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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Hi all, my name is Betsy and have a 54' Ford Customline I call Kruella! She has a 223 in her and Its been almost a week since I bought a 312 Y Block. Going to rebuild and drop her in the 54' gonna need some advice and help. I am new to place!
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By Rono - 10 Years Ago
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Betsy;
Welcome to the forum! There is no shortage of knowledge here when it comes to Y Blocks. Just ask away and good luck with your project!
Rono
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By slick56 - 10 Years Ago
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Hello Betsy, and welcome.
Where are you located?
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Kansas
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Thank you
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By paul2748 - 10 Years Ago
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Welcome. I did just what you plan to do - a 312 in a 54 Ford, although my 54 was an original V8 car which made things easier.
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Paul that is badass, love my 54! Bought her when I was 17-18 and now 26 I never want to get rid of her! Did pretty much wverything on her other than the trany work
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By NoShortcuts - 10 Years Ago
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Welcome to the Forum, Betsy.
Your '54 sedan looks great. Déjà vu for me. My first ever car purchase was a '54 Mainline business coupe from Arizona. Business coupes came with no back seat. Like Paul, mine was originally a V-8 with standard trans linkage when produced. Purchased with no engine or trans, I initially installed a '54 239 with 3 speed overdrive, added a '54 Merc intake and carb and found that '55 Ford dual exhaust manifolds cleared the clutch linkage. My first ever engine rebuild was a '56 Merc 312 for it. My recollection is that the registration weight on the car was 3100 lbs.
We're going way back on this... I remember changing the steering wheel because it was soooo big. I also remember swapping the spindle steering arms using '56/'57 'Bird arms to improve the steering ratio.
Regards,
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By glrbird - 10 Years Ago
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Congrats Betsy on not wanting to shove a late model engine in it. lots of parts can be had at http://www.ford-y-block.com/ and lots of part numbers. You have a great looking car, what are your plans for the future other than the engine swap. Disk brakes would be helpful when you get your 312 installed. Good luck!
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By Y block Billy - 10 Years Ago
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Welcome to the site Betsy! A couple things I can think of you may need is the 54 style front mount, Y block style Bell housing, (you dont state if your car is standard or auto) Congrats on putting a peroid correct motor in there and keeping it all Ford.
As far as disc brakes go I am a non beleiver in them, every vehicle I have with disc shakes like a SOB when stopping hard, just picked up an 04 taurus as a winter beater and the first attention I have to give to it is new disc in the front it shakes so bad. Drums work fine when maintained well, they never put disc on dump trucks and drums stop them fully loaded.
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By charliemccraney - 10 Years Ago
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Awesome! I got my truck when I was 17, too, now 31. I'd get rid of it for the right price. But no one who is sane would seriously offer me that "right price," it's a whole lot more than it is worth.
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By NoShortcuts - 10 Years Ago
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Another thought, Betsy. IF you haven't already, you may want to consider joining the '54 Ford Club
From an ad in Y-Block Magazine...
'54 Ford Club of America
-Hundreds of '54 Fords, Quarterly Newsletter, Technical advice, Resource information, Annual dues $20, Bi-annual convention
Tom Hoskins - President
1400 W. Mayfield Rd.
Suite 340
Arlington, Texas 76015
phone 817-466-8088
email - HoskinsTom@yahoo.com
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By Talkwrench - 10 Years Ago
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Welcome aboard and be amongst this fine band of misfits..
Go girl!
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By CK - 10 Years Ago
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Hi and welcome.
Kruella looks cruisey
And as you know it all takes time and effort, was it always the dream to have Kruella a V8?
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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@GRLBIRD - Thanks, I have always thought Y Blocks were badass. Always wanted to do a flathead v8 with a three deuce and so on, but they stopped making flatheads in 53', wanted to be correct on the year. LOVE FLATHEADS! Gonna be my next tattoo. Future plans, are finishing the last of the upholstery, paint, touching up dash, detail work, definately getting the motor rebuilt (just picked it up last night). I have disc brakes on there now (granada) will make it easier when I purchase the drop kit.
@Y BLOCK BILLY - automatic, talking about the motor mounts?
@CharlieMcCraney - I first purchased her when I was at a car show in St. Jo, Missouri. $3700. Had $1500 dollars down on her and it was just a dream come true. still have the holley glass bowl carburetor on her, when I first test drove her she was overflowing and so on. pretty easy fix carb kit and it was the needle and seat. The guy had no idea what the hell was going on and I thought I got a good buy for it!
@NoShortcuts - Thank have heard of your club, and we will see.
@TalkWrench - Thank you im excited!!!!!!!!!!!
@CK - Yes it was, when I bought her and as of right now she has the 223 in her and its a cool motor dont get me wrong but man it needs to be rebuilt its really doggy. I love it and am thinking of saving it so if I ever want to do a three deuce on the 223 for something different after the y block. Also, the Fordomatic tranny is of course air cooled like the other "matic" Trannys. It over heats and shit and im done with it. shit pisses me off, last night tho I picked up my 312 and after I am done on here I am going to go start taking her apart! 
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Brought this home last night. Bought from a friend and it came out of a 57' T Bird. (So he says) I am learning about Y-blocks, possibility the info could be wrong. Friend I bought it from has more parts I have to pick up that came with it, like 600 Edelbrock Carb, alternator and linkage and blah, blah... I had to hug it as soon as I got home!
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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By carl - 10 Years Ago
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MissVanDeVille (10/31/2014)
Brought this home last night. Bought from a friend and it came out of a 57' T Bird. (So he says) I am learning about Y-blocks, possibility the info could be wrong. Friend I bought it from has more parts I have to pick up that came with it, like 600 Edelbrock Carb, alternator and linkage and blah, blah... I had to hug it as soon as I got home! Does not have t bird thermostat housing,dip stick in wrong location,exhaust manifolds not correct,wrong harmonic balancer, just noticed at first glance Carl
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By pintoplumber - 10 Years Ago
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I see a wide motor mount up front from a 60's truck. The crossover single exhaust is probably from a truck also. I'd guess it's not a 312.
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Well damn if thats the case prob a 292? Gonna look for the casting number to check and see.
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Also, the guy I bought it from said it came out of a truck but did come out of a t-bird tho, i gotta do some checking
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By charliemccraney - 10 Years Ago
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That's just a typical 50+ year old used Y-Block. The mounts do look like truck mounts. The thermostat housing is for a car. There's no telling what it is until you dig deeper.
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By Ted - 10 Years Ago
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Betsy. Welcome to the site. And congratulations on your recent Y engine purchase. As some of the others have alluded to, there are now more Thunderbird engines in existence than was originally produced. In identifying your particular engine externally without a tear down, I’ve only found one identifier that is a positive for your engine being a 312 and that is the 5/16” dot on the flywheel flange of the crankshaft. Not having that identifier though can still have this engine having a 312 crankshaft as there were 312 cranks produced without any identifiers on the crankshaft flange.
Block casting numbers are not positive identifiers as I’ve seen 292’s with the 312 block numbers and 312’s with 292 casting numbers which leaves positive identification in doubt until the engine is torn down. With the heads off of the engine, then a bore and stroke check can put you closer to positively identifying your engine but even this can be misleading depending upon what was done in previous rebuilds.
With the oil pan off, then looking at the main caps can also help to positively identify the block as either a 312 or a non 312 block. If the caps have ‘ECZ’ on them, then you are looking at a 312 block. If the caps have ‘EBU’ on them, then you are looking at any of the other Y-Blocks that were built including the 272 and 292 combinations. There are the rare cases where an EBU main capped block was bored by a rebuilder or racer to fit the 312 crankshaft main size but those are indeed rare. It’s much easier to grind the 312 mains down and fit the crankshaft to a 292 block than going the other way around which involves reboring the 292 main bore to the 312 size.
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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312! ECZ 6015A
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By NoShortcuts - 10 Years Ago
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Ted has given a good overview of the challenge of identifying a 312 engine. Realize that 312s were an optional V-8 offering in Ford passenger cars in '56 and '57, used in the majority of '56 and '57 T-Birds (auto trans and 3 speed overdrive originally equipped 'Birds), the standard equipment engine in '56 and '57 Mercs. and the base V-8 option in '58-'60 Mercs. No FoMoCo trucks were ever produced with 312 engines.
There's nothing wrong with a 292 engine. For some applications, 292 have structural advantages over 312 engine blocks. I.M.O.the advantage of y-blocks over other engine series is their propensity for producing significant torque curves for their original displacement sizes.
To add to what he's said about engine block casting numbers here is some info. from John Mummert's web site, http://www.ford-y-block.com in the Technical section...
NOTE: 6015 is Ford's number for an engine block. All blocks have this number. The Y-block FoMoCo engine block identification number is generally on the side of block above the oil filter for blocks cast at Cleveland. Dearborn cast block I.D. number is near the ignition distributor and above the generator. Most Dearborn blocks were used in trucks. No Dearborn blocks were produced after 1957.
292 and 312 Blocks were machined from the same castings with the same markings. If the engine block has EBU main bearing caps it is a 292, if it has ECZ main caps it is a 312.
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By NoShortcuts - 10 Years Ago
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MissVanDeVille (11/1/2014)
Congrats to me its a 312! ECZ 6015A
YES... UNLESS you are only going by the engine block casting numbers...
____________________________
YEAR CASTING# Cu.In. Int.valve Carb. VEHICLES
'56 ECZ-A 292/312 1.78" 4bbl 56 Ford, Merc & T-Bird
1956 ECZ 6015 A engine block
Check the crankshaft main caps...
- with EBU maincaps =292
- with ECZ main caps =312
OR
Check the crankshaft rear flange...
____________________________
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By lyonroad - 10 Years Ago
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Also the rear main seal retainer will be ECZ-6335-A for a 312 but you should know by the time you get to it.
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Ok so after tearing apart the motor more I found, the heads had the CF logo from the Cleveland foundry and ecz - c side of heads, sorry I am a dumbass about this but I gotta learn, I will tear down more tomorrow... this is the farthest I got! will get to the crank shaft and more tomorrow. Thank you so much guys, this is a heart racing journey.... )
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By Rono - 10 Years Ago
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Betsy;
Learning curves are usually a challenge, take your time. From John Mummert's Head Casting Chart http://www.ford-y-block.com/cylinderheadchart.htm you can see that the ECZ-C heads were cast in 1956, but could have been used in pickups, Ford Cars, Mercury's or T Birds. When you take the valve covers off, you should be able to also see casting numbers on the rocker arms which should tell you what ratio you have 1.43:1 or 1.54:1. Once you get the bellhousing and flywheel off and can see the crankshaft flange, that will give you a good idea if you have a 312 or not. ENJOY!!
Rono
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Lol, thanks so much Rono
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By Y block Billy - 10 Years Ago
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Hi Betsy, Good news! although Mummerts site list that an ECZ block can be 292, I have dismantled about a half dozen ECZ blocks and all turned out 312's so chances are very high that you do have a 312!
The downfall is, parts are scarcer and more expensive for 312's and they are prone to cracking in the main web areas due to the larger mains. Read Mummerts Y block assembly errors page! May want to magnaflux in those areas.
The C heads are a great all around middle of the road head, however the G's, 113's, 471's and B9's have the larger intake valves.
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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Thanks Billy! Here is a few photos from last night!
 http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/uploads/images/a42c4f6c-6325-4f20-873c-
18d6.jpg">
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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By glrbird - 10 Years Ago
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How about a picture of the crankshaft flywheel flange. Even if it is a 292 it can still be made into a great road worrier that will push you 54 down the road with ease.
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By MissVanDeVille - 10 Years Ago
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I will be taking that apart tonight, the pics I posted were the farthest I got. My day job has been keeping me away!  I am pretty damn confident after all the other numbers I have found it's a 312...
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