Okay... today cements my notion that Im the dumbest dumb*** member of the forum. No debate. Got the car on the lift, took out the factory work manual, adjusted a few things, and now she starts off in 1st gear if you floor it. No need for a new ******. Now I can start looking for the mysterious 2x4 manifold that will fit the 368 Y block! Okay, the one on eBay is....5 Grand! WTF? It has the stock Carter WCFB. Would an upgrade to a modern four barrel be any help? I already have a free flow hat on her. Im looking for modest gains in bhp and torque.
Hey, don't feel bad.... My avatar has a 302/C4 in it and I was always a bit disappointed in how it accelerated. The PO never hooked up the kickdown, so for p***ing I'd pull it into second (Mustang floor shifter) but it didn't seem to make any difference. Imagine my embarr***ment after I figured out I had the somewhat-rare 'Cruisomatic' version of the C4 ('64-65 only) with D2/D1/L instead of D/2/1. Put the lever into '2' and it shifts three times.... Mind you, I'd owned the car for 5 years at this point... And I still need to install the kickdown linkage I bought...
Take your distributor out , keep the drive gear : fit a post 1957 ford y block unit with Lincoln drive gear , you won’t believe the difference . Then get an adapter , fit a new 600 cfm edelbrock carb . Holley won’t clear original air filter without t*******
I replaced a Ford-O with a 1962 CruiseOmatic with the vacuum modulator in my 56 Ford and it works great since the down shift arm is just that and not a pressure regulator. A few problems along the way with torque converter and speed-0 but there were over come. The installer was very familiar with these and knew what to do. I’m not sure of as adapter to a MEL for later GM’s or Ford’s but the later 58- up came with the CruiseOmatic. Starting in first allowed me to change rear ends to an 8.8 with 2.74 gears and I have dual quads also on my Y-Block.
C6 fits, but it sure is snug because of the X in the frame. I have a rebuilt steering box in mine, works fantastic. I had a hell of a time getting the right O rings from the valve to the steering box, but once I did - works smooth and quiet. That steering box location makes engine swaps "challenging" for sure. I could only find one type of 460 manifold that would clear the box.
I swapped the distributor on my 317 and installed a Pertronix ignition at the same time. If you go this route check which type of oil pump drive you have, I had to change from the slot and tang to a hex drive pump. Before swapping, I was just running at a fixed timing with no advance, it was a big improvement. I did try an Edelbrock 600cfm but could never get it to run right and went down to a 350cfm carb, you might have better luck with more displacement.
The Jalopy Journal
