Technical 1960 Ranchero inline 6 questions

Hey all. Newly registered, but been browsing for tech answers for years.

Anyway, I have a 60 Ranchero. I installed a 200 with a C4 and stock rear end. The motor was supposed to be a "good" motor, but turned out to be worn out. It has oil foulers on all the plugs, and when I get it up to speed and try to give it gas it starts fouling plugs and backfiring bad.

That's the 2nd used 200 I tried with no luck. So, in search of another, I came across a nice, clean, newly rebuilt, 250, still running, in a 61 or 62 falcon coupe. Don't remember if 61 or 62. But it fired right up and ran good and was real clean, and he had paperwork on the rebuild.

I paid and he pulled it out, and I got the engine, radiator etc. He kept his trans. I figured I could still use my C4 so I had it rebuilt.

I was reading up on here on another thread about this topic and looks like the 250 is taller, wider, and requires a different bell housing.

So my question is, will this C4 work with the 250 with the correct bell housing? If so, what housing?

And any other tips or suggestions for install. I read that the mech. fan won't fit and electric fan is needed. I saw a guy say something about the steering might need to be changed? And is the exhaust manifold/header on the 250, the same as the 200? I have split header that came with the engine, but Because of clearance issues I only have room for a single pipe. I might be able to squeeze one more on top of the other pipe, double barrel shotgun style, but was planning to just run the single if I can.

 

Rule one when working on Fords, Don't expect anything to fit or work between engine series. Plus that is sometimes between years on the same series.

 

@gimpyshotrods will know

 

Rule number two seems to be pull it out and put a SBC in it.
I am not one for rules, other than rule 34. Hard to argue with that one.

 

I put sbc's in everything unless I put a bbc in it

 

The 250 absolutely will not fit in the engine compartment.

It is taller, so you would not be able to run a hood.

If you mounted it low enough to clear the hood, you would hit the oil pan driving into parking lots.

To make matters worse, you would not be able to run a radiator, at all.

The water pump on a 250 is enormous compared to a 144/170/200. There is no room to move the radiator forward.

If you try to move the engine backwards, you would need to enlarge the tunnel so much that you would lose the place for the gas pedal.

 

I know it will not.

 

They must be heavy engines, it broke the suspension.

 

If it was actually in the Falcon, it must not have been a 250. Possibly a 200.
Going from a 144 or 170 and Fordomatic to a 200 / C4 is a huge improvement.

 

Sounds like a few pictures may be good to clear things up.

 

Four bolts holding the water pump on: 250.

Three bolts holding the water pump on: 144/170/200.

If there are 5 core plugs on the block side under the exhaust manifold, and a three-bolt water pump it is a 200

 

Dang. I thought it would be good to go because the guy I got it from had it in his falcon. I saw it in the car and running before he pulled it out. It had an aluminum radiator which I have, and the hood was on it.

 

I was actually wondering this myself. Until getting this engine I never knew 250s existed. It looks similar to the 200 I pulled out. Is there a way to identify it by the numbers?

 

Right on. Thanks. I'll check.

 

250 6 in a late 60's/early 70's Falcon (Australian one, don't know if U.S. version is different.) These had a Borg Warner trans.

 

That Australian 250 looks cursorily like the ones here (Canadian basically the same as US ones) other than the starter with attached solenoid.
Could you get some casting number pictures of it?

 

Not possible sorry, I took those pics from a for sale ad. The engines were made here. They evolved into the DOHC Barra engine. They went from like in the pictures to a crossflow head, then SOHC then DOHC. Only stopped making them a few years ago.

 

250 is the same length as a 170/200 just taller. I've read that Maverick engine mounts will mount it lower. The 240/300 is the longer one.
250 uses the same bellhousing pattern as the small V8 and big six, so you need a bell with that pattern. There are 2 different bells for the C4 in that pattern, you'll probably need the one for a 157 tooth flexplate to bolt up to a 6 cyl transmission and fit the floor pan. This bell attaches with the 7 front pump bolts so double check that. The bigger 164 tooth bell uses 5 separate bolts.

Small bellhousing

Big bellhousing

 

The 250 has a longer water pump and does not interchange with the 200 .

There are also oilpan issues with steering interference which requires spacers under the mounts. Already adding to the height issues [the 250 is 1.66" taller]
The oilpans do not interchange because the 250 block is wider to swing the 3.91" crank.

So you have 2 x smoky 200's and 1 x 250 that won't fit.
Keep driving your ranchero with a smoky 200 WHILE you rebuild the other one
Sell the 250 to recover some rebuilt costs [or don't buy it if it is not too late]

These engines are old and chances of finding a good one is getting scarce. You can "catch and release" forever and get nowhere
One Caveat : don't bother with a 63-64 200 these only have 4 main bearings [in 65 Ford went to 7 main bearings]

You can get a Re-Ring kit here for $186 [if you are ruthless]
https://www.northernautoparts.com/part/ek-er0373

or a rebuilt kit for $596
https://www.northernautoparts.com/part/ek-ek0374

This ^^^^ would require a machine shop to "Hot-tank" re-bore , install cam bearings [and maybe crank grind if it doesn't measure up]
Add to that cutting the valves and seats, and a head skim.

These engines fit into the "Brain Dead Simple" category like a SBC

 

The blocks are the same length, but that is NOT the whole story.

The water pump on a 250 adds over an inch to the overall assembled length, depending on how many belt grooves on the pulleys.

For this reason, it will not fit in an early Falcon.

With a 3-row radiator, and a 144/170/200 there is less than a finger width between the fan/pulley heads and the radiator, and about 3/8" from the radiator to the center bar that holds the grille, and the hood latch hook.

This ain't my first rodeo.

 

this sounds like some wisdom, right here.....

 

You cannot get an extra inch+ in here:



It's just not going to happen.

 

And empirical evidence shown above.

 

i still have my 250 powered 61 falcon sitting out in the shop that i did almost 20 years ago. in my case i ran a t5 transmission, which has a relatively small case, i did remake the trans tunnel, there is plenty of room for your feet. seeing OPs car, clearly sheetmetal was cut for driveshaft clearance etc to lay body so i don't think they're too concerned about a few mods. i modified the core support to push the radiator forward, and am running an engine driven fan. i raised the sump on the oil pan. i remember i first set it up with a truck bellhousing with a big clutch, then swapped to a different bell and smaller clutch for ground clearance. as i recall, i used the stock motor mounts.

i know i'm not the first to do it, i scoured the falcon sites for tips when i built it.

i think on AP Kustom's build it would look great with 3 chrome air filters poking thru the hood.

the correct answer to "can it be done" is "how much do you want to cut?"

now as far as the motor itself goes, 250s are low compression motors that just don't make much power, and it's hard and expensive to get more out of them. the stock log intake/head is junk. but hey, lack of power hasn't deterred all of the flathead ford guys! bolt on some cool vintage speed equipment and call it good.

 

As long as some HAMBers are tossing out rules here's one I will not ever break:

Never install a used engine without taking it apart to inspect it. That applies to "recently rebuilt" (yeah...right) ones.

 

Sometime in the 80's ford used a composite fan on some of their engines that was completely "flat" in the front, sat back over the pulley. I used one on my chevelle with a tilt front end that needed radiator clearance. the fan sat back so far that i had to trim the inside of the blades to clear the front of the power steering pump.

 

Do you mean the ones that used to break and go through the hoods of Zephyrs and Faimonts?

 

One from a Granada/Monarch will work. Casting # D6DP. 157T