anyone change out their 272 or 292 for a 289 or 302?
What did you have to do about:
1) tranny 'matchup'
2) motor mounts
3) carb
4) anything else...?

My 272 is extremely tired and several 100 thousand on the motor...
I'd rather have a more 'common' 302/289 - something you can get parts for.

All advice is VERY welcome...

Thanks,
Ron (Uncle Spot)

 

Ron -
Is your truck basically stock? Do you have any attachment to keeping that way?
The reason I ask is that parts for the stock motor are just as easy to get as parts for the 302, and you don't have all the other fit problems to contend with. You can also get the stock motor as a remanufactured long block, with warrantee for cheap bucks (around $2000), if you don't want to do the rebuild yourself. Just a thought.
Others here can speak to the tranny fit, etc. for the swap out...

 

Keep the y-block! Keep it the way Henry intended it to be!

Kevin Bigwin

 

Randy, Kevin, thanks for the posts.
I've rebuilt a coupld of 289s, but 'don't know too much about the Y-block. There are some major differences - the 2 things I've NEVER liked about THIS engine was the drastic drop in oil pressure when you slow down - especially coming off a freeway.
The other is where the distributor is located - at the back of the block like a Chevy... that is THE thing I like about the 289 or 302; the distributor is EASY to get to... sure makes tuneups a lot easier/faster.
I guess my only major concern is *IF* the tranny will bolt up to a 289 or 302...

 

Ron - Question answered!
The 302 has a lot of aftermarket stuff and since the mating issues are the same between it and the 289, I would go for the 302 for the added power. In fact, I would go for the 351W, for that matter, but then, I'm a darksider (rodder) at heart.
There are lots of guys who have done that swap on the forum. Lots of pitures too.
My impression is that it's not a big deal and there sure is plenty of room in the engine bay for just about anything to fit.

 

Randy,
I've never seen a motor that wouldn't fit in THAT 'cavity'... it's *HUGE*!

My main concern in an "engine-ectomy" would be 'tranny-mate-up', and motor mounts with the 302...

 

Uncle Spot,
I understand your wanting to "swap for the 289-302" But before you venture into the darkside wait around and see how many guys are still running the old Y's. They have really come on strong in the last few years and I expect to see prices go down for parts and more stuff being available in the future.

MSD and MALLORY make an upgrade electronic distributor for the Y and as for the oil psi problem they will run like that for YEARS!

Kevin Bigwin

 

the tranny or nothing else will mate up.

 

You better go to a 351 if you want more power. I had the 272 rebuilt in my 57 and it walks all over the 302 I have in my 77 f150. And it always starts on a cold day. The 57 272s had the ezg heads witch some say are best for performance. Dual exhaust, electronic ign, 4bbl carb will wake it up. The oil pressure drops in mine just like yours it doesn't seem to bother it.

 

Unless there is something in the design of the Y-block that causes oil pressure problems. You should be able to rebuild the motor to get the oil pressure up to a great number with a good oil pump an attention to detail when rebuilding. The lower oil pressure is a sign of wear.

 

I debated about keeping my 272 in my 56 and decided to go all out and change even the suspenion, put in a 302 and newer rear springs. Not the way Henry intended but alot more driveable. Again on the dark side but I like it to be more of a driver with alittle more power if I decide to rod the 302/351 and put in an over drive. More potential for up grading. What really killed the 272 was the problem of the exhaust, hard to have duals with the 272. Could not find the right manifolds and I really want to have daul exhausts,no matter what. The rest of the truck will be mostly stock, just the running gear will be not. In your case if the tranmission will not bolt up then why not go to a newer trany that will, again parts will alot more common. I rebuilt my trany and it was hard to find parts in aroud here. No first gear clash now!

 

if you do the swap get a "cross member" motor swap kit the other type does not work very well in my opinon

 

what we used to do was cut the cross member out of a 57 to 64 car and weld it in.made a nice job on a 62.not sure about a 57.dont know if frame is same.

 

In the late 60`s I did the same in a 53 F100 to put in a 352. The only mistake that I made was to not use the good automatic transmission that I already had but to go thru a lot of trouble with the clutch and manual trany linkage. Would have been so much simplier/ easier to go with the automatic. Live and learn. It did make for a very nice truck and was alot better to drive with the extra power, almost double over the flatie. That cross member is very nice/cheap and very adaptable for almost any Ford frame and had the mounts set up for my 352 already in place. Just weld on extentions on each end of the cross member to reach all across from one side of the frame to the other side. Then set in the engine, bolt up the mounts and tack weld the cross member to the frame after it is all lined up. Very easy to do and very satisfying to say the least unless you want it totaly stock.

 

Ron,
I did the 302 swap many moons ago in the first '59 F-100 I owned. The 292 had spun a bearing when the truck was given to me.

I sorely wanted to keep a 292 in it but as luck would have it.........
I was only about 15 or 16, didn't have a lot of funds, there was no internet or reproduction stuff readily available, my uncle had a low mileage '73 torino sitting in his driveway that was totalled, The engine was a freebie, dad thought it was easier/cheaper, so I didn't have much choice.

Here's some of the problems I ran into...............................

I had to fabricate and weld in my own motor mounts, (though I'm sure there are probably kits available today).
I had to take lots of measurements, and did a lot of dry fitting to get the engine aligned properly and have enough clearance for the firewall and the radiator.

I used the radiator from the Torino, made some brackets, and it installed pretty easily.

I wanted to keep the truck a 3 speed, so we used a 3 speed tranny from a 77 F-150. It turned out to be a direct bolt up to the '73 302 and I was able to keep the original '59 column shifter. I had to lengthen the linkages, but they worked out very well.
I used the tranny crossmember from the '77, but had to alter the width, relocate some holes on the frame, and eventually welded it into place once I was sure everything was aligned properly.

I had a hard time figuring out how to wire from generator to alternator, but we eventually got that all squared away. That was a nightmare for me!

I used a manual choke kit, and used the original cable and ****.

The '59 had the hydraulic operated clutch whereas the '77 used a manual linkage that bolted to the frame. This presented a real problem because I did not want to swap out pedals. I aligned the slave cylinder/push rod with the throw out arm, and traced a pattern using some thin cardboard. Once it looked good, I transfered the pattern on to a 1/2" steel plate, and cut out a bracket. I wound up mounted it to the block using the holes where the bellhousing bolts up, and using longer bolts (grade 8). Then I mounted the slave cylinder to the bracket. All I had to do then was lengthen the rod a bit.

For the drive shaft, I took both the '59 and '77 drive shaft ends to a local drive shaft shop, gave them the length I needed and they made & balanced a new driveshaft for me.

Next problem I had was the exhaust. I don't remember why we didn't just take the truck to a muffler shop, but we wound up making our own. I had some straight pipes with the flanges already welded on them, and had to make my own bends. Since we didn't have a bender, we filled the pipes up with sand and packed it in real good. Then we just heated the pipes and bent them carefully into shape. The sand kept them from kinking. we used a sturdy piece of wire as a pattern. It actually turned out to look pretty good!
I had two Cherry Bombs dumping out and down at the rear of the cab. This turned out to be a bit too loud (it would chop up your voice when you yelled to your passenger) so I added some tailpipes later.

The speedometer was another problem. It was now off by approximately 30 MPH. That we solved by changing the plastic gear on the end of the cable.

The truck was done before I turned 17. It ran and shifted great, there were no vibrations, and it got me everywhere I needed to go. I really couldn't complain as the truck, most of the parts, and labor were free.

But for me, it just wasn't the same. There was really something missing. I missed the sound of the old Y-block. This old truck really meant a lot to me, but it seemed to be missing some of it's nostalgia. If I was able to get my hands on one, I would have definately stuck with the 292.

Please forgive me for such a long post. I'm sure you would probably be swapping a more modern engine, so some of this probably wouldn't even apply. I think things would probably go a bit smoother nowadays as well, because you probably wouldn't have to make as many homemade gadgets and brackets.

Anyway, I hope some of this turns out to be of help to you.