Ford. lol
C code - 292 2 barrel
D code - 312 4 barrel
E code - 312 Dual 4 Barrel
F code - 312 Supercharged (would LOVE a F code ‘57 Ford!!!)

 

57 isnt 56, they changed things year to year back then.

 

i went ahead and gave her the much needed bath, she looks a thousand times better now that shes not covered in mold.

 

also, i found the trim to be loose on the roof, it seems the clips broke off, any tips to fix that?

(that isnt use tape or glue because i am not doing that)

 

also, it seems a branch damaged the front window trim, but didnt damage the glass (thankfully) i hope i can fix it a little so it matches the angle of the passenger side door