Overheard a conversation that some dude knew some guy with a Ford V8 with the distributor in the back in the engine. One of the guys called bull on this and said that all the Ford V8's have them in the front. Then some moron said "unless he's got a chevy in that Ford truck.", blah blah blah. Got me to thinking though, Ford V8's aren't all about 302's, 351's and 460's which is what most people equate to when talking Fords right?. I know Ford made a load of different displacement V8's. So I ask the question of you all, were any Ford V8's designed with the distributor in the rear? I'm mostly a Chevy person myself and just recently started working on some Fords and am unfamilar with all the different Fords V8's out there, so bear with me. Thanks.

 

Well FE, 385, cleveland,modified, windsor,even flat heads had distributors in the front as well as the 232 v-6 that was in some early 80's trucks, inline 6 on the side but that doesn't count. So unless there is one I don't know of then I would say that fellow had one of those chevy transplants, why??? Interesting question, later

 

I have never heard of such a thing on a ford.

 

Ford's common Y-block V8 had the distributor in the back.

 

There you go, learn something new everyday

 

On quick glance if you see it out of the corner of your eyes you do a double-take, thinking there's an off-brand engine under the hood.

 

Unless the engine was installed backwards....but then the truck would have to be front wheel drive?

just a possibility.

 

Capone I think we agree. My main issue was you cannot convince me that it is cheaper or even close to being cheap building a ford engine versus chevy using off the shelf parts. I will even take this a little further aftermarket wise it comes close but still the chevy has ford money wise and in my opinion neither one has a superior design head of any kind over the other, if you want to compare technology vs cost to make X amount of hp then again ford looses. I just cannot understand for the life of me why ford feels that it demands the prices they ask for off the shelf parts, its ridiculous and the aftermarket supports this as well even more ridiculous. If it weren't for the 302 craze a person would be insane to even attempt to throw money on a sbf and even think in terms of budget it would be more like restoration money can you imagine the prices if the 302 mustang craze never happened? As mentioned by others if you take ford and chevy heads of the same compression and flow along with the same cam profile you are gonna get the same amount of hp/tq give or take a little, and you can bet the chevy would be a whole lot cheaper. Again I agree with what you say and I think we are close on opinions, but when it comes down to the arguement over which is better you cannot convince me ford made anything special with the 96 motors down versus chevy, and when it comes down to which is cheaper that adds injury to insult, because ford loses. Later

 

Here are a few Y-Blocks. I believe they were fairly common in Thunderbirds back in the day...

 

i was just in the junkyard today and believe it or not i found an old ford truck looked like it was in the early 60's it was a bigger ford truck i popped the hood and there was a red ford mottor with the distributor in the back it said FORD in big letters on the valve covers so yes there are fords out there with the distributor in the back



1875 ford 360

 

the ol 292-312 Y blocks eh?....haven't seen one of them for a looooong time

 

was just at the "Super Run 03" in Henderson Nv. Next door to Las Vegas And saw a few in fact 57 T-Bird with 312 2-4s. Haystacks no less.

 

Yes, indeed. I used to drag race with one of these dual four-barrel 312s in the late 60s - early 70s. Another fellow had the supercharged 312.

Back in that day, NHRA set up stock classes based upon a ratio of advertised horsepower and curb weight. The trick was to find a combo that was 1) on the edge of a class and 2) based on a grossly underrated horsepower figure. Chevrolet was extremely modest in advertised horsepower claims but these two Ford 312s were also lowballing their horsepower.

 

Well mister cheapskate chevy guy, you try and build a SBC with late '80's early '90's parts and tell me how many engines you need to collect before you find castings that aren't cracked and/or full of poorly melted recycled material. You won't find thin wall castings or recycled material in any Ford castings of this vintage so are you factoring that into the cost? And why is being the absolute cheapest the deciding factor in building an engine? I simply don't buy the argument that it is significantly cheaper anyway, yes you might be able to do it for $200-$300 less but what's that in the big scheme of things.

 

That knucklehead hasn't visited this joint for 8 years… good riddance.