I have a 239 fuel pump brand new old stock sitting right in front of me. Its in it original box and has the original instructions sheets as well. In reading the instructions, it is very evident that the rocker arm of the pump is spefically sized to the cam of the 239.

It also has a picture of a slightly differant pump with a shorter rocker arm (with glass ball) and the same shorter rocker arm pump without the glass ball - while it does not specifcally name which engine uses the pump with the shorter arm, it is very evident that the 239 uses the pump with the longer arm. The photo shows three differant pumps and stated that they are "Late Model Ford V8 Types." As I suspect my pump was manufactured and packaged in the late 50s, all three types of pumps must be for differant Y-blocks. This instruction sheet was used for the packaging of all three types of pumps.

Long and short, as the cam for the 239 is smaller then other Y-blocks, it certainly make sense that the longer rocker arm is needed hence, the 239 used a differant pump, further, 272 and up Y-blocks used two other types (one with glass ball and one without) but with the same length of rocker arm.

 

Measurements and pictures would be great. thanks

 

Brian, good stuff. Need pics. But, it brings up a further question, or questions.

1) Are the illustrations photographs, or line drawings? You said photo, so I'm assuming photo, but ya know what happens when you assume.

2) If the later pump arm is shorter, I would think that it would be either not functional (or, if it were just barely long enough to engage, it would "slip" very soon); or, it would simply have a reduced stroke at the pump diaphragm. Depends on the length.

So, I'm wondering if the pump location in the 239 cover is different, as well as the pump.


CB, how were all these pumps failing? Sounds like you & dad have been keeping pump manufacturers in business for awhile! What do the pump arms look like after you take 'em out?

 

For dads pump i cant tell you a lot about. I know the one napa sold him was some kind of high presure flow pump that pumped gas out of the carb. the others i dont know about as I might have been about 7 years old max.
My pumps they are getting a little wear grove on the top of the pump(well the top of the **** on the arm, the highest point), nothing major. but besides that they just stop working. One day work, a week later new fuel pump. If i take it off and pump it by hand it works, but it would be dead on the truck. I dont know I keep the filters changed but here of late they have not even gotten dirty before they go out.

 

Isaac, I emailed you scans of the line drawings from the Ford Truck parts catalog for the '54 239 pump and the '55 and later pump to be used for the article. They may help determine which is right for your truck. There was a change made to eliminate the glass bowl sometime after 1956 and it was replaced with a metal cannister. I had one on my '55 239 that worked just fine, but it was a stock original '55 239. I have not had any luck finding much on differences in the timing covers based on part numbers from the Ford Truck catalog or the Ford Car catalog.

 

Homespun, the "photos" that I mentioned are in fact line drawings. I considered changing the wording prior to posting last night, but as it was in the early morning hours.....

The line drawings are not to scale with actual size, but do appear to be in scale with eachother.

Also, the instructions go to great lengths to ensure the installer places the cam at its lowest rotation when installing the pump. It notes that if the cam is in a high position when installing, the pump could prematurely fail. Of course the rocker arms needs to be resting on the bottum of the cam to function correctly, but the instructions note that it is possible to install the pump with the rocker arm on the top of the cam - this too will lead to failure.

If needed, I can measure the length of the rocker arm of the fuel pump I have (239) - let me know.

 

OK ladies, I have created a fuel pump gallery with a 292 pump and a 239 pump. multiple views with a tape measure in some of them. ENJOY!



Cheers!


Rick

 

These photos are exactly what is shown as line drawings in the installation instruction sheet I have.

 

OK, Rick, now why'd ya have to go injectin' dumb ol' facts into a perfectly good debate??

Looking at them side by side, it appears to me that the 239 pump location should be markedly higher in the cover compared to the later design. That being said, I'd guess two possibilities: 1) that the late pump diaphragms are being overextended, and fail as a result. Two, another possibility is that the pump arm is so close to coming off the eccentric at its tip that it inevitably comes off after some time. If so, I suppose that you could take it out & reinstall it...but putting aside that it's a pain, if I'm understanding you correctly, the wear point is not at the tip.

Bottom line, get the right pump or the later cover. Which is what everybody said yesterday, but it takes me longer to see the obvious.

Seriously, it's nice to know why or why not something works or doesn't, as opposed to just because the Internet said so.

 

Well, I've already gotten my money's worth out of registering. I've got a '54 F-250 with the 239 V8, and I always wondered why the fuel pump appeared to be mounted upside down! My dad signed the truck over to me in '99 after he moved into town. I was preparing to drive the truck from southwestern Minnesota out to Fredericksburg, VA and I wonder how old the fuel pump in it was, so I asked Pa when it had been changed last. He said "NEVER!"

I'm starting to try and accumulate parts for a rebuild, except I want to use period 4-barrel and the rams horn exhausts. If anybody has any recommendations regarding machine shops in the northern Virginia area that are familiar with the y-block, let me know.

As for the trip out, ran like a top the whole way ... no problems. And running the Ohio/PA turnpike at 65 mph with the 4:80 rear gears was an adventure. It did damn good though.

It had worked hard on the farm in Minnesota it's whole life, and Pa took darn good care of it.

Any words of wisdom regarding my planned rebuild are welcome. Oh, and by the way, the passenger side rear shock absorber mount broke. Anybody know of where to find another one?

Thanks,

Bill Frost

 

I can only suggest that you do the same thing I did to my 292.

(I sold my 239....)

I had the 292 rebuilt by a machine shop that has been around for 30+ years. I ensured that the machinist had done Y-blocks before, I had him put "hard" seats in it.(he said they always do that now). He also balanced the rotating mass. That's good to do to any engine. Ensure that you have the rods resized. have the machinist surface the heads and deck the block to square everything up. No telling how many times that cast iron has been heat cycled.

Ask about "Quench" it has a lot to do with what the final compression ratio will be. You'll want it to be a little higher than stock to get any HP out of it. 7.5 to 1 won't make a lot of HP. Not too high or you'll have to run premium...... You'll want around 8-9.00:1 or so. (The 292's were around 9.5 to 1).

Some people will suggest that you have the CAM custom ground 0.5 to 1 degree advanced to account for chain stretch.

Toss the "Load-O-Matic" carb and dist. ...... when you replace the cam get one that works with a 14 tooth dist. Then you can use any 272/292 dist. The 239 will work well with a 2 bbl carb. A 4bbl might be "Over Carbed"

I'm using a 2 bbl on my 292. I was going to try to find Rams Horns until I saw a set on EBAY go for $800.......I think I'll get a set of "Reds Headers" etc.


There's a wealth of info on this site. Lot's of experience....


Regards,

Rick

 

If you're looking for the shock stud, you can get them either in press-on or bolt on style, from most of the Effie vendors, like Sac Vintage: http://www.vintageford.com/

I'd probably look for either a small venturi 2bbl., or, if you want the 4 bbl. look, maybe a Carter WCFB on a '55-'56 4 bbl. intake. Most early WCFBs are pretty small CFM wise & are cheap on eBay, as are the intakes.

Rams horn prices are pretty ugly nowadays. They are being repro'd...but that's pretty steep too. All I can say is, just keep looking. You can always use headers at first & switch over if you like later...eBay the headers & get some cash back.

 

The repro Rams are cast iron? Who's making those?

 

Rick, I'm not sure they're cast iron....hope so. I've yet to talk to anybody who has bought 'em. Mummert says that he is going to carry them soon, I'm guessing they will be from this guy. Or, maybe Chinese, they'll repop anything now. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/4...ighlight=jesse

 

I recently purchased a Borg Warner fuel pump #40801 for a 1955 Ford V8 truck believed to have in it a 292 cu in engine. Found the fuel pump on the internet. Works good.