Good Day Everyone,
I am new to the forum and realized that there is a vast amount of knowledge on here I am hoping to tap into. I have been searching and reading for a couple of days now and cannot find an answer to the specific (hopefully easy) question I have. To give a little background; my great uncle and I have purchased a '54 F750 that was a firetruck in its previous life. We acquired it as a cab and chassis only with the intent to create a winch truck for a small hobby saw mill. It was running (not great) when we purchased it. Once we fabricated the bed and winch system and was ready to get it going the running quality had left something to be desired. Since then we have drained the fuel and re-fueled, changed the plugs and wires, along with the carburetor and it is not running any better (or worse). Our next task is the distributor; which is the main issue for this post. Everything I am reading, this seems to be difficult to overcome / repair / or replace. Can anyone assist with replacement parts or even a complete unit? Are there any easy upgrades that can be done; if so can specifics be provided for ease of procurement? The only one I found in my searches that helps a little was originally posted by Firedog 01 regarding part numbers for tune up on 279. This truck is equipped with all original (as far as we can tell) parts and no upgrades have been done. It is equipped with a 279 Y-Block (Engine ID Code 'EAL'). I look forward to and sincerly appreciate any help that is given.

 

Welcome!
Surely someone here has some knowhow here and will be along shortly.
Another corner of this place that might be helpful is the large truck group https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum232/
And don't hesitate to show us pics of your rig.
We do love pics.
JML

 

Yes welcome to FTE the best Ford truck forum on the World wide Web!

I can't answer your question about the distributor . Why do you think the problem is with the dizzy? The other things you've done are good for a truck that has sat a while. You may have dirt in the fuel line or the carb.

 

Welcome to the forum! I'm not sure if you know or not, but the 279 is based on the Lincoln Y-block engine, which is different and larger than the Ford Y-block most of us here are familiar with. I'm not the expert on all matters Y-block by any means, but I believe you'll find little parts interchangeability so do your research before buying parts for a Y block that may or may not work for you. FYI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Y-block_V8_engine

 

Very good point, Wayne! You are right about the Big Job trucks. Maybe, FTE Member Big Job will check in.

 

Good news/bad news.

Not much interchanges with the Ford Y-block, and there isn't much of a following for the Lincoln Y. (although one guy angrily insisted he could find any part he wanted--Maybe I can find him and get the secret)

But the good news in this case: The distributor and oil pump interchange. More, but not much more:
Home

 

The 279 is the smallest displacement of the Lincoln Y Block series. LYB's were run in Lincoln Cars from 52-57 in 317, 341, and 368 cubic inch models and used in Ford Heavy Duty Trucks until 1963 in 279, 317, and 332 displacements.

I have a 1953 Lincoln 317 in my F100 and learned a few things tinkering with it. The Oil pump and distributor will swap, but the 279 should have a tang and slot style drive shaft, a newer oil pump and distributor will move to a hex drive. The distributor drive gear is a different tooth count Lincoln vs Ford and needs to be swapped at the same time, keep the Lincoln gear and put it on the Ford Y Block distributor. I used a Cardone 30-2808 rebuilt distributor, swapped the drive gear, and changed to a Pertronix ignition. If you're going to swap the carb don't bother going too large, I tried a 600cfm Edelbrock and never could tune it well. I ended with a two barrel Motorcraft 2150 1.21 venturi size and it runs really well now. This carb flows roughly 350cfm and is a good match for a motor that I only run to 4000rpm.

Replacement parts for maintenance are available, lifter bore size is the same as some newer Chevrolet LS models and push rods cross reference to many other engines. If you want to rebuild the engine you'll run into issues finding hard parts but they are still available. You won't be able to order a top end performance kit from Summit Racing, but enough is available to keep the engines going.

 

Thank you guys for the quick input. I will post more pics of the truck when I get back to it.

abe - my great uncle was told by his mechanic friend that he believes it is the dizzy since he has tried the other things and hasn't fixed it yet. the carb was rebuilt, but we didn't fully flush the fuel lines.

zsk
Thank you very much for that information. I will begin looking for this as an option and keep your suggestions at hand if we choose to go further into the rebuilding of the engine.

 

Did you put in new points and check the timing?

If you buy a new condenser, hang on the he old one. Many new one from overseas are bad out of the box.