Im thinking of picking up this eng/trans from a guy who does LS swaps....i have pictures(not close to me).he says it runs good,came from a older resto 1954 mercury that drove into shop..been sitting bout a year..is that a fuel injected carburetor?i dont remeber fuel injection on these motors...ur opinions please..on whats it worth...
Will he let you pull the head to check to see if that really is a 312? It appears to have a crossover pipe in the front. That would mean a single exhaust. I would question it being a 312.
it's a teapot carb, the float bowl is on top...some weird Holley thing that Ford used in the 50s. My guess is someone just decided to call it a 312, it's really a smaller engine. Should be worth a couple hundred bucks, if you really want it.
Merc’s had a 256 which is probably what it is with the original Merc-0-Matic. The vacuum can on the dist look like a loadmatic too. Unless you had a specific use and the room it’s not worth much at least in the Y-Block world.
The carburetor itself may be easily identified (at least if you have a set of "young eyes". Look at the edge of the carburetor mounting flange on either the front or back. Clean the edge until you see some text. If 1954 Mercury, it MIGHT read: EBY-9510-H List R-804A. In any event the information to the left of the word "List" is the FoMoCo identification number; and the number to the right of the word "List" is the Holley identification number. Once you have this information, there are identification charts. Jon.
The 312 looks just like any other Y block, from what little I learned about them was that to tell what they are you need to check crank and mains, there were not any cast numbers that would identify the block from any other, and as Jim said that most likely is the teapot carb and the dist that goes with it.
As others said, it looks like a 54 Merc to me. Stock Holley teapot carb, 54 colors, single exhaust, 256 cubes. Pull head and pan to examine crank and bore to be sure if you are really interested.
The teapot carbs had a reputation for catching on fire. Don't know how much truth there is in that though. The 312 has a specific part number for the main caps. Don't remember it off hand, but that information is easy to come by. If the rear of the crankshaft were visible there might be a raised don't on the flange, but not all 312 cranks had the dot. So yes, every Y-Block is a 312 until proven otherwise. If it runs for $100 it's probably worth it. Just remember the LOM is a matched distributor and carb. If updating the carb then a 1957 up distributor will be needed. -Dave
The first carburetor I rebuilt as a 14 year old in 1960 was a Holley haystack a.k.a. teapot. Got over 100k trouble-free miles after the carb rebuild on the engine; other than the carburetor was fickle (as seemingly all Holleys). The carburetor fell in love with every gas station we met, and just had to stop and visit. In the "for what its worth category", the military specified the haystack on many of the military trucks because of its reliability. So are the guys with fires dumber than a 14 year old with zero experience? Or maybe the fire hazard is an "old husbands tale" (it can't be an old wives tale, old wives are smarter than that)! Jon.
Bottom of the page is the "information center", almost every casting number you need. You can ID a 312 by the casting number on the main caps (it's pretty unlikely that has a 312 crank turned to 292 mains). http://www.ford-y-block.com/ the 239/256 engines had major differences from the 272/292/312. Front cover, smaller water pump, different cam bearings, gear for distributor drive, tang instead of hex drive to the oil pump, and more. They can be difficult to get specific parts for although there are some work around. If it's a runner for $100.00 it's fine. But if it needs major work a more usable 272/292 core around here is a better starting point at $200.00. that load o matic distributor will only work with that carb.
When you go looking to buy they are, at least most of what I looked at when I needed a block. They made a lot more 272's and 292's than they did 312's.
Like said, $100 go for it! With a teapot... it’s not a 312! But it is a Y- block, that’s worth the $100! Bones
Teapot = 1956 312 stock and they had a dual canister vacuum advance A1956 4 barrel thing. The motor did not come from ford like that.as a 312 .https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Ford-1...947309&hash=item48bb1374f0:g:ZRAAAOSwkQhcEobk
Teapot, Haystack you guys are kind. My friend called them Toilet Flushers, you know when you take the cover off the toilet bowl thats what you see inside..
I have had very good luck with a teapot carb. They worked really well in the cold Michigan winters . always started right up . Liked gas ,but at 25 cents a gallon who cared.
The 256 was also used in some Ford trucks the 1954 Ford Police Interceptor also used the Mercury 256 with a weird factory dual exhaust set up this manual has a section on the Interceptor https://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-ORIGI...689922?hash=item1f0b9af182:g:TWEAAOSwUBZc0yIq
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