I have a 56 Victoria that has been in my family since the early 60s.  This was my Dads car and I remember riding to elementary school in it.  Dad passed away in 1982 and I have had the car since.  Most of the years since 82 I have kept the car locked away in the garage.  With raising kids and working I never seemed to have the time or money to spend on her.  Now that my youngest has graduated college I have decided to dive off into the old Ford.  Now for the fun part.  At a recent family funeral, one of my uncles (my Dads old drinking buddy) was telling me some tall tales about all of the trick speed equipment inside of my y-block.  I know my Dad was an old dirt racer and my motor had been raced but I always thought all it had was a cam and some good heads. After all of these years I finally got the motor out and tore into it last night.  First the good:  It is a 292 block bored to 3.860.  I think this is .060 over 312.  More good, 113 heads with some porting.  The bad: standard cast crank (I was hoping for forged) with flat top pistons (I was hoping for pop ups like my drunk uncle said). The cam is a stock ford model instead of the special order Crane racing cam that above mentioned drunk uncle raved about.  Also I was surprised to find a set of mismatched rods. (3 seperate rods with the # 3 stamped on them).  Now for a few questions.  I have 2 other y blocks, one is a 292 from a 57 ranchero and the other is a 292 marine engine.  Would it be worth my time to tear these down to see if I have a better crank and rods or am I ok with what I have.  Also, what are the chances that the marine engine has a forged crank?  And lastley, I have the original 56 4 barrel intake with an adapter plate and a 600 holley.  Would I see a big difference if I went with the Blue Thunder?

Sorry about the lengthy post, just wanted to give the story behind the questions.

Any input or suggestions will be appreciated.

Later,

Timbo.