I didnt want to hijack one of the other threads about their engines so I figured I would make this post.

The car was very well taken care of oil changed every 2,000 miles just like he 1956 owners manual says. The transmission (I know not on topic but it goes along with the maintance on the vehicle) from the little notebook I found in the car (notebook is copyrighted 1963 and first date i August 2, 1963) it just simply says Automatic Transmission August 2, 1963 75,600 miles. I assume the fluid was changed then and I see Transmisson listed again under Octoer15, 1967 with miliage 105,850 miles (30,250 mile difference)

But I havent pulled the engine or taken anything apart on the vehicle yet (family drama has me not putting money in untill I find the title and get it transfered) but I have a few photos. One I took through the parkplug opening on the #5 cylinder (passengerside front most cylinder), I also got a photo of the dipstick (showing the oil thats in the car wich last oil change was Feburary 25, 1979) and a photo of the Transmission dipstick showing the fluid condition.

The photos will be below but I want honest opinions on if the engine should be in fair shape, good shape, great shape, excelent shape based off the maintance records, and photos below. Personally I think things should be in great shape but this is my first Y8 (only ford engines Ive had are a 1.9L EFI HO, 5.0HO, 5.8) and I am concerned because alot of what is said on Yblock sites had alot of horror stories that has me worried and worrying about the worse.

Here are the two photos through the spark plug opening. The best I could do.





The engine oil dipstick



The transmission dipstick





Now I have to say this has sat in the shed all its life and has been in thesame spot since Feburary-March 1986 so based off the photos and descriptions what does everyone think about the condition of the mechnicals? What about any risk of finding problems that are unseen? The car rn when it was last parked (wasnt runned again caue he owner passed away).

 

Any engine that has sat that long deserves to be completely disassembled before expecting it to be reliable and useful. In 20 yrs, no matter what kind of antifreeze was used, the rust inhibitors are depleted and it is possible the head gasket steel rings have corroded, the water pump may be frozen, etc. All you can hope for is a good core engine that CAN be rebuilt without any extra costs like sleeving or freeze damage repair. From your pics, it looks very promising.

The concern about the title is very prudent, you don't want to put money into something that you don't legitimately own.

 

You never know, I have bought cars that have sat for years and need a lot of work to get running such as a little moisture in the cylinder walls and the motor is stuck to mice filling up the intake and ect. and some I have changed the fluids lubed the cylinders and the run just fine. I would say at the least I would lube the cylinders and try to turn it over by hand. As far as the trans sometimes the clutch plates in the clutch packs will stick if they sit to long. but if it was me I would go for it... have fun

 

I'm with a4t1rat, lube up the cylinders with marvel mystery oil, let them soak for a day or so and then see if you can get the motor to turn over by hand.....if so and it turns over smoothly, I'd change out the oil and old coolant and see if you can get it to run....
It would be best to hook up a gas can and line to the engine as I would'nt trust using 20 yr. old gas, if any and the crud that's probabally settled into the tank. If you can get it running, this will give you a few more "options" as to which direction to go...compression test, re-build, or run it as is, ect. ect. you may want to "go through" the carb and put on a new filter, b-4 trying to fire it up as well. The tranny fluid looks fine, but there again things have a way of "sticking" up, over time......same with the brake system ect.
ect...........give it a shot and see what happens!!........goodluck
Doug

 

I honestly was thinking about pulling the engine taking it apart and cleaning it up. Would also give me the ability to wirebrush the external components of the engine to repaint.

But I know the water pump is frozen I cant even turn it by hand. I put a good 30 lbs of pulling strength on the fan. The sparkplug had carbon on it. I am concerned because the car has a newer motorcraft 2V on it and might have jets for a 302 and be giving too much fuel (the motorcraft carb on my 351 has the plugs a white color).

My orignal plans was to take everything mechanical apart. There is no antifreeze visable in the radiator with the cap off, but cracking the drain open for a second got coolant. I didnt see any coolant in the engine oil so I am hopeful that things are not too bad.

Just keep reading all these horror stories bout how the heads usually cant be rebuilt because the coreplug in the front when you remove it will not accept a new one cause antifreeze has eatten the opening out larger, ect.

I was trying to check the brakes it feels like there might still be a solid hydraulic system but I cant get the metal cap to unscrew.

The carb when I push the throttle back I am not kidding I can actually hear the step up pump spray. not spraying anything but I can hear a hiss of air so I think the thing might would run but I had a engine sit 20 years and two valves were stuck in the down position as well as the rings were carboned together where they couldnt move and they werent riding on the cylinder wall easily.

I just worry that I wont be able to get the engine apart and clean the carbon up and simpy use a hone to clean the bores and then install new rings and maybe bearings if they look worn.

I was how ever suprised the transmission still has fluid in it, the other car sat for 20 years in the garage and the transmission didnt show anything on it.



Here is a photo of the general under hood area. You can see most of the paint remains on most of the engine just under grease.



And some general views of different parts of the engine.







As far as rats and rodents that wasnt a problem cause the vehicle is parked in a old style pole barn type building with sides and a back but no front. Not to mention cats still love to hang out in the shed so they kept rats and rodents down. None of the wires are chewed or messed with and theres no nests under the dashboard. The cloth covering of the defroster ducts rotted away but thats it.

 

How much are they asking for it?

 

Well the car is family owned. I tried to give $100 - $200 for it (would take alot of money to go through it) to get the title. But to shorten the long story down one of my uncles proclaimed the car as his even though he will do nothing with it but finally got him to agree that I could have the car but things changed when tried to pay for it to get the title. Suddenly the car is part of the estate. So I havent put any money into the car yet but I did clear all plyboards off the hood and the wooden benches sitting along the side.

I am trying to get the car for as little as possible though. But I sure as hell wouldnt give $500 for the car when i got my 78 Mercury for 500 in running condition with a working AC and everything. I made this known to the current owner (grandmother is the current ownerwhen grandfather passed away it became hers).

I do how ever have two on my side though my Mother and my other uncle wants me to get it cause I would restore it, if their brother (my other uncle) gets it, it will go out towards Austin and get parked in a field with the 40 other some odd classic cars rotting in the field.

 

Ok alittle update here. I went over and put some polish on the stainless steel and cleaned the car alittle (do that from time to time), but I also got the casting numbers off the block, heads, intake manifold, water pump.

Found out something though.

The block casting number is as follows.

ECZ 6015A

The closest I could find was ECZ-A (I couldnt visually see it so I did a reverse press image of it with a sheet of paper). It goes on to say from the Y-block site 292-312 cu. in. V8 and then this

1956 ECZ 6015 A with EBU main caps = 292
1956 ECZ 6015 A with ECZ main caps = 312

So I might be wrong about this engine being a 292. This car might have a 312. There is no decal left on the valve cover to ID the engine fully other than the Thunderbird fender emblems.

I then tried to find a casting number for the heads to see what they say if their for a 292 or a 312 or what. Only numbers I could find on the heads are the following two.

6090 and 69E

6090 doesnt mean anything and is just Fords part number for cylinder heads.

how ever there is no code for 69E on heads. They are all letters no numbers and this was found to the right of the rear most exhaust port on the passenger side (infront of the exhaust port between cylinder # 4 and # 3).

So I cant ID if this is really a 292 like I think or if its a 312. So I got the intake manifold number and going to email it to the people at the Y-Block site but if anyone here could help I will check back for a reply.

COAE-8245-F

I will admit this this is a 2V intake manifold and it appears to have a regular square bolt carb pattern. Even my 1949 - 1959 ford parts illustration & text catalog on a 56 Holley 2V carb for the 272 Y8 shows the main carb body (part # 9512) bolts to a three bolt triangular three throat base plate that has a four bolt square pattern. Surely this intake manifold isnt from a newer Y8 cause I have no record of that engine ever being pulled or rebuilt.

Well this is a newer manifold. COAE translates to mean 1960 Fullsize Ford. 50`s Fairlane, 60`s Galaxie & LTD, ect. Obviously the Manifold was changed out when the old teapot holley 2V was replaced with a newer Motorcraft style carb. Atleast I guess if I wanted to I could go with a regular 2V holley even.

But I just have to ask though did ford ever sell a 312 in a passengercar with a 2V manifold? Every source I check that shows copies of ford documentation lists the 292 and 312 Tbird Y8 as all having 4V carbs but I know of two other 56 292`s with factory 2V?

 

Rusty, Go to John Mummert's website (Y). A lot of excellent Y-Block info there.

 

Thats where I am at right now. Thats where alot of my typed up information in my binder came from. I just recently edited my last post. Apparently this intake manifold is a 1960 fullsize manifold not a 1956 like the car. Probably got changed when a motorcraft carb was installed inplace of theold terrible holley.

Just need to figure out if 8245 is just the part number for the intake manifold or if it indicates if its for a 312 or what. Not that it would tell me if this is a 312 or a 292.

 

With the exhaust manifolds not having the cross-over in front I would suspect it to be a 312. You also mentioned the T-Bird emblems on the side of the car. I hope you get it bought. Like the earlier answers, oil it up and roll it by hand to see what happens.

 

It very well could be a 312. I know the fullsize passengercars had two Tbird engine options the 292 Thunderbird Y8 or the 312 Thunderbird Special Y8. Standard was the 272 Y8. I just wish I could have found the head casting number so I could get an idea.

If this is indeed a 312 Thunderbird Special I might consider trying to see if I could mount and hide a Holley 2V TBI under the old oil bath air cleaner. That would help with economy some but should also improve performance some. But I am getting ahead of myself on that though.

One thing I need to email John Mummert's site about with some various questions the site doesnt answer is if the HP rating is lower with the 2V option. I mean the 292 with Ford-O-Matic is listed as 202hp is it still 202hp when ford listed the 292 as only coming with 4V. But its no big deal though its not like I am going to race the car or anything just go back stock and drive it.

 

Well what did you find out? I just purchased myself a 1956 Fairlane with I believe to be the 292 t-bird V-8. Sadly my engine looks close to your picture last year. My concern... No T-bird valve covers, that and I notice you done have the vacuum fuel pump that drives my wipers.

 

This thread is more than a year-and-a-half old!

 

Well I found out alot since then. First off the engine is a 292 Thunderbird Y8. The 2V carb is a 2V motorcraft carb from the late 60`s early 70`s. The intake manifold is a early 60`s 2V 292-312 manifold.

I since then found the orignal 4V manifold with the Holley 4000 carb that I was going to put on the car but then found out I would need to track down the correct dual vacuum advance canister for the dist to work right. Well those rebuilt advance canisters arent cheap so I am thinking about either sticking with the motorcraft 2V if it will give me the same performance if not better than the holley 4000 or I might consider picking up a 58 and later 292-312 4V manifold to use a 58 ford motorcraft 4V carb. Not sure how it would work because I would like to run a 56 style double action fuel pump and I dont know if the 58 motorcraft 4V has a port in the rear for the 56 hard lines for the vacuum fuel pump to screw into.

One of those things that will have to be figured out when the time comes.

Yep it is old thread but I did mean to update with my findings but never got around to it.