1959 MEL 383 4v intake to 1962 430?

[falconpilot4]

I've read a lot of posts regarding the MEL 430 2v intakes, and swapping them with a 63/64 4v intake... but I have a 4v intake from a 1959 Merc MEL 383 that I'd like to swap on my 62 Lincoln 430 rebuild. Does anyone know if that would swap seamlessly? Both physically and performance?

[TonyC]

Actually, I doubt it. Even an intake from a '59 430 will not swap seamlessly, because in the '50s engines were fitted with high-profile intakes. A 383 is very unlikely to fit as it's not exactly an identical twin, though the two engines are of the same family. Even if it could attach to the engine, you won't be able to close the hood.

Also, the '63–5 430 intakes are not precise fits. The ports are of a different size to the heads, which also differed between '61/2 and '63–5; though they may bolt on, there's a risk for an intake leak because of the disparate port sizes. However, a 462 intake will swap onto a '61/2 engine with no issues or needed mods.

---Tony

[frasern]

Tony, I thought the same, but the intake manifold on my 62 430 has B9ME cast into it! And it is clearly a taller manifold than the 462 one I have kicking around, but the hood clears, and the carb, (63) still has the phenolic spacer in place too!
There is one set of intake gaskets for a 430 and a set for a 462 in my gasket set and they are very different, I would compare both the head ports and manifold ports with the 430 gasket to see how closely they match up.

[Lee]

Fraser, that surprises me as well. Otherwise, why bother redesigning the 60 2V intake? What year air cleaner and carburetor does your 62 have? I also seem to recall that they shifted the carb mount back on the 63’s to center the primaries, but I wonder if part of the reason was to gain some extra fraction of under hood space.

[TonyC]

Well, then, so much for the "expert" historical sources. That is a surprise to me, learning that the intakes of the '50s can in fact fit in the lower-profile engine bays with no issues. Still learning new stuff all the time.

To answer Lee's question, I would say there was no difference in hood space, and that was not the main concern for the offsetting of the carb area in M-Y '63. For newbies who don't know their history yet, the main concern was in fact a balance between economy and performance. The 2-barrel cars, despite outweighing either of their rivals, happened to turn out the best fuel-economy figures of all the luxury offerings...but the most sluggish of performance stats. They knew they had to bump the latter up, but how to do it without compromising the former? It was already known even back then that 4-barrel carbs were not advocates of fuel-economy, the offsetting of all the barrels making for an inefficient distribution of fuel to the cylinders. Besides, it was also known that those carburetors only used all four barrels in rare occasions, like 1 out of 10 driving conditions. That was what prompted the intake redesign, with the carburetor offset to have only its primary barrels centered.

---Tony

[frasern]

Here is what was in my '62, I know that's a bad picture but it is really heavy and I am a very lazy man. I was surprised to see it, as I know manifolds were re designed for '61, but there is no signs of contact with the hood, nor any other modifications that I can see. The carb and air cleaner are '63 parts.

I can't access any pictures of when it was still in the car, because my computer has hidden them all from me.

Afterthought, convertibles had their motor mounts moved forward and slightly down from the sedan position.

[Mike]

The port size difference is more a potential of being a performance issue then a leak issue.
I guess thats the downside to cars with lower production numbers of both car and engine, the lack of aftermarket stuff like this.

[TonyC]

That is true. The MELs and FEs were Ford's performance monsters against Chrysler's Hemis and whatever GM released. There was aftermarket support for them in the '60s, until the 385 series came out; then the Y-blocks were abandoned. There isn't a whole lot of aftermarket support for Y-blocks even now; but there is more than I thought, nearly all of which I fitted to Frankenstein (like larger pistons, adjustable valve pushrods, high-volume oil pump, steel timing set). Not Hellcat-level, no, but enough to guarantee a broken speedometer should that need ever arise.

---Tony