Hot rod engine

If you're one of those guys that insist on putting a SBC in an old Ford or Mopar and calling it a hotrod; Then Read no further. You will be shocked at what lights my candles.
The other day I got phone call from an old friend who was looking to sell a motor so he could clean out his shop more. I perked right up and traded him an old car for this motor. Anyhow, it is safely in my shop now and I'm surveying what I got and what I didn't get. This old V-8 is unique, so what is missing is important. The motor is a Lincoln Y-block, 317 ci. displacement. The motor looks sorta like a biggish Ford Y-block, but very few things interchange. This is a very cool hotrod motor, but it is also a white elephant in that it may not be usable because it has no flywheel and no starter. A Ford Y-block starter bolts on but the flywheel has to have a bigger circumference than a standard Ford, to engage the starter.
I think I can bolt a world class T-5 on the bellhousing.
Here is the motor.

I think they used the same engine in some ford big trucks and that one looks suspiciously like it might be truck with the raised fan. Also if you snoop around, seems like most (all?) of the Lincoln ones had finned aluminum valve covers. Like these
https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/spg/sh...Be0Zg.jpg&sp=7ae8efe13ee46f1b136e144e5a8f8994

A good cleaning and inspection is in order. As far as getting it to a usable state that just requires money and ambition. A custom flywheel is easily made to whatever specs you want but it may cost you $500-$750. Kiesler can do both a flywheel and bell housing for you. The fly wheel may require you to bring the crank, rods, pistons and front hub to make sure the balance is good. Cool piece none the less. [P

I've seen a few of those motors before but could never understand the reasoning for connecting the exhaust banks! Cool motor though! [cl

Zipper

Y block lincoln

We got a 46 ford 3/4 ton , no bed with a lincoln Y block. It has the lincoln script valve covers and the :car water pump. I've never tried to start it or even turn the motor over, I should pull the plugs and squirt in some oil. An older farmer was working on it, the drive line installed and when he passed away his kids called the local salvage yard to come and get it. It was X ed with red paint to crush. the yard owner saw my son in the store and said he needed some help to crush cars. his help didn't show up We traded help for some grandmay cars low milage big chevy 4 doors with V8 autos for donors, a 46 international, a 41 chevy pickup, a 401 nailhed /auto..with only 15 minutes run time after a rebuild. fined brakes and anything we wanted off the X ed cars.

the 46 ford had been hit a few times in the wrecking yard by kid forklift drivers so my son took the back half of the front fenders to make the 30's style indy car nose for his 22 dodge lakester

Cool piece fer sure. 1955 Ford 272 Y was my first engine build when I was 14, so a flash from the past for me. I put the heads on the wrong side and thought the water pump holes had healed up. Learning the hard way. They used the Y for a long time and there should be parts still around. Check Ebay--they got it all.

TIMOTHALE said:

We got a 46 ford 3/4 ton , no bed with a lincoln Y block. It has the lincoln script valve covers and the :car water pump. I've never tried to start it or even turn the motor over, I should pull the plugs and squirt in some oil. An older farmer was working on it, the drive line installed and when he passed away his kids called the local salvage yard to come and get it. It was X ed with red paint to crush. the yard owner saw my son in the store and said he needed some help to crush cars. his help didn't show up We traded help for some grandmay cars low milage big chevy 4 doors with V8 autos for donors, a 46 international, a 41 chevy pickup, a 401 nailhed /auto..with only 15 minutes run time after a rebuild. fined brakes and anything we wanted off the X ed cars.

the 46 ford had been hit a few times in the wrecking yard by kid forklift drivers so my son took the back half of the front fenders to make the 30's style indy car nose for his 22 dodge lakester

Click to expand...

Cool use for jailbar fenders!! They have some great compound curves. I keep pieces of them just for patching.

lincoln Y parts

ford Kept the major dimensions on engines so they could use the multi-million dollar machinery. A small block ford was developed to use car y block machinery. I remember when guys would use a forged Y block crank to build a stroker small block. Lincoln Y block machinery was used for the FE series engines. MEL 368 383-430 was used to develope the 429-460 engines The guys on the Y block forums would probably know what parts inerrchage or can be modified.
car engines into farm tractors I read that an internation tractor flywheel and clutch fit the lincoln Y. buts there are lots of different tractor engines.

mercman truck motor.

It looks like the long carb studs allow a speed governor to fit under a carb.

Thanks guys, for all of the interest shown and the information.
WB, I'm sure it's a truck motor, with the big fan pulley, the deep bellhousing, and what looks like Cargo King instead of Lincoln written on the valve covers. There are lots of pictures with Lincoln written on tin covers so they must have come out in cars that way too.
JFG, I will look into this Kiesler company, thank you for that. Do you see why I said this motor is sorta like a white elephant; 'looks cool but will cost you a fortune to have anything functional'.
Zipper, on the Ford Y-blocks the really cool looking dual exhaust manifolds had a drawback. The left-hand one shot fire right onto the steering box of any Ford truck you put a Y-block into. We always had to put a right-hand one on the left side, backwards and run the exhaust down in front of the motor, then back.
THALE, thanks for the info that FE blocks evolved from Lincoln Y's, because I have some FE's that I can rob parts off to see if I get a better bellhousing or flywheel. There is an adapter plate on top of the intake so a bigger carb can be used.

MercuryMac said:

Zipper, on the Ford Y-blocks the really cool looking dual exhaust manifolds had a drawback. The left-hand one shot fire right onto the steering box of any Ford truck you put a Y-block into. We always had to put a right-hand one on the left side, backwards and run the exhaust down in front of the motor, then back.

Click to expand...

MM,
Thanks for the explain, makes sense but kind of a crazy workaround! Saw a similar setup at a car show and everyone was talking about it and trying to figure out what was up! [S

Zipper

Very cool motor. Id find a way to use it for sure!

A neat engine for sure. Interesting to see how similar it is to the Ford Y Block yet different enough to prevent interchanging parts. At least they corrected the goofy under/over Ford intake ports to a more normal side by side configuration. Some time ago there was a thread here that delved into the South American produced Ford Y Block engines which were produced until the late 60's I think - intake ports evenly spaced like a SB Ford but still using the same 2 bolt valve covers - sort of a hybrid Y/SB.....

BOAT ANCHOR! (No offense, Mac... just have to rib ya once in a while. )

So, it's a 317 "Cargo King". Is the truck version different from the passenger car? I have no idea, just wondering if its a "typical" industrial engine based on the Lincoln... meaning, heavy rotating assembly, 80 pound flywheel, slow spinning, red-lining and out of breath at 3500 RPM?

.

I'd clean it up paint it Ford Engine Red and put a 6 foot diameter 1" thick piece of plexiglass on it and use it for a picnic table.

Here's some info on Lincoln Y blocks

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

http://ford-y-block.com/lincoln.htm

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/any-50s-lincoln-y-block-experts.693164/

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1158414-lincoln-y-blocks-what-parts-interchange.html

Wow, I didn't realize they made those in so many different displacements.

Well, the FE bellhousing idea was good, but not good enough. I dug an old bell out of a shed and measured it, woo-boy it looked good, so I brought it up to the shop and bolted it onto the motor. The first bolt lined up really well; the second one, not so good. The centering dowels didn't work out either. Everything was horribly close but just slightly [1/32"] off. By the time I got to the fifth hole away from the first bolted one, the bolt holes were 1/4" out.
The FE bellhousing is about 3/4" shallower than the Lincoln one, so the transmission input shaft would reach the clutch, which is kinda nice in a hotrod.
My healthy Zeal for a Ford in a Ford is shaken tonight. I'm trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear, not a boat anchor into a hotrod motor.
Dr. Crank, you guessed right about this being the industrial version with the heavy rotating assembly and low compression, but you're 80lbs. too heavy on the flywheel. Mine doesn't weigh anything- it's not there.
ZZ I sure do like the Ford Y-blocks, so I'll look into those South American ones. I sorta got revved up talking to the guy who was selling this motor, and now I'm coming down, down, down.
NO Blue, this is going to be a HOTROD motor, not a coffee table.
Thanks for the info Bam.

Found some pics of the modified Y Block produced in Argentina - SB Windsor type ports with the normal Y Block valve cover and shaft rockers - actually produced 'till 1981 !! Also some wild aluminum heads of similar design - best lookin' Y Block ever!

I love seeing engines being used like yours!!*******