There's been some discussion at work as to the displacement of a certain inline-6 that resides under the hood of a 1953 Ford f-500 truck. Personally, I don't know, I've had only one fifties ford truck with a six, and it was a 223...is this the same engine that went in the bigger trucks? Mark
If it's the original engine, it may look pretty much like a 223, but it's a 215. '52-'53 OHV sixes were 215 cubic inches, while Ford increased the bore by 1/16 of an inch for '54.
If its a flathead six and looks very large it could be 256?,I only seen one of these motors and it was in a large 53 to 55 ford truck. Jeff
it's not a flathead, it's an ohv, looked exactly like the 223 I used to have...just not as...crusty? I guess it may very well be a 215, seems to pull the truck around pretty good though, time will tell if it works as good when the rollback goes on
By now it could be a mix of pieces, but if it's stock a 215 dumps the exhaust straight down under the carb. The 223 exhaust outlet angles back and down. May not id the engine, but you can id the exhaust manifold. 215 also has the valve cover held in place by two studs/nuts in the middle of the cover. 223 has the more conventional bolt pattern around the rim of the cover. This isn't an exact science. Only certain way to tell is to pull the head and measure the bore. I have a 223 block with a 215 valve cover. Things get swapped...
That's not quite true. Early 223 valve covers are fastened by two nuts (same as a 215), while 1960-and-up 223's have 8 bolts around the outside of the valve cover. So what you have could be correct, mtflat, depending on what year your 223 is. Check for numbers. The casting number on a 215 block starts with EAA. 223's have the EBP prefix.
I learn something new every day......thanks for the tip Big M. I have a stock 223 in a 62 Uni that has the normal 8 bolt cover. Recently I was given an early 223 that's just a pile of parts. It has the 2 nut cover with the angled exhaust outlet. I'll check for casting numbers on it tomorrow. Tim
No problemo. I just happen to have a 62 uni myself. Mine has a replacement 223 from an earlier year, with the two-nut valve cover (not correct, but better looking, imo). The early heads also have smaller head bolts, but they can be mounted on a later block by drilling out the holes to the larger size. Another difference between the 215 and 223, other than the difference in bore, is that the 215 had smaller intake valves (the same size as the 239 y-block, I believe). But I suspect that the F-500 may have been originally equipped with one of the larger flathead sixes in '53, and the 215 was only found in the light trucks. Is the VIN tag intact, hillbilly?
I'll look tomorrow, thanks for all the info I'm looking forward to having this parked in the driveway
Can anyone post some pics of this engine? I can't seem to find any decent shots of it. I did find that Offenhauser makes several intakes and a valve cover for this engine. Do they look nice dressed up?
They're pretty enough, sure. They visually look "shorter & wider" than the later 144/170/200/250 & 240/300 engines (to me, anyway- but I've never measured them to verify it. ). The early two-bolt covers look neat.
Check the placement of your oil filter. Right right side, center area of the block = 215 Right side, front area of the block = 223/262
yes, the VIN plate...or serial number plate in the glove compartment is still intact, it said something about a whopping 91 hp, and 154 inch wheelbase, I made another post in hopes someone would know of a site where I could decode the actual serial number to find out which plant built it, etc...no takers though it's a 215, no doubt. The possibility of a cummins turbo diesel and trans from a donor 93 Dodge makes me smile a bit, I cant stand the thought of wrapping that 215 up enough to hit 55 mph...
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