57 Ford Wagon new engine makeover

Lancer

Senior Member
I just posted up a photo of the new four barrel intake but thought since I have been documenting this rebuild, I would just start a thread and keep it going.

A few weeks back I blew the engine, the original 292 in my 57 Wagon. After sourcing another engine I started the process of pulling, cleaning, painting etc.

Both manifolds were broken, which I didn't know about till I pulled them off. I am new to the Y-Block world and have been told this is a very common occurrence. Not really wanting the issue again I opted to order a set of Reds Headers. Those should be here soon.

You can see the pan was full of metal.
 

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Engine is finally out. New motor picked up. Now to clean the firewall-engine bay.
 

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After 20 hours or so of cleaning, degreasing, prepping and taping/masking, the firewall has a nice new coat of white paint on it. It matches the factory paint very wel, I was surprised. I used the Duplicolor lacquer paint I picked up an O'Reilly's.

The pan was another issue, after 3 or so hours of getting all the metal bits out of the pan it was also ready to prep and paint. Came out nice. The reason I have to clean and use my old pan is the pan that came on the rebuilt engine was for a truck and would not clear my crossmember.
 

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Nice newly powder coated "B" intake. My original engine had a two barrel and since the new motor has a bigger cam and better heads I thought the upgrade would be worth the effort.

I also ordered headers, still waiting for those to arrive.
 

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After 20 hours or so of cleaning, degreasing, prepping and taping/masking, the firewall has a nice new coat of white paint on it. It matches the factory paint very wel, I was surprised. I used the Duplicolor lacquer paint I picked up an O'Reilly's.

The pan was another issue, after 3 or so hours of getting all the metal bits out of the pan it was also ready to prep and paint. Came out nice. The reason I have to clean and use my old pan is the pan that came on the rebuilt engine was for a truck and would not clear my crossmember.


Looks great to me ! You also need to swap the thermostat housings, since the truck one points upward, and the passenger car ones need to be angled to the passenger's side.

What heads do you have on the new engine ? I know the valve size got significantly smaller on Y-Blocks after 1959.

Sal
 
You are correct about the thermo housing. The pan, intake and thermostate will all be switched over. The original housing is pretty rough and a new one may be fabricated by the guy who did the intake coating. I'll keep you posted on that one.

The rebuilt engine is a .060 over 292 out of a 61 truck, the heads are C1TE heads with 1.78 in valves.
 
It looks like you could have started a scrap metal drive in the oil pan. OUCH! The new stuff looks really nice. The paint job on the pan looks really great. Keep up the good work.
 
I was able to get the car oil pan installed on the truck motor, which will help it fit back into the car. New fuel pump installed, new motor mounts as well.
 

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the new motor has a bigger cam and better heads I thought the upgrade would be worth the effort.

the heads are C1TE heads with 1.78 in valves.

Your original '57 heads should have been ECZ-G's with the 1.92 intakes... which would be "better heads" than the C1TE's.

Unless by 'better' you mean better in the sense they don't have shrapnel in stuck in them from the 'mishap'. :eek:
 
No new pics, picked up the intake from the coater, picked up new gaskets. Pulleys and brackets moved over. I was able to install my new speedo cable though which will be nice to see how many miles I can rack up on the new engine, oh and also tell the speed I'm going as well. Getting very close, hope to drop the motor in on Sat. Carb rebuild and dist upgrade coming soon. Still no word on my headers, its been about four weeks now. Hopefully soon. Next update will have some new pics.
 
Have you had issues with FRAM filter. In general or specific to Y Blocks? I never had, just asking.
 
In the past few years, there have been several complaints about the new Fram filters. The old ones from ten or more years ago were the good ones. I use Motorcraft on my Fords, and AC on my wife's Buick. I think almost anything is OK so long as it gets changed regularly. If you worry about big chunks being caught in the oil filter, your engine may be ready to die anyway.
 
Okay, hearing a lot of hate for FRAM. Can you give me actual examples of problems they have caused? I've used them for years on many vehicles with no issues so I'd like to hear why they suck so bad.
 
No personal experience, but too many bad stories, such as blown cans ,collapsed innards, faulty check valves, and generally poor filter media.
 
Fram filters are not much better than a discount store filter. I have seen a cutaway comparison of a Fram , a Napa, and an AC. The Fram was clearly the inferior product.
 
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