[65ELCMO]

I have been doing chevy powered street rods and chevy muscle cars but have a customer that wants to do a 56 ford 2 door wagon. What would be a good donner motor? What car do we look for to get a 302 and trans that would be a good match?

[327NUT]

Personally I would look in the bone yards for an old LTD or S/W and yank the 351 Windsor/C4, C6 or AOD. You have the cubes and there's lots of parts available for it.

[techinspector1]

Originally Posted by 65ELCMO

I have been doing chevy powered street rods and chevy muscle cars but have a customer that wants to do a 56 ford 2 door wagon. What would be a good donner motor? What car do we look for to get a 302 and trans that would be a good match?

Want to wow the troops down at the drive-in? Buy a complete '93-'97 Mark VIII Lincoln and use everything out of it. The 4.6 liter DOHC V8 is all aluminum. The motor is pretty wide, but should fit into the large engine bay of the '56. I've seen nice running, driving Mark VIII's here in Phoenix for under $2000. Use everything from the donor (wiring, computer, instruments, motor, trans, differential, radiator, cooling system, rear suspension, etc., etc.).

[adantessr]

Originally Posted by 327NUT

Personally I would look in the bone yards for an old LTD or S/W and yank the 351 Windsor/C4, C6 or AOD. You have the cubes and there's lots of parts available for it.

Yup . That's the way I'd go also . And the windsor is a small block like the 302 ,so you have lots of room to play with and more torque to haul that s/w around .

[Irelands child]

If you wanted to stay with the small block 'W' engines and had the choice between a 302/5.0 and a 351, hands down it would be the 351. Heads and camshafts are generally interchangeable, though not much else between the 221-302 family and the 351W though you do have a difference in firing order. A late 351(truck or PI) with the roller camshaft opens the door for reasonably priced SVT performance pieces, while using the iron GT40P heads that came on the Explorer and Excursion. If you want to stay carbed, Edelbrock Performer or Performer RPM intakes, an MSD or the Ford Duraspark work nicely. A C4 or AOD would probably work without floor/firewall mods, a C6 - they're BIG

Of course, as Tech said, the 4.6 would probably fit and be a great choice, but the '56 engine compartment and front frame are somewhat narrow in comparison to '57 and later so you might have to do some inner fender liner mods as well as floorboard to clear those big electronic controlled transmissions. Great option to consider though

If it already has a 'Y' block 272-312, they are also a very nice choice, look good and will run very well with a few up-to-date mods and mated to a later transmission.

Dave W

[65ELCMO]

Ok a 351 w sounds good. What year for a fuel injected one. the lincoln sounds interesting too.