I thought I'd start a new thread on this, for those that don't get Y BLOCK MAGAZINE. This is an early 239 looking at cylinder #4. The water passage is at about 2 o'clock. The black magic marker circle is where the water passage is located in newer blocks. To use a newer head on an early block, you need to drill a hole in the block so it lines up with the newer heads. This must be done at #4 and #8.



Be careful when drilling so as not to break off a drill bit in the block.



There's very little coverage with the head gasket at this new water passage location. The newer blocks have a triangular casting at that point. I took the block to a welder and had him weld some triangular gussets for me staying below the deck surface.



I then filled in the area with epoxy and sanded flush with the deck surface.



My 239 is bored +.125 and has a 312 crank in it. I put G heads on it so it flows a little better. Hopefully I'll have time to change the intake from my 354 to a 573 this winter.

  Dennis in Lititz PA

Hmmmm...  the 239 came with a 3.50 bore... + .125 over bore... equals 3.625... with a 312 crank...  About 283 cubic inches, Dennis?

The .125 overbore sounds extreme, but.. the '54 Merc 256 was a 3.620 bore and used the same crank as the Ford 239.  I assume that the block castings were related, although the casting numbers were different.

WoW!  Talk about boring and stroking an engine!  1/8 inch over bore,  almost an 11/32 stroke increase!

Way to go, Dennis! 


NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

Did you line bore the block out, or turn the 312 crank mains to make them fit the 239 block?

Is there a reason you don't  use a 292?  You're surely starting from scratch.


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

 We turned the 312 mains down to 292 size.

  Dennis in Lititz PA

Paul, it's been a year and a half since I did this. It's just something I wanted to try. I had enough money invested in this motor I didn't want to abandon it and start new. I guess I'm just a little different.

  Dennis in Lititz PA

Dennis, very good work and description of what you did with the 239. I have a question. Which head gasket did you use and did you have to modify the gasket in any way?

Pat in AZ

Pat, I used the 272/292 head gasket. It covers up the 239 water port that gets abandoned and the black circle in the 1st picture is the tracing from the 272/292 gasket so I knew where to drill. You have to drill at an angle towards the cylinder wall.

  Dennis in Lititz PA

I know my response is late, but thank you for the answer regarding the head gasket you used.

Pat in AZ