is this a good base engine to work on

econofan63

New member
Hi i just got hold of an engine for a project im doing. the engine in my truck at the moment is a big 250in six but is suffering from age. i was planning on building up the just purchased motor then swapping them over.
did find a site with a breakdown of some numbers but if i read it right i have a 81 bronco engine going by E1BE. that was all i could find so not sure what the other numbers mean

engine details i can find are
on the side of the block
12
E1BE
6016-FA

on the rocker cover there is a decal reading
MB 202 AA
453?890

on the inlet manifold
6090 BB

the ford 6 seems to be a minefield of different models, some good some not so good.can you get speed equipment for this engine easily? does holly or edelbrock do a peplacement carburattor as mine is shot.
past experience has been with chevy smallblocks
lastly is there a good book along the lines of how to rebuild your ford six that i can get hold of. if i can plan what i need i can get it delivered to a buddies house in florida then collect it all in febuary when i come out on vacation
thanks in advance
mick
london england
 
I'm newer to the Falcon 6 scene, but on the advise of many people here I ordered the Falcon 6 book off of this website.

It's in the Fordsix shop: http://fordsix.com/shop.php

It has some example pages you can check out too. Should prove invaluable if you plan on building the motor 8)

Dan
 
i did see that falcon 6 book but thought it was for the early motors, will it still be usefull for the 1980's engines?
just got an email back from edelbrock and they dont make a replacement carb!! any ideas where i could get a new one, are they still available from places like pep boys or autozone i've used them in the past when i've visited the states for parts
 
Your decoder is bad, a lot of the online ones limited their research to certain years or only certain resources. The E1BE decodes to a part that was designed for an 1981 Fairmont and released through the Engine Engineering Powertrain and Chassis Product Engineering department. You might want to recheck the 6016 part, normally engine blocks are 6015 or part number 6010. You can check basic part numbers by connecting to my Parts Decoder, it's not complete but I find it easier to use then most others.

And according to a 2004 Fel-Pro gasket book, Ford did not make a 250 in '81 it is most likely a 200 and it could be a big bell 200. If you are bored check out the page I built for quick reference of Motors Used by Ford for Years 1927-2004 click on any year on the left to check a different year.

According to the FordSix Tech Page titled Inline Six Casting Numbers it looks like you may have a small bell 200.

And a +1 for the Falcon Performance Handbook. Yes parts stores will sell you a rebuilt carb.

-ron
 
hi Ron,
block is 6015 think i made a type error in my original post
this may be a dumb question but does big bell/small bell refer to the bellhousing, please excuse my ignorence
thanks for the help, i'll check your site out.
 
easy enough to tell if its a big six or a small six.. if the intake is molded into the head its a small six 144 - 170 - 200 - or the 250. the 250 is actualy a small six not a big six the big six's were the 240 and the 300 and the intakes were a seperat piece.
There is not enough demand for performance parts for the Six's so parts are not cheap.. infact anything for Ford is not cheap like Chevy stuff (as everyone has a chevy). Thats whats make us (Ford people) even more unique...
The 200 is a great motor and almost bulit prof. with 7 main's.
good luck.. and welcome to Ford six.
tim
 
I'm going to guess on the years listed below.. but this is my best attempt at a description of the bellhousing patterns.

There are actually 3 different bellhousing patterns for the small block sixes
1960-1965
The early 'small' pattern that was used on the first 144/170
1965-1980
Then it went to what I consider the 'standard' pattern used on 200's
1981-1983
And in the early 80's the big bell pattern that is basically 2/3rds of a small block ford pattern (also the same as a 250 or the 240/300).

I'm sorry that I could not be more 'solid' on the years and I don't have any pictures, but I'm working on it. And my website is more like a random collection of things that interest me, or that I've looked for on the web and never found. I'm constantly collecting more data/books/resources to make it more complete. If only I had more 'free-time'

-ron
 
well it looks like i have the 200, and from the comments and info i have to hand a good base for a strong engine. hope you dont get fed up with the questions when i start the rebuild
mick
ps this is my truck, imported from california brought off of ebay
how it arrived

39_12_sb.jpg


how it looks now

DSCF0113.JPG
 
Howdy, Mick!

I bet you don't see many trucks like yours motoring around over there in the UK. Heck, there's not that many of them left over here in the US.

:D

When I was very young my father had an early 1960's passenger van that was based on the same platform as your truck. I've always had a special fondness for the early short wheelbase vans from that era. The pickups like yours are just a variation on that theme for me.

:)

You'll find that you can still get parts for your engine, and there are even some performance parts available as well. Let us know what sort of upgrades you'd like to make (if any) and I'm sure folks here will be glad to share their thoughts on what sort of changes you can make to your engine.

You should probably spend some time reading through some of the threads here to get some basic ideas and some advice on some of the more common issues related to these engines. That will get you up to speed pretty quickly.

:)
 
hi shmoozo
you wont believe this but there are 3 econo trucks in a 20 mile radius from my house and i know of 2 more trucks 3 vans a camper bus and a falcon bus over here in the UK. when i got the truck it had already been fitted with a 250ci motor but its a bit tempramental so i decided to replace it with a 289/302 V8 but got offered the 200ci with auto box for next to nothing so thought i might have a go at overhaulin it. Plan is for just a freshen up and to keep things basically stock as gas is just over $10.00 a gallon here and i wonted to be able to use it daily.
mick
ps are the motor mounts the same on the 250 and 200 or will i have to work them to swap the motors
 
If I had to guess, and I do, I'd say that whoever put the 250 in there used stock 200 mounts and you will not have any issues putting a 200 between them. Otherwise you could use some small spacers between the motor mount and motor as the 250 is about 1" wider then the 200. You should be OK for that part of the swap.

-ron
 
Hello Mick
The Six Cylinder Performance Handbook is very good as others have suggested. I bought the Ford shop manual for my Falcon on EBay, this one happened to be on CD. I looked and there are number of shop manuals for the Econoline. The shop manuals are invaluable for everything else that needs attention on your vehicle.

Very nice job on your truck.

Cheers,
Stephen
 
pedal2themetal45":3uog3qb8 said:
the 144cu throu the 250 cu are all the same block. differnt heads and strok/bore. tho after I think 70 something the heads were the same.
Tim

Close. The 250 is a different block, different bellhousing pattern, water pump, timing set, oil pump, etc. The 144-170-200 thru 64 or so had the same bellhousing pattern, but in 66 the pattern changed. The later blocks were dual-drilled with the old pattern as well, though. The E*BB-series 200s had 3/4 of the V8 bellhousing, and can be converted to V8 running gear easily.

If it has a four-bolt water pump, it's a 250. If it has 3, it's a 200. Also, if it uses the same transmission as a 302, it is a big bell 200 or 250.
 
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