I have an old merc 256ci Y block that is in great shape and I need to know if I can put the later heads on this block. I have a couple of miss-matched ecz-c and ecz-g heads and need to know which to look for. This weekend is our big swap meet at Portland. I have an Edelbrock 3 duece manifold(#553) and a box of 94's to work with and will try to find air cleaners and linkage this weekend. I got a later 57? distributor (fek) and think I'm going to use the later factory dual exhaust manifolds. Do they make an early finned valley pan with the fill/breather tube hole? This motor was already set up for a manual trans and I have acquired the stuff to convert to a T5 trans. This is going in a 30 model A highboy roadster with an odd frame(possibly chevrolet?) to make it three spring suspension. I have an early 30's mopar front tube axle(double drop)I want to set up for Ford ends and use F100 brakes. I think I found an early 9 inch for the rear. Thanks for the help, Jeff
The best heads would be the ECZG head if you can find one. There out there and all you got to do is look real hard. As to the fined valley pan I don't know but we used a piece of cut aluminum and drilled the 2 bolt holes and installed a stand pipe for filling the oil. There real easy to make but requires heliarc but you can leave that alone and modify the valve cover for oil . I suggest you purchase a MSD distributor since there superior to the old Y block unit.--Remember if you do the head install be sure to get the under the valve cover bolts in the right place. Other wise you will blow new head gaskets real fast. The front and rear bolt is 3 threads longer and will bottom out any place but the front and last holes.
The "G: head is a over kill on that tiny Y block . I would just get a mate to the other one or get a new pair . The valley pan has no oil spout . Just make one in the valve cover or use an oil breather and pour through the top when you need oil . You will have to check but there are some of Y block parts that won't work on that 256 . That's the baby of the Y block and they don't have that much power . Just a little more than a stock flathead . I have Yblock and really like them but never used the 256 . If you are going to be putting all the money into that mote you will be much happier with a 292 . Big difference between the 2 of them . If you have all you money in the 256 then you will keep what you have . You can look on --ford-y-blocks.com and get all the information there . That is John Mummerts business and he has all the goodies for a Y block ! They are really good engines and have more power than they are given credit for ! Have a special sound too , like the flatty does .
If it were mine, I'd look either for another C head, or even perhaps a pair of the later C1AE small-valve heads, before I were to use the ECZ-G heads, for a couple of reasons. One, contrary to popular belief, the G head, in stock form, doesn't significantly outflow the C head. Modified, it can be a different story. But, the G heads do have different intake port volumes which can be fairly lazy on the smaller Y blocks. Second, the primary benefit of using the G heads (in stock form) is to get the smaller chamber, approx. 69 cc, to build compression. That's fine, except the going rate for the G heads, and then to properly rebuild them, can be fairly expensive. The C heads are much cheaper, often nearly free, have about 75 cc chambers, and even can often be found already rebuilt for good prices. Better yet, the C0AE heads have 72 cc chambers and were designed to be used for baseline "grocery getter"-type transportation on a 292. Use them on the little Y blocks and they work very effectively for the street. Probably a mild 292 is as large as I would go with them, but for a smaller Y they do nicely. That's not to say that the G heads can't be made to work on small Y blocks, and for certain purposes they might work better than anything else...but you generally have to pay more to get them. My $.02. The only currently available finned valley pan is the Vintage Speed unit, without any filler/breather holes. You must remove one head to install it. Mummert is working on a version that has holes & fits in place without head removal, but I don't think it's quite ready yet. If you want, any '57-'64 Y block distributor can be converted to electronic, using commonly available kits from Crane, Pertronix, Accel, etc. for '57-'74 FoMoCo single-point distributors.
I have the Vintage speed valley cover on mine. Ted Eaton modified it for me for easy removal, oil filler tube and a rear pcv outlet. Pretty easy to wrap up almost 200 bucks in one time you're done, unless you have access to all the machinery. They look good though. Homespun, gives good advice here. I like it when he's on the soapbox. And I think I have to agree with retroJim about using a 292, much more available parts base.
Hey, don't get the wrong idea! I appreciate all your knowledge sharing. Always interested to here more info about the yblock engine.
Also another thing to watch out for: Not sure if this pretains to the 256's from that year or just the 239, but the '54 239 I rebuilt recently had a crossdrilled cam with a different tooth count on the distributor gear from 55 and later models. Also had a blade shaft driven oil pump. Limits your cam choices to regrinds of the stock stick and makes distributor swaps a bit trickier... Good luck, it sounds like you've got a real cool project there!
Nope, none taken, I was dissing myself...I'm getting long-winded lately. I have been told that there are Dearborn-type 256 engines just like the oddball Dearborn 239s (as opposed to the Cleveland design which is the "common" Y block), but I haven't confirmed it for myself. Chris Nielson did have some big-journal blanks a couple of years ago for new profiles.
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