Projects Y block in 41 Ford coupe

How difficult would it be to swap the flathead to a Y block in my otherwise stock 41 Ford coupe?
Would the trans bolt up?
Would the wishbone hit my oil pan?
What other big things do I need to plan for?

 

Y block to early Ford adapter and maybe a truck or T bird oil pan and fabricate some mounts.

 

Cars had front sump pans and maybe more readily available. It could hit the tie rod. If you get a truck/bird pan, get the oil pickup tube and internal screen assembly.
The bird has a thicker water pump housing. Y’s are a pretty long engine.

 

I've worked on 'Y' blocks for years, always 'mused': Too bad there isn't a bellhousing that bolted to a '32-'48 trans!
Actually, too good. '37-'48 Ford trannys are not strong...
I've bolted LaSalles with a 1" thick plate adaptor to Y block bell housings, also '37 Packard, Buick Roadmaster; all with the tailshaft conversion if going back to a Ford torque tube.
BUT: Any and all of these trannys when converted are 1"-2" longer, so that gets in the planning. (Yblocks are long in front!)
Few years back, I was made aware of the Mustang top loader 3 speed. Bolt a Jeep tower on top and you've got a reliable 3 speed floorshift, a REAL one, no linkage and no stick off center rubbing your leg...Convert to open drive, Mustang rear end.
Good Genuine Ford stuff...Jeep stuff is Borg-Warner in this case...

 

I don’t know how similar a 37 is to a 41, but here’s an 8 year build thread on a 37 that’s nearly done. Warning, it’s not a HAMB friendly front end, but there’s enough pictures you might glean some useful information. Especially the firewall. The pictures of the Yblock with the blower towards the end are worth the look by themselves.

The easiest transmission behind a mild y block is a T86, with the o/d if it fits the chassis. If it’s a 312 or a full on engine, the T86 is marginal. Then you’re looking for a T-85 or a beefy T-5 variant. Depends on how hard you’re going to drive it.

But I’ve used more modern Ford transmissions on the stock bellhousing. Turn down the bearing retainer to fit the bell, and drill and tap 2 of the mounting holes. If the transmission Mike mentions above works with that it would be a sweet deal.

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic81637-1.aspx

 

Ansen made an adaptor for Y Block to 37 - 48 Ford transmissions.

 

Sounds like a great idea to me.

 

As a teen I swapped a 303 Olds in a 40 Ford and got good at replaceing transmissions . Kind of like using a Muncie behind a good running 327 or 350 you have the extra hp but things come apart if you use it.

 

I used to date a lady with a '40 convertible that had a Y-block. The conversion was done fixed price by a local shop. It finally went in there but they lost their shirt on the deal. Measure carefully the Y-block is a heavy and wide engine.

Charlie Stephens

 

Some great ideas guys. I would love a proper floor shift trans, wouldn’t mind if it had another gear or two also… at this point in my brainstorming there is no reason to keep the torque tube and original rear end. Now to the front, I should probably just split the wishbone… it’s a full fender car, why not a Mustang II kit… aaaaaaand crap, my cool prewar Ford just turned into another Mail order hot rod.
I’m not an ‘all original’ kind of guy but I do like old school rods and I don’t want to go down the rabbit hole.

but I also have a 312 out of a 58 Mercury sitting in the barn so the brainstorming begins all over again.

 

It’s too complete to cut up.

 

Shxt man. The 312 with a McCulloch in front, and a ‘shine tank in the back.

Split wishbones, a truck pan, etc. I did that in my 32 (no shine tank) with a 56 Merc 312. So it should fit in a 41.

 

Does anyone think I could make it work without splitting the bones?

 

I would think you do not need to split the bones to get it in.

 

Time to start measuring if you’ve got a 312 in the garage. From Mummert’s site, block casting numbers

“EDB-E 292 cu. in V8 1958-59 cars and trucks to April 59. 312 in Mercury”

More info at the bottom of the page under “information center”
http://www.ford-y-block.com/

The car oil pan is typically a front sump. The truck and bird are a rear sump. The bird pan is very shallow in front, the truck pan is deeper in front and shallower in the back. (Ignoring the higher capacity heavy truck pans).

You’ll have to figure out the motor mounts as you go. Cars used side mounts, which restricts the exhaust options in most swaps. Trucks had a front mount with the rear mount being ears on the bellhousing. And a funky front crossover exhaust, or some good flowing rams horns. Birds used the front mount, a typical transmission mount, and steady rest rods on each side. My 32 has a custom front motor mount plate and flathead style donuts on the frame. It reduced the height of the truck or bird mount to allow the motor to sit lower.

Great looking car. Good luck.

bird pan

 

So the Jeep tower bolts on in place of the top plate, and shifts that way, not through the side? I happen to have a 65-66 Mustang 3spd in the shed with no use for it. I also have a set of Y-block true-dual exhaust manifolds that I had scrounged for my 52 F1 that had a Y-block installed- and looked like it came that way

 

yes sir, I just did this for my 39 and it make a grate little set up. You have to completely disassemble the trans, remove all the original shifting components, and plug the shift shaft hole out the side of the case. Here is a shot of my 39 with a 63 Fairlane version of the 3.03 ford three speed, converted with a Jeep T150 shifter top. works perfectly and the shifter is surprisingly positive feeling and has a short throw. plus it all fits under the stock floor, and only needed slight triming around the stock shifter hole to fit.

 

Sweet! Yep, look like the trans I have- maybe someone can get some use out of it

 

I have a 40 pickup and a y-block to 3 speed adapter. Tried installing with the tranny in the original position and the adapter was about 2 inches short of the tranny. Definitely need to recess the firewall. The front engine cover of the y-block is so deep that it hits the front crossmember. Maybe it would work with a mustang II setup. Not sure how much difference there is between a 40 coupe and a 41 for clearance

 

There we go! Now we got some info specific to my question.
P. S. I used to live in Wausau

 

Thanks for the info! I picked up this engine years ago because he ‘claimed’ it was a 312 but I’ve never actually worked on Y blocks. That’s why I’m asking here before I get too deep into another project.

 

So it was the firewall or the crossmember that was in the way?

 

Any evidence to go with your encouraging words? Got a friend who has done it in a similar car?

 

Does anyone know what trans adaptor I need or if I need one? The Y block is in my dads barn and my 41 and extra flathead trans are at my house 900 miles away so I can’t quite just start lining things up. Do I need an adopter er no?

 

My 46 has a 292 Y-block with C4 trans, original cross member and wishbones. If you want, i have some pictures of the Y-block and C4 in the car.

 

If you want to use the original trans a adapter is needed,if your engine came out of a car try to find a junk truck engine for the oil pan and timing chain cover. The trucks had a front mount and is more beefier and needed to use a Hurst style mount,I picked up a 64 292 just for those parts plus it had the post 57 distributor and PCV system.

 

I put one in my 48 convertible. Build thread in my signature.

 

That would be great! Do you know which style of oil pan you have?

 

What front mount do you speak of? Motor mounts? You guys are learning me.

 

Hurst used to make mounts to put about any engine in most popular cars so there probably was a mount made to put a Y block in a 41 to 48 but finding one might not be easy and they do not look hard to make.