Can anyone tell me what cubic Inches the police interceptor motors came in?What was differant with P.I. motors than a regular motors?I guess what I'm asking is what made them special.Thanks -Ken

 

I seem to remeber that PI motor is a 352

 

Never heard of a Y-Block PI engine. My high school buddy had a 64 Galaxy with a 390 Police Interceptor engine. Maybe you should ask your question in the FE/FT thread?

 

I too don't believe that there was ever a Y-Block PI. Back in the day, and yes, I'm plenty old enough to have been there back in the day, every kid in every filling station in town would open the hood on just about any four barrel V8 in a Ford and tell you that it was a Police Intercepter.

I don't think that the term was actually used by Ford until the 352 in 1958. The term was used on some specific FE's of 352, and then 390 cubes at least through the 64 model year.

The other buzz words thrown around by the filling station jockeys was "T-Bird Special."

As far as the differences, it would depend on the year, but we're getting into FE discussion here on the Y-Block forum. I know that in the 63 and 64 model years the true PI went far beyond the engine. These cars had cross bolted mains, huge clutches, huge u-joints, huge axles, huge brakes and 15 inch wheels to fit over these huge brakes. These other goodies were basically the same as a 427 car. Find one of these cars, and you've found a four leaf clover. They were super rare even when these cars were new.

 

IIRC, in 54, the Ford PI motor was the Merc 256. (That year, Ford had the 239) Also IIRC, in 55, when Ford had the 272 and Merc and T Bird had the 292, Ford's PI motor was the 292. Whether it was called "Police Interceptor" specifically, I can't recall.

 

FWIW, in those days, not only might the manufacturer offer something a bit special, the PDs themselves took to hot rodding. Now I know this is 2nd hand and maybe BS, but my brother somehow got to see the inside of the Seattle PD shop when they were running Fords, and it looked like you might imagine the Holman and Moody supply room....

I heard of another fellow who was a Washington State Patrolman. Seems he spent some time under the hood of the Plymouth he was issued. (troopers took their cars home in those days). A little carb and ignition work it seems. He was well known for having the fastest WSP rig around, and "don't try to out run him" was the standard advice. (the fast car for one, he'd kick your *** for another--he held back the firemen from pulling a guy out of a wreck--the guy was going the wrong way on the freeway and ran into a another wreck they were working that had blocked the freeway, killing a fireman. "Let that SOB (long version) bleed for a while").

But I digress...

 

In 1957 I bought a 1956 292cid Police Interceptor engine out of a totaled Illinois state police car so I can guarantee you that Ford made them. The engine looked just like any other 272/292 only it had "Police (Y Block emblem) Interceptor" decals on the valve covers which were silver on black painted steel covers. I don't remember any unique specifications of the engine. I believe it did have a hotter grind cam and at least a half point more compression and the standard dual exhaust manifolds. I got that engine in my car and proceded to terrorize the Chevvys in the Chicago area until they learned about 4.56 gears to go with their close ratio trannies. Then I started building a Lincoln 368 engine into a 390 for my '54. One of my never finished projects.

 

y-block police interseptor engines had the high compresion heads and 4bbl carb. 54-256 merc. 4bbl, 55 272 4bbl. , 56 292 4bbl., 57 312 4bbl. all with high comp. heads.

 

I don't remember the compression ratio but it did make a lot of power in it's day. I shredded 26 trannys in one year including 3 of the 26 tooth Zephyrs, I finally got enough money to buy the Borg-Warner 3 spd w/overdrive and it was strong enough to hold the power. Then I started busting spider gears, 3 times in the same year. I sure had a lot of fun that year and quite a few jobs too. It seems that bosses don't like it when you don't show up for work.