Something funny happened today. I Was in the garage when a guy stopped by with a 352 with an auto Box out of his 57 Merc.... He was about to throw it away! So when I told him that I could use it in my '54 customline he let me have it ;-) Now to my questions... The engine was loosing some water, he thought it went out in the exhaust on the right side, probably on the 2 rear cylinders. Is this a common problem? Could it be a crack in the head or just a gasket? Next question: My car had a straight 6 and a manual box... Will the swap be straight forward or isn't it possible at all? I''ll be grateful for any answers, I know a lot of you have tons of knowledge on this cars...
a 352 wouldn't be my choice to buy, but since it was free, I can see it installing itself late at night when you aren't looking. I would go through it to freshen things and run it on a stand before installing it.
Not to take away from your original question but to ask one. Being a 352 in a '57 Merc?? 352s were intro'd in - I think - '59 so the engine wasn't original to that Mercury.
I thought Mercs and Edsels had different sized engines than fords (MEL's)? They all look like FE motors to me.
Looks like you may have a point... looking at the engine in daylight makes me think its a MEL, possibly a 368. Well then, is it possible to put that in a 54?
stray, 368 is the Lincoln Y-Block series, not the same as Ford Y block. MEL is different. Anything will fit in anything with a big enough hammer.
Shoehorn it in if ya dig it but I wouldn't get your hopes up too much about performance.they sound great in my opinion.
From my experience all the FE 352s are stamped '352' on the top right corner but they could in fact be a 332, 352, 360, 390 or otherwise. I currently have a 352 stamped block but it is in fact a 390 ci motor. Since you have the motor out of the car, you could yank the oil pan and check the crankshaft for an identification stamp and compare it to the ones at this link. - http://www.fordification.com/tech/castingnumbers-FEcrank.htm- Also, if you end up pulling the heads to fix the leak, you can measure the cylinder and determine the overall cubic inches using this formula -(Bore X Bore X 0.785 X Stroke X Number of Cylinders = CID) Bore = cylinder width, Stroke = Distance from cylinder lowest point to highest point http://www.erareplicas.com/427man/engine/partnums.htm
Take a look at the heads and check the valve covers. If the valve covers cover a good portion of the intake, it's an FE. Like crayhill says, it could be anything from a 332 to a 428 if it's an FE.
I'm pretty convinced now, this must be a Lincoln Y-block 368! It's the right engine for the Mercury it came out of, and the block has long skirts below the crank...
Hard to tell from that pic, but I have never seen that bulky style of water pump on an FE 352. I would guess this is a Y-block but I have no experience with them so someone else can make that call.
The FE got the distributor in front. This one's got it in the rear end of the intake, so it's not an FE.
That's a Ford Y-block. Get a part number off the block and/or intake and we can tell you what it most likely is.
They also came with 239 Y block V8s. The correct V8 mounts should do it. Updating those cars to a 292 or 312 was a real common swap.
Thanks for good help. Tried to find casting numbers on the block today, but I couldn't find any. Do I need to change the prop shaft and gearbox mounts as I go from manual to automatic?
Yblock casting #s are usually on the left/driver's side of the crankcase, kinda under the exhaust manifold, or they can be near the distributor mounting hole on some. Here's a link showing the location: http://www.ford-y-block.com/Block%20identification.htm
The drive shaft is the same,what you may not like is the rear end ratio that your six has (3:90)with a V8 and automatic it will be turning some revs when you are highway cruising.
I don't know what gears I have, since my rear axle broke the first summer, and I got an axle out a 55, but I don't know if it was a 6 or v8 car...
If it still has the 57 heads, they are the best ever cast for that engine. Take good care of them. In the past three years, aluminum have been available.
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