170 tech

[BetsyBabe64]

I did a light search through the forum and couldn't find anything to answer my questions, so I decided to make this thread. This might be silly, but I don't know, and my Falcon handbook doesn't say either.

I was wondering, how big can my 170 engine be bored out to ? what's the limit ?

The 144 - 200 heads are all interchangeable right ? So does that mean I can put a 200 head in my 170 ? Will the compression all come out good ?

 

[FalconSedanDelivery]

.060 is the safe limit

 

[BetsyBabe64]

oh darn. I'm almost positive that's what mine is bored out to right now.

What exactly does 0.60 mean ? Is that like a little bit more then half of an inch ?
So cubic feet is like the block and the heads together right ? well if it's at 0.60, what does that make it then ? 170.5 or something lol ? i'm confused. Sorry.

What i'm getting at is this: I wanna make my 170 CUI 3 on the tree scream as loud as it can. I guess my only options are to do dual exhaust with headers, a nice electrical system and a carb with 2 or 4 barrels ? From 105 HP, what's the highest i can possibly go with a 3 on the tree 170 ?

 

[Lazy JW]

......
What exactly does 0.60 mean ? Is that like a little bit more then half of an inch ?
So cubic feet is like the block and the heads together right ?.....

Ummmmm........ the number quoted above by FalconSedanDelivery is .060" which means 60 one-thousandths of an inch (just under 1/16 of an inch).

0.60 is indeed a bit over half of an inch, but no Ford 170 can be bored anywhere near that much. Gotta watch those pesky decimals.

The 170 denotes the displacement of the pistons in the cylinders; this means 170 Cubic Inches, not cubic feet. The size of the head has no effect on the displacement.
Joe

 

[powerband]

I did a light search through the forum and couldn't find anything to answer my questions, so I decided to make this thread. This might be silly, but I don't know, and my Falcon handbook doesn't say either.

I was wondering, how big can my 170 engine be bored out to ? what's the limit ?

The 144 - 200 heads are all interchangeable right ? So does that mean I can put a 200 head in my 170 ? Will the compression all come out good ?

The 170 can't practically be bored out to increase it's displacement. The overbore for cleaning up a scored cylinder max is usually .040 as far as readily available replacaement parts. Overbore for adapting other pistons is done and in the case of severe mods like this limits can be exceeded .

If puttting a performance small six together is your interest , consider starting out with a engine block whichh will match up readily with a modern drivetrain. Later 170's,200's and the 250 show up for sale or free often.

The small six heads will all fit any of the engines but different chamber size, intake runners, valve size, previous work etc, make some more desirable for performance building simple replacement repair often ignores.



D6xx 250 cid six with .070 overbore for Hi-Compression dished pistons makes for @ 258 cid.

 

[rocklord]

I did a light search through the forum and couldn't find anything to answer my questions, so I decided to make this thread. This might be silly, but I don't know, and my Falcon handbook doesn't say either.

I was wondering, how big can my 170 engine be bored out to ? what's the limit ?

The 144 - 200 heads are all interchangeable right ? So does that mean I can put a 200 head in my 170 ? Will the compression all come out good ?

The limit for overbore is 0.060 inch. That would give you 175.5 cubic inches of displacement.

The 144, 170, 200, and 250 heads are interchangeable. The problem is the 200 and 250 heads will have larger combustion chambers which will decrease the compression ratio on the smaller 144 and 170 engines; this can be corrected by milling the head.

One of the disadvantages of upgrading a 170 engine from your year Falcon is that it has only 4 main bearings, whereas the 200s and some 170s after 1965 have seven main bearings. The easiest way to increase displacement is to replace your 170 with a 65+ 200.
If you want to keep your 170, then do a basic rebuild on the bottom end, and replace the head with a later 200 or 250 with larger valves.

Hope this helps.

 

[69.5Mav]

If you can find the right 200 crank to fit your 170 combined with your 0.060 overbore you could get 186 cubic inches or a 6.3% increase. Hardly seams worth it.

I'd go with making it breath better and if you still want more a turbo or blower.

 

[BetsyBabe64]

no way, you can add a turbo or a blower (supercharger right?) to something as small as a 170CUI ? Would that require a different rear end ? If so, which one ? What about transmission ? Would my stock 3 on the tree be able to handle a turbo ? I'd need a tach huh ?

Thanks for all the replies so far everyone !

 

[bubba22349]

Yes you sure could that’s the beauty of the turbo's many sizes that could be added to any engine. You may not need to change any of your drive train turbo can be setup with low or med boost so will all depend on how hard you push it. But you would eventually need to upgrade the axle and trans with a highly tuned buildup of a carb engine. If you change to an 8 inch rear out of a V8 Falcon, Mustang, Maverick etc. should do the job for most combos. Depends on which three speed it is the all sincro top load would probably stand up otherwise go for a later 5 speed world class.