Howdy, I own a 55 f100. I recently had a 54 239 Y block rebuilt thinking the engines were relatively the same, plus I was still driving the truck (with the 55 engine) while the 54 got rebuilt. Now comes time for the swap. Good thing I saved the distributor off the 54. Wish I would have saved the water pump (or at least the pressed on pully) and fuel pump. I can find these parts, however they are costly and hard to find whereas the 55 parts are found on NAPA shelves in town. What are the chances that the timing cover on my 55 (that houses the water pump and fuel pump) would swap out with the one on my 54 and save me some headaches down the road?

Ron from Ohio

 

I thought the 54 & 55 239's were the same. The Ford Truck Catalog shows the 54 239 , but no 55, so I assume they are identical.

 

I have a 57 or 58 292 with a 54 239 timing cover in my 54. The 54 239 does in fact have a different fuel pump, water pump and timing cover. As long as it is a truck timing cover( spacer at bottom to work with front motor mounts) any y block 239, 272, 292, 312 cover will work. you have to match fuel pump and water pump to the cover. From what I have found ( in searching for a water pump for about a year) and have been told from members here is that you can use the high mount pump(truck style, with fan mounting on a hub, not the impeller) If you want to use a car style pump(mounts on the impeller) than you need a 56 ford truck fan shroud that had the car style pump on it, the truck style will not interchange. The 239 fuel pump has smaller mounting bolts, and mounts upside down, the water pump is also smaller. The larger 292 etc timing covers use a fe style fuel pump with larger bolts and has a larger housing water pump on it as well (bolt pattern is simular but different). there is a truck style water pump for both the 239 and 292 covers and a car style as well. The 239 truck mount pump is what i have had problems finding(press on pully and smaller casing), the car I ordered one(smaller and larger case), and for the 292 or larger timing cover i ordered a high mount pump for. I had been using a 292 fuel pump on my 239 but i went through about 6 pumps thinking i had the 292 cover, I would not advise this as they mount a lot differently and while the pump kind of worked i am not sure how. As for finding parts I would use the 292 style timing cover. Fuel pumps are usually in stock and water pumps easyer to find ( you also have about 4 choices as comparied to 2 with a {239, truck mount and car}[292 style has the truck mount, two different bearing size and impeller shafts size for car, and new alum and cast, car]). If you go with the 239 just rememebr that the fuel and water pumps are different and may not be as easy to find. It is up to you. Also in reading if you have a 239 cam it takes the 239 dizzy as they have a different tooth count, ( i think 239 has 13, and 292 has 14??) It is up to you and i am not trying to tell you what decision to make but just trying to tell you what I have found and know, As far as I am concerned I am going to keep my 239 cover cause except for the water pump i can still get a fuel pump easly. and for me at the moment to keep it as comparied to changing to the 292 cover. Hope this helps any more quesitons or clarfication let me know.

 

That's the way to go; swap the front timing cover and water pump. It will work fine. Of course, it's simple but it's not easy. Keep track of which bolt came out of which bolt hole. If you put a bolt that is too long in the wrong hole, it will press against the cylinder. My harmonic balancer puller tool doesn't work on Y-blocks so I had to custom fabricate a puller tool. Don't pull on the pulley or you'll break it; it's made of cast iron.

Good luck.

 

thanks for the info all. I'm going the route of replacing the timing cover. Ill try to post some before pics of the truck/engine.