Which are the cylinder wall thicknesses for the different Lincoln Y-blocks, such as the 279, 302. 332. 317, 341 and 368?Has the 368 thinner cylinder walls?


1955 Mercury

Lincoln blocks are subject to core shift just like Y Blocks and FEs so it is always prudent to sonic check the block. That being said, convetional wisdom says most blocks will take a .125 overbore. The small bore blocks do not necessarily have thicker walls than a 368.

As far as differences the 302/332 have a forged crank 4bbl intake with conventional Holley bolt pattern. They use a Holley distributor with a governor. The cam is gear driven so it turns counter clockwise. Truck engines use solid lifters. Truck heads have small ports and most have sodium filled exhaust valve stems. Rods and rocker arms are the same as the car engines. The truck motors use a 8 qt rear sump pan.

Harry and I are likely the only ones on this site with cylinder wall sonic testers. Not sure about Harry, but I have sonic tested very few LYB engines and the last one of those was a 332 LYB back in 2004. A copy of the data sheet for that one is no longer in the files.

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Because of core shift within the various oem blocks, it’s tough to make assumptions about cylinder wall thicknesses in a particular family of blocks as a whole. Because of that, any blocks that are going to be heavily bored are sonic tested first so that any preconceived notions about the actual cylinder wall thicknesses can be substantiated or eliminated. Those preconceived notions are typically proven wrong. If there is a substantial amount of core shift, then the sonic test data is helpful in ‘offset boring’ the cylinders in order to better equalize the cylinder wall thicknesses.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Has anybody ever put a 368 Lincoln in a Ford? Is there a manual transmission set up availale? Is there any hot rod parts available? All in all, how did it work out? 

Doing Fords for 45 years. '56 Customline Victoria

E.J. in Havana FL