I have a 1953 ford custom line coupe, with the 215 I6 fresh rebuild, runs great. Is there anything I can do to get a little more pep out of it and also is there anything I can do to dress up this 6
When you only have 101 HP any gain is a big gain percentage wise. I think I would have found out how much I could safely mill the head to bump the compression a notch or two along with dual exhaust and making sure that the carb and ignition are in top form.
Yes, a manifold, anyway. Fenton, too: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fenton-Dual-Carb-Intake-Manifold-for-Ford-215-223ci-6-Cyl-/301571432268
This was the first Ford OHV engine. At the time, some thought it had more hop up potential than the flathead V8. It is a tough, high revving short stroke engine (compared to the flatty) and it will respond to the usual hop up procedures. Twin carbs, shaved head, split exhaust or larger exhaust, shaved flywheel, reground cam etc. The usual dress up items apply, like chrome air breathers, chrome valve cover, does anyone make a cast aluminum valve cover? Beehive filter etc.
the funny thing is if you think about it the chevy 235 at the time produced basically just as much power as the last of the ford flathead v8 did
SOMEBODY on the Inliners International forums has to know somthing 'bout this engine, and what parts might be still available... I'd post your question over there! I've never herd of a 215 Ford six, so that begs me to do some research - I love ALL sixes!!! Good Luck, and let us know what you can find out here! -Tim
I'm going through the woes of working on one now in a '53 F100. Be very careful with the cam. Mine had two totally flat lobes (< .250 lift) and my cam guy said it was too far gone to be ground again. The 223 cam won't work since the distributor is moved. I spent two weeks calling around the country trying to find another one. Finally found a guy at Oregon Cam Grinding who had two. He now only has one. The previous owner built the engine up. The head has been milled and the block was zero- decked along with a reground cam. However he used a tiny single carb and single exhaust so the performance gain was negligible.
Be careful if you choose to go with a carburetor change or two carburetors. The stock distributor is vacuum advance only. It works nicely with the stock carburetor (yes, it does, I am willing to argue the point). It does not work well with any other setup, including two carburetors. You would need to modify a later Ford distributor from a 300 six, or something. Also, see if you can find a set of hi-lift rockers.
More compression, more intake and more exhaust. But, more than anything loose the Load-O-Matic distributor. I'm not near the information now, but the swap to a 300 L6 Ford distributor is the way to go. You can find details at Ford Six dot Com. -Dave
Hi. look at Cliffords website. They have lots of upgrades for the inline chevies, Ford, mopar, etc. If you do not see your engine listed they have a phone # on the page & call Larry and ask if their Ford stuff will fit your engine. I have their dual intake with two 2 Barrell Webber carbs, their shorty headers & the Clifford 264 grind cam in my 235 Chevy in my 46 coupe and it is very nice & a great improvement in performance. As their intake manifolds sit taller due to them being water heated for the heat rizers some exhaust manifolds will not clear them. Now they have priced their intake kit with carbs to include the shorty tube headers. LOOK HERE - http://www.cliffordperformance.net/ Also look at the Inliners website. An international club with many local chapters dedicated to all inline engines. They put out a magazine every other month that is well worth the cost of membership. They are really into the engines, drag & land speed racing & club events. LOOK HERE - http://www.inliners.org/ I got a HEI distributor & coil from Langdons. Not sure if he has them for the Fords as he is mostly Chevy. Jimmie
215 first year I6, then the 223. One year only. Fenton duel exhaust manifolds are cool but hard to find. For dressup, Offy had a finned valve cover that is nice. finned side plate is cool too. Just sold a set of these barkers. Still have the offy intake and duels headers for a truck (not sure it'd work with a car.
They are a pretty decent motor, got the 223 version in my F-3, came with a 215 but it burned oil like crazy and had no power so a '59 223 got swapped in. Set of headers and a dual carb intake woke things up. I T-d the vacuum advance line to try and get a full signal to the load o matic and that seemed to work well. The 300 dizzy didn't seem to make much difference, but I have't done much fiddling with it. If you get headers be sure to run duals all the way back, the rasping of a hot six is music to the ears.
LOL I had a '53 Effy that got an engine from an AMC Gremlin because I had it and the old 6 was too big a pain in the ass and that was probably 35 years ago. I got a lot of respect for anyone who decided to "hop" up an old 6 and actually sticks with it. Even when these old engines were new(ish) it was just easier to throw a V-8 in there. I think that probably the easiest and biggest bang for your buck is milling the head, .010 used to be pretty popular. I had an old machinist tell me when I was a kid that anytime you went much past that you started to run into other issues. If there is no intake readily available an inline 6 intake is probably one of the easier ones to fabricate, a log works fine on one unless you are really into high tech and balancing carbs. For me personally I would lean toward a single carb for each runner, but that is just me. Exhaust is pretty easy too. If you get lucky Fenton used to make a split for that engine, and if not you can always build a split pretty easy or fab up a set of headers. If the cam shaft is in good shape a regrind is always an option if you want to go that deep. I would not just go to any cam grinder I would lo0k around and see who some of the other fellas use. The guys in the pacific NW seem to have some pretty good cam grinders that they recommend and I would probably look to them for that advise. I don't have any idea about dress up goodies, just look around and see what you can find but they don't make 'em run any better.
The Jalopy Journal
