Going to look at a 54 convertible today and I noticed in the pictures that it has a Y block of course but the crossover pipe single exhaust. Didn't Ford put duals in these cars? I don't think a convertible would be an entry level car back then. Will standard 55 Ford ECG exhaust manifolds work on that car?

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Daniel:

I don't believe Ford offered factory duals until '55. The '55 and later manifolds will work, but if the car is a standard shift there is an interference issue with the clutch Z bar. A '55-'56 Z bar will make life a lot easier when making a left exhaust pipe.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Thanks John,

Just got back to the office here as the car was not too far away from me. Went out when I was getting lunch. Nice fella, but the car was a Frankenford unfortunately. 70B on the vin plate although there were obviously convertible specific parts all over the place. No title with the car either and of course there was quite a bit of bondo (which I expected). The outriggers were good, but the front crossmembers had been hacked up pretty good. Someone had tried to install some kind of a chevy subframe in it a few years back, only went half way, and then someone tried to correct by welding angle iron to that subframe to mount the 239 that sits in there now! Wild stuff.

Here is the craigslist site: http://martinsburg.craigslist.org/cto/4214483497.html



Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

As far as I know, the only ‘54 Fords that came with a factory dual exhaust would be the ones with the Police option that included the 256 engine. I had a ’54 Victoria that had the single exhaust with crossover which I put the ’55 Ford dual exhaust under. The necessary holes were already in the frame which allowed the ’55 Ford dual exhaust brackets, hardware, pipes, and mufflers to fit perfectly. As John brings up, the ’55 clutch bar helps with the clearance issues that can be encountered on the drivers side but I did manage to get by without changing that on my ’54 Victoria.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)