You never know what you will find inside..





I finally decided to pull the engine in my 56 Merc parts car. Since it's a Merc naturally I assumed it was a 312, and all exterior signs suggested the engine had never been out of the car. An armor of oil drippings mixed with Nebraska gravel dust has pretty much rounded off any details, The block now appearing as a gray brown lump between the frame rails. With it's pristine valve covers and air cleaner, all the linkage and plumbing in the proper places, I was sure it had not been messed with. So, on last Sat afternoon I jacked it up, and slid underneath to unhook everything... A very dirty nasty job on a car that has been outside for 20 years. Late in the afternoon I pulled it out and wheeled it into the garage. Hanging there on the chain ,nothing looked out of the ordinary. I pulled the drain plug in the pan, and was greeted by about a cup of water, followed by some nasty black glop that was once oil. While waiting for the oil to drain, I scraped some of the crud off one head to check the numbers... It should be C heads...right? UH OH ...C1TEs ...what the heck? Well, maybe somebody just swapped out the heads at some point, rather than do a valve job.. Now I gotta see what's on the crank flange.. The problem is that ridiculous monstrosity of a torque converter is in the way.. and there are like 30 bolts holding it together, and no way to get a socket or an air wrench on them. I had to try 3 of my box end 1/2 inch wrenches, before I found one that I could squeeze in there. Of course they required wrenching all the way till the last thread. I was down to the last 3, before I realized that the converter is held to the drive disc by only 6 of them.... DUH.... Anyway, I got the plate off hoping to see a crescent and notch with a dot signifying 312 crank... But nooooo..only a crescent, nothing else. I was baffled so I consulted Mummerts site for clarification.. He shows all the various crank flange configurations, and the crescent only is listed as a 239..WTF!! All this work for bad heads and a worthless crank! Now I am desperate. Maybe a standard bore block will salvage the effort.. I scratch around on the block and come up with EDB-E. Again consulting the Mummert reference, it lists 292 fords and 312 Mercs. Maybe there is hope . I begin stripping the stuff off the block. Balancer, water pump, motor mounts. I wrench off the oil filter, and notice is is not a canister but a cartridge type... As I was begining to take out the pan bolts, my eye wandered to a spot under the driver side motor mount, behind the breather and just above the oil pickup tube. It's a hole! ... in the skirt of the block! How did I miss that! Now I am bummed, I drop the tools, take a shower, and grab a 1/2 gallon of ice cream for comfort.



On Sunday, I went back down to Clean up the mess, and load up what at this point was just a pile of cast iron... I thought I might as well pull the heads off and see what's in there... Off come the valve covers... Hmm really clean under there...that's interesting... The heads come off and I notice shim gaskets with old style shellac dressing on them.. The bores look nice, and the flat top pistons have almost no carbon... Well is it a 292 or 312? I put a caliper on the bore and it reads 3.83. Well, no such thing as a .055 over 292 so we have a 312 block, albeit mortally wounded. I figure there is still hope for a crank... I pulled the pan off and I see the cause of the block hole. #5 rod is a pretzel. The rod cap fractured in the center and the piston is broken at the pin boss.. BUT...the main caps are ECZ.. Redemption! After much pounding and swearing, the crank is free.. A quick check of the main size reveals 2.615.. Stamped on one of the counter weights is .10 X .10.. So, we have rebuilt unit.. The bearings look in great shape. In fact given the price of new 312 mains, I am saving these. Just because, I decided to beat the pistons out of the block.. I looked one over, expecting to see .030 for a 30 over size. Nothing is visible, so I hit it with the wire wheel, and faintly stamped is .045.. I checked another and the same stamping.. I rechecked the bore and sure enough it is 3.845. The pistons have FoMoCO and ECZ cast into the underside. Anyone ever seen such an odd oversize?



I feel a little better.. In fact I am going to clean the block and look it over a little more. The hole is in a non structural area and could be patched if the rest of the block is OK.



Two puzzles remain, and maybe John or others can shed some light.. One is the strange marking on the crank flange, no notch and dot, which I thought was on every 312 crank.. The other is the odd ball oversize bore..

If anyone can add some insight I am all ears. Oh, the C1TEs are free to good home.