ford 352 is this a good v drive motor

EVILFORCE said:

Be ok in a fishing boat.

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cocoloco said:

First of all if it is a 352 its a Y block, pretty old motor. Secondly you said it was rebuilt and its been in that boat how long? Obviously the old motor is a dependable old motor and its fresh. In case you haven't been shopping for V-drive and motor gear, its no cheap Chewey. LOL. Before I went into changing alignments, props, gears, motor position, prop shafts, exhaust and host of things you have no idea of yet, I would take a hard look at what you want the boat to do. If it is just run around at a decent speed with your boys having fun, you're there. IF you want to go faster, there is no doubt a ton of 390 Ford motor racing parts out there just holding up dust. You won't have to do anything but buy an older 390 police interceptor motor, bore it out, rebuild it and re cam it. There are good heads out there for them too. I think they will bore to 420 Cu.In.+-. The blocks were thick and cracking one took a jack hammer. Your pan, exhaust, intake, motor mounts, valve covers and all will fit. I know you could get 500HP out of one. All be it at 4,000 RPM. But that is a good thing in your flattie. Your boat has a lot of years under her keel also, I probably doesn't need 700HP shoved in it at a high cost. Besides, having a cool old motor like that that flies is is super cool. I took a look at my 67 Buck Smith and decided he didn't need 700HP and went for 402 BBC since it was set up for a BBC. So I will drive my 65MPH Old timer around and have fun. Let your boys learn to drive on the 352 and prep a 390 to haul ass. If you listen to me you will be way ahead of the game financially and time wise. Take from an old racer who has done a lot of parts changing, get a 390 and pump it up.

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jockorace said:

...a 352 is NOT Y_block. The largest Y-block was the 312.

Well...yes and no here. Technically, the FE series of Fords are "Y" blocks, as are the "B", "RB", and late Hemi blocks, but they're never referred to as such. In the strict vernacular of engine speak, the 272, 292, and 312 Fords are indeed, for all referencing, the "Y" block series. But just to make a point here, all engine block designs which have the crankshaft centerline higher than the pan rail, are a "Y" block design, including some modern engines, such as the LS . Having said this, the design has been used due to the stiffening of the lower end with extra ribbing and available skirting to cross-bolt into ( as Hemis and LSs do ), as well as many diesel engines, which require strong bottom ends.
As far as FEs are concerned, they're a good engine, reliable, and benefitted majorly from R&D and racing useage with Shelby American road racing, LeMans competition, and were MAJOR players in 60s Nascar and drag racing. The top dog here is the 427, however, much of the performance modification used applies to all other FEs, such as 428s, 406s, and 390s. Leave the 361/391 truck engines alone ( Unless you just want to harvest a steel crank from one to modify and use in your passenger engine). FEs are blessed with designs other makes have to be modified to, such as gearotor oil pumps, shaft mounted stable rocker assemblies, bushed and floating wrist pins, cam thrust plates limiting cam walk, and timing end driven oil pump/distributors which minimize cam twist and related spark scatter.
Those who might talk down about FEs either have never owned a properly built one, built one themselves, or had a problem, and blamed the make for their misfortunes. Hands down, a Chevy is cheaper, but built correctly, the FEs are just as good as any.

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