What's your opinion...'52 Ford motor options

I'm not a Ford person, but I do believe in keeping the same brand.
What would someone have used back in the day? The next bigger factory motor, not a Y (why go through all that work to have the same as a new car?).
That means Lincoln 368, FE, or MEL. The FE is (my guess) the easiest to get parts for with the most speed equipment, Lincoln is the most "period" with little available, MEL is the biggest (appearance).
If you want to keep your axle, find which of these can accept an AOD.

 

Puzzle everyone - build a stout aluminum Buick 215. With the distrib in the front and it being all aluminum you'll have a big time listening to people saying what it is and isn't...

 

I did one of these swaps once and it's kind of a pain with the crossmember on one end and the center link on the other. If I had to do it a second time I would try to find something with a center sump pan like a 318,440 etc.

 

UHHH joke son.... hence the the winky winky

 

347 stroker would fit the bill,

 

The best engine in 52 was the inline 215. 223s came out in 53. Tricked out these can be very peppy engines.
The 54s came with Y blocks so look there for mounts.

 

This post was an oldie and moldy 5 years old,wonder what the OP ever decided? Just in case you would entertain doing a Y-block in a 1949-53 Ford car buy this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-Craft-M...151391938240?pt=Magazines&hash=item233fa9a6c0 It shows you step by step in pictures how it's done. A copy of the article was posted in the H.A.M.B. but the old link is history since the site upgrade was done and I struck out using the "search" tool.

 

One thing about a Y block with the external oil pump makes it easer the build a pan and but the sump where you want it.

 

My 302 is .030 over, balanced, with a Comp Cams cam, HEI, headers, and a Holley street Avenger. What makes it rock is the World Products Windsor Jr. heads, and the roller tipped rockers. I'm a SBC guy normally, but I'm sure NOT dissatisfied with the performance of this combo.

 

If you want an easy-peasy swap, go with a SBF and be done with it. Boring in all respects.

But if you do use a SBF be aware that the general consensus will be that, instead of doing the right thing and putting in an easy AND TRADITIONAL motor like the SBC, you took the cowards path, gave in to the Ford-in-Ford fanatics and took the easy, non-traditional way out.

My $.02.

 

Find a late 50's merc with a 430 Mel.
The 4 bbl 430 was rated at like 375 hp
The super marauder 3x2 was 400 hp, 515 flt lbs!

You'd be "different."

lol.

 

Find a running flathead n use it

 

Jeff,as I looked through his profile it seems the OP had turned his attention to a '67 Chevy. HRP

 

Hey new guys like Jetpro, Look all you want at 5 year old threads, but please do not post on them. Sheese!

 

Good lord, this is a June 09 topic?

Wow, someone dug deep to find this one.

 

Well I am a big fan of Fordillacs but an olds mill would do in pinch I suppose.

I do like Y blocks real well. They have as stout a lower end and anything out there. The problem these days is finding one that is not wore slap out. If you have nothing against rebuilding one then any of my suggestions should work.

As for putting a Y block in a '52 easy squeezy, just find mounts from a '54. The frames should be very similar.

Oh and I am a hot rodder not a purest I just went with Y block because I like them and it was mentioned originally as an option.

 

This is a joke, right????

 

Did I stutter...?

Whether the OP is still building his '52 Ford is irrelevant. Even if he's not, hundreds of other HAMBers are and could benefit from solid, EXPERIENCE-BASED advice and not the opinions and brand-loyalty propaganda this thread seems to have generated.

I just finished putting a Corvette-sourced SBC in a '52 Victoria and other than a pan/pump/pickup swap it fits like it was original equipment. Back in the day it was necessary to modify the steering but this is no longer the case.

Side mount motor mounts are aftermarket and I simply re-drilled the stock transmission crossmember. That's it.

I used the ultra-common rams horn exhaust manifolds and could have easily connected the stock column shift to the tranny if I'd used an automatic. I chose to use a 4-speed and with a juice clutch, but a mechanical linkage could have been fabricated just as easily. All the other small stuff is totally straightforward.

The SBC into '52 Ford is about as easy as engine swaps get, regardless of what the brand-loyal extremists will tell you...and it won't look and drive like your grandmother's car when you're done.

 

The easy, boring, unimaginative, "everybody does it" is the SBC. A bellybutton engine that's in probably 90% of rods out there, regardless of body make. Yes, lets incourage the guy to be a sheep & go for the SBC, not. Unless someone new to rods shows up @ a show you'll never hear "OH, Wow! A Small block Chevy!". A Ford in a Ford isn't all that common, another non Chevy GM or Mopar could be used. ABC, Anything But Chevy.

 

I guess we're just on opposet sides of this one, George.

 

George,
Funny statement, in 1955 a 16 year old drove his '34 Ford to B'Ville with a 265 under the hood, I don't doubt that even the died in the wool flathead racers said, "OH WOW a small block Chevy." The small block in anything is as traditional as it comes.

That said even I being an SBC person didn't encourage the OP to build it that way. if I would have thought that an SBC was his best option I would have been tempted to encourage the SBF that he had all the pieces to do the swap with in the trunk of the car.

 

Yeah, it was a big deal in '55...but we're in the here & now & they've been done to the point of enough already! There will always be a big number of people who think the world revolves around the SBC, but I'm just sick of seeing them. And "easy" is almost always sited for going SBC (along with "cheap"), usually "easy" isn't associated with installing non SBCs.

 

Well maybe you are better suited for a modern Street Rodder site, we are talking traditional on a traditional hot rod site and in the '50s which is right in the middle of traditional it was cool to the bone.

if we are talking here and now a twin turbo LS is the engine of choice.

 

I have a 302 FORD in my '54 Ford Wagon,I wanted a Ford engine in that car.

I also have sbc's in both my Deuces,why? the sbc fit's like a glove and the dimensions are basically the same as a Flathead.

The beauty of building hot rods is there are no rules! HRP