George you beat me to it....I dont think I have ever seen such a stupid comment, god I hope he was joking...
Could never figure the bow tie boy thought process. Fords are piles of shit...I must have one!!!! WTF??
I just do not get it..... The Chevy engine requires lot of fabrication to install in that car. Rear sump pan does not clear. 302, 351W or C drop in with Fox Mustang mounts. Easy Cheesy.... And if you ever decide to sell, good luck
"Sounds like sour grapes to me. Yep if that Y block was so great why did ford quit using them in cars in 1962? 1954 thru 62 eight years." Correction, the Y-block was installed in Ford cars in Brazil and Argentina until the early 90's......... The Southern Hemisphere Y blocks had a redesigned set of cylinder heads resembling a 302 head. Look at the intake on this Y block....
It's your car. Do what you want , however I will tell you that I once had a 351 Ford in a '49 Chevy pick-up ( for real) and the Chevy truck eventually rejected the Ford engine ! It actually ran good, but the performance level was affected as it was neither slow nor fast, but somewhere in the middle, I guess you could call it "half fast".
It should be obvious that I was joking with my comment (did you see the big smiley face?) And, you left out the rest of my comment where I recommended he stay with a Ford in his '55. In my opinion, it wouldn't look right but it's his car but I wouldn't think he was a "sorry bastard" for doing it. It's just a engine, man. I know a couple of guys who, when they see a Chevy in a Ford, it's like they're mother was insulted or something. I guess I like poking them with a stick because they take themselves so seriously. It's too bad you think everyone who runs a SBC is a sorry bastard lacking in skills, brains, imagination, etc. There are millions of us sorry bastards, it seems. I guess you're entitled to your elitist attitude. It seems foolish to me and makes me laugh. P.S. I laugh at the Chevy guys too who have the "if it ain't a Chevy, it's crap" attitude. I consider that equally ridiculous.
Don't try to drop a Cleveland in... while the mounts will match, the greater width of those heads will make exhaust impossible unless you clip the frame. Same goes for 485 series ((429/460); too wide to clear the upper a-arms...
I've got diehard Chevy friends who were totally upset I bought a Ford Falcon and put a Chevy in it. They considered it a waste of a good BBC motor! I'd say who cares, but obviously there's a bunch here who do!
Now that's some good info right there. MAde the whole thread worth it. Now how do I get a set of those? Thanks, Tim
"PS, If I go out in my shed right now, I find 283's, 327's, 350's, 400's" Wow, ignorant of his hot rod history, rat rodder tendencies, and illiterate as well. I'd call that a triple threat. But yea, you might have a point, I am putting a small-journal 327 in my chevy II instead of another cookie-cutter 350, so yea, I guess I am elitist. to the OP, I think you know the answer. If you REALLY want to be traditional, and put a non-ford in your ford, put a rocket in it. The idea that someone would have swapped a 265/283 in place of a y-block of virtually the same displacement in a virtually new car in the late fifties is pretty thin. He just would have drove his '55 ford to a GM dealer, and traded it in on a '56 chevy with a 265.
I past 60 and have owned several Y blocks. never had a really good one. I even had one that was a brand new Sears allstate rebuilt long block and it had tons of blow by. The excessive blow by contaminates the oil abd caused excessive sludge build up. the 63 and 64 truck engines had a PCV and it ate some of the blowby and those Y blocks didnt sludge up as bad, They all have blow by. the rear mains leaked. They commonly has low oil pressure. The rocker arms would quit oiling. The head gaskets would blow out between cylinders. that Tea pot carb and dual advance distributer was a real marvel! the valve train componets are heavymaking it a slow revivng low rpm. Engine. I currently own 4 Yblocks ive worked on and tore down dozens of them,. They never could run with the little chevys. I always pulled out the Y blocks and Put in a FE in my 55 & 56 fords. Yes I know all about Brazil fords. They made 56 trucks with Y blocks for a long time. Ford let them have That inferior design. The stock Y block over under intake ports severly restrict efficienct & performance. the chevy engine was the first to use the thin wall casting. That made then lighter and stronger than the Y block, Ford went to thin wall casting in 62 with the 221 V8 and they also went to a stud mounted rocker similar to the chevy. Prollay had to wait until the patent expired? folks claim the cam bearings would spin and cause the rocker arm oiling problem. Maybe that happens? Ive tore down several and Ive never seen a spin can bearing. They where all stoppef up with sludge. Im of the opinion that I ford had came out with the FE in 1954 instead of the boat anchor Y block the Tri Five chevy,s wouldnt be near as popular as they are today. I have a 55 ford wagon with a six anf I I was going with a V8 It would be a ford V8. The FE is a tight fit in a 55 or 56 . A 351 winsor would be my choice today. Bring on your stock Y block I got a $1000.00 That says I have a stock 352 FE and or a 283 chev powered vehicle that will beat it in a 1/4 mile drag race. Ill run the best two out of three and tear down the winner to prove its factory stock. Old Wolf
We did this swap in a 55 Customline. 305 and 350,we did our own motor mounts (cut the old ones off). There is clerence issue with the oilpan,i think that we rebuilt the center link so it got lower. I also Think that the dipstik for the transmission hit the floor. We just "chopped" it really short and made a little hole in the floor where you could access the dipstik. The HAMB is alot "dont do this and that" nowdays.
Yes thats a great idea! but who is ever gonna be dumb enough to buy that ford and pay you enough to buy a 55 chevy? Ive got both a 55 chev 2 dr wagn. and a 55 ford 2 dr wagn. Iv been trying to sell the ford for $2500. The chevy aint for sale. Ive never got any offers on the ford and I had a guy lay 65 one hundred dollar bill,s on the hood of the chevy trying to buy it. OldWolf
If the OP's car was mine, I'd probably be putting an FE in it as well, but I have a fetish for them. I'd really think hard about a cleveland as well. I've built a couple over the years, and they run alot harder than an equivalent 350 chevy.
Yes It appears those redesigned heads and intake would be a marked improvment over the Y blocks heads in production in the USA. Kinda verifies My opinion the Y block heads where inferior design. If the 55 Y blocks where so great Why the new design? I wonder how mush other stuff they redesigned? Old Wolf
Ive got a 71 351 cleveland 2 bbl engine. Its wider than the 351 winsor and you would have exhaust clearance issues like you do with the FE. Ive got old school busses and bread vans crammed full of engines of all types.some are stacked three high. They where all runners when I pulled them and I filled the cyls with oil. Im shure they would all be rebuildable. Some havent run in decades. I cant seem to sell them so they will probably eventually go to the scrap man. OldWolf
Ive got a question If I pulled out the 262 six in my 55 ford wagon and installed a 350 chevy do you think I could sell it for enough money to buy another 55 chevy ? OldWolf
I did say "if it were mine". One of my cars is a '67 falcon with an FE in it, so I guess you could say I have experience dealing with exhaust clearance issues. Too bad you are so far away, I'd love to raid your school buses. But then, I guess I'd need an old school bus to store the overflow...
Funny how what seems like a simple, harmless question turns into a debate over Ford vs. Chevy that has nothing to do with the OP question. It seems to be a trend here on the HAMB; not answering questions, and debating instead.
Putting sbc in anythig other than a chev should de punishable by lifetime banning from all car activities. When judging a show i automatically disquallify any smc if it is in a ford.
I have a friend who put a SBC in a 50 Ford and it's a great conversation starter, for sure. Runs fine. But no matter how many times I look under the hood, it just seems wrong. Creeps ya right out. Looking back, I realize that running / racing SBCs in the late 50's was popular, and that some of the early OHV motors got transplanted even earlier than that (Caddys, Olds, Hemis), but by the 1960s it just didn't make sense to put Chevy's in everything, racing or otherwise. Some makes yes, like Willys or Austin Healeys,, or cars from other independent mfg / or specials, but when it comes to the Big 3 automakers I think that by 1960 or so that the die was pretty much cast... run your favorite car brand AND motor against the other guys. If not, its pretty much heresy, eh? My 2c. Gary
Okay explane why. There are plenty of engines available with lots of after market parts so why be another cookie cutter look alike?
It's traditional. They started selling dropped drag links to put Chevys in early 50's Fords before 1960.
Not sure I'd call it dumb, but it does seem a bit crass to eliminate any non Chevy car based on it having a SBC. If you can't see past an engine as a judge, then you shouldn't be judging cars at shows.
From my years of observing life on earth I have gathered 2 things. Ford made better cars and trucks, and Chevrolet made engines.
All the time I drove my 55 ford in the mid 60s I lusted for a chevy or even better...a chevy engine. It wasn't so much the design of the 272 Y-block in my car. It was the massive number of miles on it that wore out the bearings, causing the rear main seal to leak. Yeah, I dropped the pan and slid a new rope seal in the old motor but after 15 minutes of running it began to drip again. I had a kick-ass 245 HP engine in my 56 olds rag top but it went into a buddy's 50 ford tudor. I really wanted one of those new 327 chevy engines in my ford. Loved my ford, hated the engine. My buddy, Gary had a 63 impala with a 327/4 speed that would wind to the moon! Barked off 4 gears of rubber doing it too. I feel absolutely no guilt in wanting an affordable, lightweight, powerful engine for my car. My last 55 ford tudor had a great running 272 and I was happy as hell with it BUT! If it' had given me any grief, it'd been replaced with a 350 chevy I have stashed.
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