What the crap engine is this

[PetroleumJunkie412]

I know it's a Ford.

I know it and the trans are dirt cheap.

It's sitting in a 56 F100

I know it's not the original engine.

 

[19Walt93]

That's a 223, it was the generation before the 240/300. I don't know a lot about them, my father had a 61 wagon with a 223 when I was a kid and it had the oddest looking rocker arms I've ever seen.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Thank you Walt!

Next questions are will it fit in a second gen, and will it take a divorced transfer case.

I want to do the 300 build. But damnit. Price is too good.

 

[19Walt93]

That might have been the original engine if the truck was always a six cylinder. I like the way Y block V8's sound better.

 

[19Walt93]

Anything will fit if you can afford to make it. I'd really recommend finding a 300- or even a 240- instead, everything you could need for a 223 is going to be an expensive search.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

So, I'm being told by the current owner it's not a 223. He said valve cover has perimeter bolts ??‍

 

[sgtsandman]

I think the engine will be too long to fit without mods to the engine bay.

 

[adsm08]

The valve cover looks too short to be a 200.

The intake/exhaust manifold looks correct to a 223.

The 3rd gen engines, the 250 and 300, as well as the first gen engines, mostly had the distributor on the other side.

I have found some pictures of MERCURY 223s from the early 60s with perimeter bolts on the valve cover.

Most of the I6 engines are just two inches shorter than a Ranger engine bay from the back of the block to the tip of the fan. They will fit, but they will be tight.

 

[19Walt93]

It's a later 223, in the 60's they got perimeter valve cover bolts.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

There was a thread 1 or 2 years ago where a ford mechanic put a 300 in a ranger. It looked good but he didn't give to many details. There is some pics but again no real detail.

 

[G8orFord]

Headers? Really?
I'll defer to @19Walt93. I have no idea what engine it is, but if it's a Ford, it's the first I-6 Ford I remember seeing with the intake/exhaust on the driver's side.

 

[19Walt93]

Ford being Ford, there were a bunch of inline sixes that were unique. The 144,170, and 200 from the Faclon were externally similar but at least the 144 and maybe the 170 only had 5 main bearings, not 7 like the 200. Their bellhousing was only about a foot in diameter with the starter mounted high on the right, you could change it leaning over the fender without getting under the car. The 250 came out in 69 and looked a lot like a 170/200 but it had a taller deck height and used the 289/302 bellhousing face. The 240 and 300 look identical and also use the sbf bell housing face, a V8 flywheel/flex plate will bolt on, too. Then it will shake you off the drivers seat, as I found out after parts gave me a 302 flex plate for the 300 F100 I was working on.

 

[19Walt93]

I left out another odd ball. In 81 the 200 got a different bell housing face to allow the bigger, lockup convertor that would be used with the C5. Again, Ford being Ford, they didn't just use the sbf pattern like the 240, 250,300, 302, 351w and 351c, they created a new one for 81,2&3 only. I think you could use a sbf bell housing on the big bell 200 if you weren't squeamish about drilling and tapping holes into the water jacket or using only 4 bolts. The big bell 200 was down to 85hp so 4 7/16 bolts would probably have held it fine.