When I built the little 292 T-bird engine a few years back I had my 317 Lincoln/Truck engine on the floor of my shop near it.GLHS60 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 5:08 am The Lincoln/Truck Engines featured a rear distributor like later Y blocks.
They were also intended to be rear sump like Fords previous Engines.
An Engineer put the cross member in the way forcing a front sump.
Only the T-bird received a proper rear sump as was Henrys tradition.
Finally, by 1991, Ford managed to build all rear sump OHC V8 Engines!!
Thanks
Randy
A person might not realize this but the Lincoln engine is actually a couple inches shorter than even the T-bird Y-block.
Ford has always been lost when it comes to designing the timing cover area in my opinion. The 317 Lincoln/Truck front cover is short sweet and simple. On the other hand the Ford Y-block is bulky, long and heavy.
That’s ^^^ where Ford engine’s fell down and out of favor with early swappers in my opinion. The front oil pumps weren’t as much of a hurdle in most chassis. Five years ‘35-‘40 were the ones with the shallower crossmember that would interfere with say a 289/302 oil pump. Model T to ‘34 and ‘41 to present day the small bump in the oil pan for the front mounted oil pump is not a problem.
Below are pics of a beautiful’40 Coupe with a 289 Hi Po and a Top Loader 4 speed and stock front suspension except for the addition of a ‘41-‘48 front crossmember and a slightly dearched front spring.
I spent a bunch of time and money back in the day to one up with a front cover mounted oil pump for Ford V8’s like a Coyote or LS has today. All for naught, because the problem wasn’t that big a deal and could be solved in a different way.