Was the Y-Block introduced in 1954 designed to replace previous flathead?

[bullrunmotor]

Just wondering if ford designed the Y-Block series as a replacement for the prior flatheads as far as being a bolt in change?

[fordor41]

y block is it's own animal. there is nothing that is interchangeable between f/h and y block as far as I know.

[Dobie Gillis]

Motor mounts and crossmembers are entirely different. Of course it can be done but not without some fairly significant surgery.

[40cpe]

Back in the late '50s as a teenager I put a 239 from a '54 Victoria in my '37 coupe. I used an adaptor for the transmission, a Hurst motor mount that bolted the the front of the engine to stock motor mounts, and a truck oil pan. If I remember correctly, the only thing I had to fabricate was a generator mount and the exhaust. After all that, it didn't run any better than the flathead.

[Daves55Sedan]

When I was a little kid, my mom and dad had a pea-green '51 Mercury bathtub. Somewhere in the early '60's the old flathead wouldn't go anymore so dad went to the junkyard and got a Y-block out of a later '50's Ford. He had to cut-off the original motor mounts, make new ones and weld them in. Also required a adaptor plate to bolt the old hydramatic transmission to the back of the y-block.

[Big Red 51]

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Yes, and the '54 OHV still was 239CI but HP went up.

[rotorwrench]

Both Ford and Mercury Y-blocks had the same basic cubic inch displacement as respective flathead V8s in 1954 except the Merc was considered a 256 instead of a 255. It didn't take them long to figure out that that was a mistake. The Ford & Mercury Y-blocks were smaller than the Lincoln and truck Y-blocks but not by a lot. There were heavy for their displacement so Ford started bumping them up for 1955.

There is no comparison of the oil pan arrangement or the bell housing bolt up on the back between the flathead & Y-block. The engine mountings are a lot different as well. They did use similar transmission bolt up patterns on the back of the bell but that was about it.

[JimNNN]

Until I put the spin on oil filter adapter on my '54 239, I was frequently reminded of how poor a physical fit the Y block was in that generation of full size Ford...at least for the purposes of an oil filter change. My car had to be jacked up and the steering wheel turned all the way (left or right, I can't remember) in order for the canister style filter set up to clear the steering linkage. What a pain. I presume the flathead filter wasn't as difficult to change in the '52's and '53's, but I honestly don't know.

And to make matters worse, the canister and gasket had to be seated PERFECTLY up against the engine mating surface or the oil would all run out on to the driveway when the engine was restarted. Not easy to do correctly. You also had to clean the bypass relief valve tube every time you changed the oil.

[scicala]

Hi bullrunmotor, did you get all of the information that you needed ?

Sal