Could some of you eagle eyed experts take a look at the casting # on the block of my 55 F100 Custom Cab Fordomatic and give me your opinion of what it might be? (Picture in my gallery) It looks like ECG 6015 C to me but this is the only one I have ever seen and don't have anything to compare it to. Would that make this a 272? The ID tag on the inside of the glove compartment shows F10 V 5 D 22645. Doesn't the V indicate that this truck should have a 239? Any suggestions on quick and easy method of distinguishing a 239 from a 272?

 

Looks like it to me too. That should be a 272, although by this time it may have been rebuilt. The V seems to indicate for 1955, as far as I can tell, either a 239 or a 272. The only way I know to tell for sure is to look at the block casting (& the internals if appropriate). Paul, Tim, or Carl might have some more insight on this one.

My '55s both indicate the "V", & both had 272s.

 

Thanks for the look Homespun. Had a friend over that knows a little more than me and he said the engine appeared to be a 272. Fan shroud is gone and fan is mounted above the water pump like the 239 . Got to looking at the heads this afternoon and the right one has the casting holes in both ends like the 239 but the left one has no such holes...????? Intake manifold has ECG 9426 B cast into it. Guess I'll find out what this thing is when I pull it out, disassenble it and measure the bore and stroke.

 

Well, that's the thing....they're old enough that sometimes you see one that's been rebuilt more than once, or had part swaps. Commercial rebuilders could care less what heads are on it, as long as there's two. The "two different heads" issue has happened to a couple of posters as well as others, & often you find fairly different chamber sizes on each. Some castings are a little more crack-prone anyway, & trucks usually had a hard life back then. At least the heads are easy to find, as long as you don't have your heart set on ECZ-Gs.

I seem to recall that the 256 Merc & some very early 272s had castings with the end holes, too, but I could be mistaken. Carl (286merc), Tim (wild.bunch) & Paul (pcmenten) are the casting gurus, I'm more of a 460 and SBF guy. From what Carl & Paul have said, the ECZ-Gs aren't really the hottest thing for the avg. smaller Y; the ECZ-C and others will work just fine for a 239, 272, etc. for a nice little street engine.

Mine both have the lifted fan, too.

 

The book I have shows ECG as a 272 from 1955 to 57. My '55 came with the 239.

 

Do you know where the casting # on your block is and can you read it? Thanks for the look.
Burt

 

Just got thru looking at your gallery. WOW I live just south of Dallas and am thinkin I could jump on my Road King some Saturday and come take a closer look at your project. Burt

 

My 239 engine is long gone in favor of the 292 in my avatar. The 292 was pulled from a 1964 F100 and rebuilt by me. The casting number on the 239 was EBU6015. The number was on the drivers side of the block. There was a manufacture date code stamped on the top of the timing cover that verified it was from the same year as the truck so I am sure it was the original engine.

 

I'll take a look at the timing cover now. Thanks again for the information.

Burt