? for the merc and ford fans

i purchased a '61 mercury meteor 800 and i noticed the distributor is in the wrong place for a ford from what i am used to. its in the rear by the firewall. i dont know much about ford/mercury so please school me. thanks.

 

MEL engine

Merc Edsel Lincoln

 

Y Block.

 

any idea what to do with it? its a complete car minus rear window and fan belts

 

Meteor 800? Got any pictures? Should have a 292, lets see it.

 

Here's mine. It's a 600.

 

here is the one and only i have right now. once i get it running i can take better shots. its a 2 door post all original except for the 3" lowering blocks i put in the first day i got it home

 

I second CRASHNBURNS, Y-block. Prob a 292.

 

you have renewed my appreciation for this car. yours looks great, hope one day mine will too.

 

sounds like a y block. i'd like to get one. i'll take yours if you don't want it.

 

Nice looking cars!

 

Since the picture was taken, I added straights and bellflowers. Y blocks sound amazing with some pipes, Mercury's rule, and there is not alot around. You can lower these cars easy, and they still ride pretty good. I drive mine all year around, and the winters out here are ****ty. Great cars.

 

i bought mine for $500 off of craigslist. i do not need it, but i figured at least it would be a cool derby car or circle track racer. who knows when i finish one of my other 3 projects i will get around to this one. i just thought it was odd location for a non chevy distributor. like i stated earlier i dont know much about them. guess its time to learn.

 

its not really labeled in the y-block family it is after from what ive heard those mel
merc edsel lincoln motors is pretty cool and have some speed parts and stuff out there ive also heard they have the same bore spacing as FE the lincoln y block and that mel stuff is the predicers(speel check) to FE

 

whats the difference between 600 and 800?

 

No, mines a Y block, it's a 292 with a Fordomatic, they used Y blocks in alot of Fords and Mercs until '62. I'm not sure what the difference between 6 and 8 hundred is, probably just a trim package. The Montereys were the fancy ones.

 

this one is an original az car form what the original owners neighbor told me. the original owner past away and the neighbor got the car. how, i dont know i did not ask questions. i did get a ***le from"78 which kinda makes me think its not an original owner car but who cares its mine now. my plans are to shave the rocker panel trim and the trim down the sides of the doors. i might be making my 800 into a 400 cause of the trim i want to shave. the interior needs redone and the paint obviously needs resprayed. maybe a metal flake roof and a white pearl body. there is not much body work to do just a few small dents. i dont think there are any panels with plastic so i mihgt have wisly spent $500. first time for everything right!?

 

500 is a steal, especially if it runs.

 

was told he drove it around his yard to move it a few times but only for a short time cause no fan belts

 

hey crash, do you have the mercury script valve covers? are they common? and what the hell is that tube going from the thermostat towards the front of the engine? i am also missing that piece.

 

Yes, I have Mercury V covers, I don't know if they're real common or not. Are you talking about the radiator tank maybe? It bolts on the front of the intake and houses the thermostat.

 

no i got that. i will take pics. they are more helpful.

 

A picture would help. The only other things I can think of, is either the oilfill, or the road draft tube. The oil fill is on the front of the valleypan and the road draft is on the rear.

 

its in the front and its for water. goes into the thermostat area and comes foward with 2 bolts one on each side

 

I do believe that the only OHV V8 Fords that had the dist in the back are the Y-Blocks, ie: 239, 256,272,292 and 312 and the first OHV Lincoln V8's. Since the last year of the first design Lincoln was 1957, wouldn't it have to be a Y-block then?

 

Yeah it's a Y block, The dist. was in the front on MELs.

 

what's the good or bad of this y block? should I keep it? obvious amswer is yes if it runs, but...... ?

 

http://www.ford-y-block.com/

dizzy in what wrong place. Do you mean up front? Windsors and FE block have them up front.
follow the links and you will be able to tell what engine you have.
I bet 292.
But the car had options of 223 I -6 , 292 (Y-block) , 352 (FE) , 390 (FE) engines.
AFA as getting rid of it. IF your in SOCAL .....I'll take the boat anchor from ya.

 

the tube is a thermostat byp***, should be a short length of hose there,,

 

I can't think of anything bad about a Y block. They don't have a ton of power, but all of mine get down the road no problem. They're decent on gas, and so far I haven't had any trouble finding parts for them.