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By Jeffs54Merc - 16 Years Ago
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I have located two Turnpikes, one a '57 and the other a '58. They both have the 368 y-block in them. Are these engine any better or worse than the 292-312 engines? Are they harder to find parts for? Do they hold up?
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By Ted - 16 Years Ago
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The last year for the 368 should be 1957. For ’58, the M-E-L line of engines were introduced which would have included the 383, 410, and 430. The 383 was a Mercury only option while the 410 was an Edsel only option. The 430 was available in the Thunderbird, Mercury (Super Marauder), and the Lincoln. Performance parts and for that matter, just plain rebuild parts for the 368 engines are definitely harder to come by.
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By Flying Jester - 16 Years Ago
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If you think the Y-block is rare, the M-E-L is a white whale!
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By mctim64 - 16 Years Ago
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Flying Jester (11/30/2009)
If you think the Y-block is rare, the M-E-L is a white whale!Not so. Although not as easy to get parts for as the Ford Y or a Flathead, certainly not as hard as a Lincoln Y. I have built three MELs (two 462 and one 430) in the last year and a half and had no trouble getting parts. Now paying for them is another story, not cheep. 
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By Larry D - 16 Years Ago
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Egge Machine has the rebuild parts for all MEL and 317, 341 & 368 engines. The parts do cost more than the Y-Block.
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By gritsngumbo - 16 Years Ago
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mctim64 (11/30/2009)
Flying Jester (11/30/2009)
If you think the Y-block is rare, the M-E-L is a white whale!Not so. Although not as easy to get parts for asthe Ford Yor a Flathead, certainly not as hard as a Lincoln Y. I have built three MELs (two 462 and one 430) in the last year and a half and had no trouble getting parts. Now paying for them is another story, not cheep.
Just curious, what is the 462? A bored out 430?
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By mctim64 - 16 Years Ago
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gritsngumbo (12/2/2009)
mctim64 (11/30/2009)
Flying Jester (11/30/2009)
If you think the Y-block is rare, the M-E-L is a white whale!Not so. Although not as easy to get parts for asthe Ford Yor a Flathead, certainly not as hard as a Lincoln Y. I have built three MELs (two 462 and one 430) in the last year and a half and had no trouble getting parts. Now paying for them is another story, not cheep. Just curious, what is the 462? A bored out 430? More bore more stroke. 430 =4.3" x 3.7" 462 =4.38" x 3.83"
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By 46yblock - 16 Years Ago
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mctim64 (11/30/2009)
Flying Jester (11/30/2009)
If you think the Y-block is rare, the M-E-L is a white whale!Not so. Although not as easy to get parts for as the Ford Y or a Flathead, certainly not as hard as a Lincoln Y. I have built three MELs (two 462 and one 430) in the last year and a half and had no trouble getting parts. Now paying for them is another story, not cheep. With the stock Ford pistons didnt the 430s have 10.5 or 11 to 1 CR? What was the compression with replacement pistons?
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By mctim64 - 16 Years Ago
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The replacement pistons from Egge were definitely lower comp. although I didn't figure out just how much. The stock piston has a little angle pop-up with eyebrows for the valves, the replacement piston was flat strait across. For those who don't know the MEL has an angle deck like the scrub 348-409 with a flat cylinder head and the combustion chamber in the block. The pop-up does more than just raise the compression it gives a quench area so a flat piston may lower the the compression but you may have a detonation problem anyway, although no such problem was reported with this engine. here is the stock piston 
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By 46yblock - 16 Years Ago
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Tim, thanks for the pic. I had read the combustion chamber was formed by the piston, since the heads were flat and have wondered what the pistons looked like.
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By 46yblock - 16 Years Ago
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Correction, combustion chamber in block and not head. Do you have a picture of the top of the block?
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By mctim64 - 16 Years Ago
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Sorry, I don't have an extra block for a picture. I do have a few file photos but my computer crashed two weeks ago and all my pictures were stuck inside  My brother-in-law has saved them for me but has yet to ship all my files back, He's in San Diego, when I receive them I'll try to get some pictures up. Maybe someone else has some to post? 
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By Ted - 16 Years Ago
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Here are some MEL engine pics. The shiny new piston is a Wiseco that went into a 410 Edsel engine. 
 
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By BIGREDTODD - 16 Years Ago
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Not to completely swing this discussion over to the MEL family, but some interesting things were done with the configurations and the heads (at least on the Lincolns). It's been a few years since I was inside of one, but this is what I recall from Dad's '62, my old '64, and a '59 engine that we still have... 1958-1960 430's had a factory 4 barrel intake, and heads that had HUGE intake ports...and a rating of around 375 hp (+/-) 1961-1962 430's had factory 2 barrel intakes, and smaller intake ports...300-325 hp rating if I recall... 1963-later 430/462's went back to a 4 barrel manifold with the small ports... There are a hand full of speed parts around for MEL's but not too many...kick myself for not grabbing the 6x2 manifold from the guy we got our '59 430 from...
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By 46yblock - 16 Years Ago
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Yes we got away from the fine 368. But something about the MELs has always fascinated me. Maybe one man's description of a 430 Mercury Marauder with 3 300 cfm carbs. He said when the throttle was wide open on the street you could hear the hissing air 2 blocks away. Dont recall having the experience personally. A couple years ago I had a '59 Lincoln with whatever MEL it came with and was kind of excited about it, but a man bought the whole car 1 day after I receivd it.
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By Pete's Panel - 16 Years Ago
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On the lincoln 368 if the Y distributor is interchangable does that mean a MSD 8383 will also fit? Why are these called turnpike motors??
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 16 Years Ago
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Pete: I believe the 368 distributor gear has 15 teeth, Y has 14. Putting the 15 tooth gear on the Y distributor makes it work. Mercury built a car called "Turnpike Cruiser", it had the 368 in it.
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By Pete's Panel - 16 Years Ago
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Thanks John
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