Customs Needed like a hole in my head: '55 Ford Mainline

They're some generic 5 spoke slots. Kind of a knock off Halibrand, but they look OK. They have brand new tires on them, so that's a consideration as well.

 

Yup keep on posting telling everyone in every thread to spend money and build an older, shittier engine and tear apart their running car. Give it up man. Nobody wants to hear it.

 

I'm glad you got a solid one.

 

Woul

Did you not read or understand the performance features of the y-block? The ones the Windsor doesn't have.

 

@57JoeFoMoPar congrats on the new addition to the stable...was it from a dry state originally or just a garaged Sunday driver? No matter look forward to see what you do with it over time...

 

The fellow I got it from is a guy in his late 70s that I have known since I started doing this. Really solid guy who is part of a local club that, for years, put on a good local cruise. He's no stranger to turning wrenches, and though I verified a lot of what he told me verbally, there was at least a rebuttable presumption of truthfulness to his description of the car and the history. Here's a couple of his cars. He still has the Chevy, and sold the Ford not that long ago. Both are great cars, but the Ford in particular was pretty special, with a 410 FE and a 4 speed. All business, and sort of a good stylistic blueprint for this car if I decide to go that route.




He got the car fairly recently from a guy he knew who passed away. That guy is the one who did the major lifting in terms of doing (or having done) the mechanical work to the car. This all had to be done at least fairly recently since among the stack of papers and receipts I got with the car, was a Comp Cams card with the cam specs and a date of manufacture of late 2013. This particular car seems to have been made in San Jose, CA, and allegedly spent most of its life in Iowa before coming to the east coast. I have no reason to disbelieve that, and the way the paint has been sort of baked off with no rust to the body otherwise leads me to believe it likely spent most of its life in a dry, arid environment. Certainly not New Jersey.

 

Well, the Windsor 289 certainly was available with solid lifters (hipo 289 from 63-67, and the Boss 302 albeit the Boss was a crossbreed, having Cleveland heads).

The lowly Windsor eventually got a roller cam 23 years into its lifespan.

 

No I read and understood your post just fine, which I have seen before on the internet. You did a marvelous job of using the copy and paste function to put that here. I chose to not respond to you because, a) it's ancillary to my thread, and b) it's moronic.

I get the impression that you yourself don't even understand what it is that you posted, but instead parroted some stuff you found on the internet to support your nonsense opinion. WTF does a "high-swirl combustion chamber" even mean? Are you talking about combustion chamber quench, while completely ignoring the limitations on the stacked intake runners or the chamber design that didn't permit bigger valves to compete with Chevy and Mopar? How about how the Y block weighs 630 lbs and the Windsor weighs 460, and how the reduction of weight in rotating mass frees up horsepower? How is the length of the connecting rod a per se performance feature? By that metric, the 394 Olds would be the peak of engine design with a 7" rod, but instead makes the same horsepower with 10.5:1 compression as a SBC 350 with 8:1 compression. As for solid lifters, again, why is that such a bonus? To begin with, that's one of the dumbest aspects of the Y block (since they have to be put in from the bottom and not simply dropped into the lifter bores, but you knew that), and while they may be superior in a race application, they're inferior to hydraulic lifters in a street application, and both are inferior to a roller cam, which the Windsor eventually got. I could go on.

Why don't you go ask some guy with a mild street Fox body build making 500+ hp on pump gas to swap out his Windsor for a Y block and GTFO out of here with your bullshit. We're all tired of hearing it. Your posting history is a joke. All you do here is a bunch of crybaby bitching about small block Fords and Chevys. You offer no technical knowledge to this board whatsoever and represent everything that sucks about the HAMB now; all complaining, no doing. The fact that the cars you list as having owned came from the factory with SBFs and SBCs only adds to the irony. You remind me of the jock in high school that picked on the gays because he himself was a closet case. Nobody is impressed. And I'm not taking my running car apart to put a different engine in it.

 

You done well purchasing from that fella...he sure keeps things clean and still has some funstuff that's for sure...looking forward to your journey with it...

The interior looks nice too...

 

I'd swap out that 302... for a stroker 351! LOLOL

 

I dig it! I've always liked the '55's. Only think I would do is throw some steelies, dog dish caps and blackwalls on it.

 

I love the Chevy!

 

It's a really sharp car, and has a dual quad small block in it. It's called the "Duke of Oil", a play on the North NJ accent where "Earl" sort of phonetically sounds like "oil". Clever. The headliner is also autographed by the members of dozens of doo wop groups.

Rockabilly has certainly been the associated sound with the hot rod culture, but it's easy to forget that vocal group harmonies, doo wop, and R&B were also prevalent during the relevant time, but haven't enjoyed the same revival as other genres of the era. I was lucky enough to be exposed to it though my folks, and still enjoy it on my own.

 

Me too!!...7, 8s & 9s make awesome Hotrod/Custom's...yes that's a real nice one...

 

If I had a '55 Mainline, I'd be so tempted to paint and letter it like a '50s NASCAR racer. I'm working on a '55 that my parents bought new. It's the car I learned to drive on and drove all through high school and college. Mine is a Fairlane Town Sedan (4 door), but I like your Mainline!

 

Both cars are way cool. The FE and 4 speed is awesome

 

First up the falcon had a 250 2v motor 6cyl. The chev a 235. Would of got a 292 6cyl had I kept it.
High swirl combustion chambers allows fuel air to mix and distribute within the combustion chamber better.
And yes solid lifters are better for performance. That's the point. At high revs the won't pump up or compress.
Longer con rods is also great for high revs. You get less con rod angle and high revs resulting in less sideways force on the bore. This also reduces wear and it enables the piston to stop at the top of the stroke momentarily longer also giving time for a more complete burn of fuel.
The air gap inlet manifold allows cooling of the air fuel mixture. Others get heated up from oil splashing on the bottom.
But at the end of the day a 302 or 292 built to similar street spec's will offer similar performance and dependability with similar cost. However the y-block looks and sounds better and has greater potential for hp. They have been known to hold 900hp from the factory block. Routinely 700hp in racing applications. A factory ford Windsor block can not do that.

 

Since some of you asked, here are some better pics of it. So far so good with this one mechanically. I'm looking forward to diving into it in a few weeks and cleaning it up a bit.



You can see the exhaust is functional but pretty rough. It's sheetmetal screwed together with the couplers and run straight under the axle. It won't be a big deal to fit up some new, proper pipes that run over the axle and through the leaf spring.

The paint, as well as the interior, is plenty presentable for now. But even in the condition it's in, it can give a pretty straight reflection, and it would be nice to put some fresh paint on the body, dash and window garnishes.

Or maybe I'll blow the whole car part for one of those 900 hp Y Blocks I've heard about. We'll see.

 

I think I would just drive it for now and have fun. I’m sure “opportunities” will arise that will give you direction on what it will need.

Looks like a neat and simple hot rod to me the way it is now.

Oh, and when you find an affordable 900 hp y-block, I could use one too. Mine is about worn out.

 

Interesting to see a "Plain Jane" with no radio or clock--those radio delete and clock delete plates are hard to find. I see that it has the better "Magicaire" heat/defrost setup rather than the cheaper heater that was more common on Mainlines.

 

Send it to me , I take care of it for you . You did very well , drive it like you stole it and have fun doing it !

 

I'd drive it.

Other than the exhaust and maybe a wet sand and buff, I'd leave it as is, a survivor. Maybe later pull it apart for a decent paint job. I'd much rather have the Windsor in it myself, at least you can go to the parts house and get parts for it without ordering them.

 

That is a very clean nearly 70 yr old survivor!! "Ya dun gud, Kid!!"

 

Love the 55 Ford and yours is a post thats the best second to the crown. As for the mighty Y block I love them got a built 312 and a 292 and they do just fine thank you the little engine screams. Thats all I'm going say about that love your car and glad your keeping a ford int it.

 

You did better than I just did. I have so many projects and told my wife I am not buying anymore until I finish and sell one. Then my Uncle calls me and says he has a 1965 Ford Falcon two door hard top that I can have. It's far from a runner. I told him I am trying to quit this habit until I get some of these others done. The next thing out of his mouth is I am going to bring it to you and he just needs me to help him load it on the trailer. I told him I will think about it and hung up the phone.I told my wife about it and reaffirmed my commitment to stop collecting projects. She said go get it. She is such an enabler! Somebody please stop me. I am happy for your new addition to your car hobby. I am with many of the other posters. Just drive it and enjoy it until you really feel the need to work on it. I envy you buying a running car. I seem to feel the need to collect complete builds and have always worked on each sporadically as I collected parts for them all. I need to start finishing them but how do you turn down free ? I am enjoying the heck out of working on this latest gift and am hoping I can get on the other one I was trying to finish soon. A guy once told me when someone tells him they have something to give him for free, he says I can't afford it. Sorry for the long story but thanks for the opportunity to get this off of my chest. ENJOY THAT DRIVER !!!

 

I have the misfortune of playing men's league ice hockey a couple nights a week, too. So I can't even say that the cars are my only expensive hobby. I should have taken up scrapbooking.

 

NOT KNOWING WHAT YOU PAYED? IT LOOKS LIKE FUN TO ME.

 

Difficult to see with the photo, but under the car looks pretty dang clean.