All Small Six Ford 200

[jaymac2012]

I just picked up an unknown garage Ford 200 with C4 attached for $200. I usually don't trust anyone that tells me what the garage engine was used for. Partly because they could be lying, but also because they could be wrong. For instance, the guy told me it was an original engine out of 67 Mustang. Now the head was cast in 67, but the block is from a 66. So FPN are pretty unreliable. He said it had been sitting in a garage for 10 years. That much I believe. There was a tremendous amount of rust and debris in the number 4 cylinder. And there are cylinder sleeves in the block. Also, the cam was in there pretty tight, to the point that I had to twist the cam to remove it from the block. Pistons came out fairly easy. Is there anything here that jumps out at anyone here, insofar as problems I might have with this engine? Why was the cam so bloody tight? Took the cams out of my 302 and 250 with very little effort. Did it possibly overheat? Why did the pistons drop out so easily? My 302 pistons were fairly snug and required some soft hammering to remove. Is the rust and debris in cylinder 4 (or maybe 3) a sign of something or just coincidence? Are cylinder sleeves an issue on a 200?

Just looking to see if anybody has any experience with any of the big things that jumped out at me. I feel like the C4 with the four bolt bellhousing was worth the $200 anyway.

 

[awasson]

That the block was sleeved leaves a question mark for me. Why would someone sleeve a 200 inline 6? I can only think of two reasons (just speculation):
1) the bores were damaged beyond the 60 over limitations.
2) cracked cylinders.

The reason it had rust and debris in one or more cylinders is because those valves were left open and it wasn’t living inside during its total retirement years. If I were ever to leave an engine out for any period of time, I’d loosen off the rocker shaft towers to seal the cylinders and fog them.

I’d have that cam checked for straightness. It might be warped or the block could be warped. Check the crank for straightness too. Check to see if the block is true. It can be line bored if necessary. I built a hopped up 1970’s BMW 4 cylinder and had it line bored and balanced. It spun up like an electric motor when I was done.

I really enjoyed building my 200 last year. Have a good one.

Andrew

 

[jaymac2012]

Thank you. This is exactly the type of answer I was looking for. My fear is that the block was damaged beyond repair. But I still got the tranny. That's worth the $200 even if the engine is useless.

The engine did turn before I took it apart. Don't know how bent a cam has to be to prevent turning the engine over but still cause other problems.

 

[bmbm40]

I wonder if that C4 is what I heard my friend refer to as the small case C4? As we know C4 not being made any more so no doubt even a rebuildable core is worth 200 or more. And you likely have close to $200 in parts off the 200 like water pump pulley, crankshaft pulley, oil pan, valve cover, pushrods and more plus scrap value of block. Looks like you did good.

 

[awasson]

Oh, I'd have the block magnafluxed and everything checked by a machinist and if it's salvageable, build a runner.

If the head is a 67 then it's still a small log but depending on your interest and spirit of adventure, you could modify it for better flow, set it up for boost or just leave it stock. My small log on the 66 settles into a nice idle and decent response after it's fully warmed up. Fully warmed up takes a while because it's not warmed up until the cast iron gets thoroughly heat soaked that it really settles down.