Those early 352 PI motors were monsters.  Their memory got lost in all the 390/427/428 FE noise. Back then, there was a lot of talk about FI Corvettes.  No 283 could run on the street with a 352 PI in a light Ford no matter how many carburetors, fuel injection units and German engineered cams you put on them.  The 348 was a truck engine.  409s were better, but mostly they were about the song. I love my 292, it's the great granddaddy of a multiple  Le mans winner.  You remember, the engine that sent Mr. Ferrari packing?   Every Y-Block was one step closer to that goal.   

April 1958 I took delivery of a new 1958 Ford convertible with the 352 Intercepter Special  engine with a Fordmatic transmission. 
I special ordered this car in December of 1957. The engine had solid lifters that required constant adjusting, possibly because
the accelerator was seldom off the floor. I often thought this engine was built " loose " from the factory. I never lost a street race
to C car 348/3 duece standard or automatic. Y-blocks were no problem either. I blew up this motor at about 40,000 miles, and the 
replacement motor was a dud, no power. With the top down and no passenger in the front seat, when the passenger seat blew
forward, the speedometer was always on 120 mph. 
I was only 19 years old when I bought this car. Memories of my first new car are still fresh.
 Ernie

I really enjoying reading posts on this subject.  Your knowledge is amazing. When I was a kid, Y-Blocks were in their last days.  We loved them because they were cheap, readily available and easy to work on.  One Saturday, someone brought a 300 HP 352 around for us to see.   It sounded great with the solid lifters clicking away.  That car could turn the back tires to mush.  I had a good friend who passed away a few years back that worked for Ford.  He had one of the few 1960 430 Thunderbirds made with a manual transmission.  He sold it before I got a chance to check it out. It's too bad Ford was so conservative back then.  They caught back up in the sixties. 

.. The following is just an observation, based on info from people who knew more about it than I, that Ford's power rating for the 1958- 4 Bbl 352's of 300 H.P. was a figment of some engineer's imagination!  I've heard estimates as low as 225 h.p for the standard 352 engine..Making them easy pickings in official Drag racing..

Don't forget there were two versions of the 1958 352, early production w/ solid lifters and machined combustion chambers and the later w/ hydraulic valve-train.

That may be the reason for the rating. The late 352 was de-tuned. I had a 1960 352/300HP and while it ran good it was no 300HP, the same rating as the replacing HYD 390 that also wouldn't get out of its' way.

Just observing ...

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Still, no real Cam  info on the 285 H.P. engine. However, in the specs it's listed for "Racing"  So, I still suspect, based on info from the 1960s that the Cam they were using or going to use, was likely the early E-2 from Iskendarian.. It was a somewhat popular Cam for Oval Track Y-Block's...
.. The following is just an observation, based on info from people who knew more about it than I, that Ford's power rating for the 1958- 4 Bbl 352's of 300 H.P. was a figment of some engineer's imagination!  I've heard estimates as low as 225 h.p for the standard 352 engine..Making them easy pickings in official Drag racing..           


Paul

I picked up on a lot of that info to Ted. Also interesting was a supercharger for the 58 T Bird. That would have been interesting. A 60 T Bird with the 430 Lincoln engine almost won the Datona 500 that year. Wonder how it would have done supercharged? The history is fascinating. The what if's more so.

That booklet provided by Richard Stuck is a gold mine of information regarding the supercharger program but also provides other juicy behind the scenes tidbits.  Those memos do indeed confirm that the 285HP program was in full swing.  It’s too bad that those cars that did get those 285HP engines did not have their own engine code and instead were simply grouped with the other E code vehicles receiving the 270HP engines.  While there are some production numbers in those memos regarding the 270HP engines, I did not see any production numbers for the 285HP engines that were being produced.  What is needed now is an original new car invoice for that car actually having the  285HP engine as part of the order.
 
Another interesting piece of information in those memos was the continuation of the supercharger program for 1958.  Based on those memos, there was going to be a supercharged 352 Interceptor engine.  With the A.M.A. resolution banning ‘high performance’, that program was shut down and that memo is also included.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I recall seeing these valve adjustment specs before somewhere. I have a 312 in my stash of parts with a regrind of that cam in it. If I ever get it running again I'll have to try those settings. I always ran it at .019 and it was fine. I ran that engine both with the single 4 barrel and the E dual quads. Seemed like it ran a little better than the single 4 barrel cam. The local dirt track racers used that cam a lot back in the late '60's.

It’s interesting that the Ford drawing for the EDB-D camshaft calls for 0.020” hot lash for the intakes and 0.025” hot lash for the exhausts.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

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