56 Ford f100 engine?

[426 pack]

I’m currently building a revell 56 Ford f100. The truck will be on a small diorama and will look like its been sitting for a long time with the engine missing a few parts.  

I was planning on putting a flathead V8 in it but I started doing some research and learned that they never had a flathead in 56 they use the Y block so now I have to choose between the correct engine or the engine that would look the best in there and I just don’t know what to do.

let me know what you think I should do.

sorry if this is posted in the wrong spot.

Edited February 6, 2018 by 426 pack

[Fat Brian]

It's already in a junk yard, there's no saying it wasn't repowered once in it's life with whatever running engine was laying around. I'm sure it happened in real life somewhere. 

[JollySipper]

Could you put an AMT '53 pickup grille on it? Then you could use your flathead and be closer to date correct......

[ChrisBcritter]

Or just scatter a few more junk engines around it. Maybe someone has an AMT or Revell '56/'57 Ford car or truck engine they're not using?

Edited February 7, 2018 by ChrisBcritter

[Renegade]

It's your diorama so use what looks best to you. The most important part of any build is to do what pleases you.

[Ace-Garageguy]

33 minutes ago, Fat Brian said:

It's already in a junk yard, there's no saying it wasn't repowered once in it's life with whatever running engine was laying around. I'm sure it happened in real life somewhere. 

Brian's right. By the time she ended up junked, she could have had just about ANY engine swapped in, not just a Ford.

18 minutes ago, JollySipper said:

Could you put an AMT '53 pickup grille on it? Then you could use your flathead and be closer to date correct......

Except that the '56 has a wrap-around windshield, which the '53 does not.

[espo]

You could always sand the grill smooth so that the V-8 emblem isn't showing and find a 6 cylinder engine that looks like a Ford I-6. Another thought is to find one of the engines that show the Rocker Arm detail and have it displayed with the valve covers off. As Ace pointed out it could have anything under the hood, that was pretty common years ago. Do you have an old Cadillac or Oldsmobile engine in your Junk Pile ?  

[PARTSMARTY]

9 hours ago, Renegade said:

It's your diorama so use what looks best to you. The most important part of any build is to do what pleases you.

x2

[mikemodeler]

10 hours ago, Fat Brian said:

It's already in a junk yard, there's no saying it wasn't repowered once in it's life with whatever running engine was laying around. I'm sure it happened in real life somewhere. 

I would use the engine block that comes with the AMT 66 Nova. There is a "display" engine in the kit that is supposed to be on the engine stand and it would be perfect for this. It is a bare block and probably could pass as a Ford V-8 if it was just sitting in the engine bay.

[Fat Brian]

54 minutes ago, mikemodeler said:

I would use the engine block that comes with the AMT 66 Nova. There is a "display" engine in the kit that is supposed to be on the engine stand and it would be perfect for this. It is a bare block and probably could pass as a Ford V-8 if it was just sitting in the engine bay.

Yeah, without valve covers it would take a real guru to spot the differences in the bare block.

[Eshaver]

I'm a writer for the early Ford Club of America magazine , ( 1932-1953 ) first . Why you would want to put a Ford V-8 8-Ba into a 1956 is beyond me . Given the time , 1956, guys couldn't wait to get hold of a wrecked 292 or better , a 312 ! Look, the Ford had run it's course in a street driver . The Ford Flat head was and remains very troublesome as they haven't built a radiator large enough to cool one of those engines !!!!!! I actually run a THREE ROW School bus radiator in my 1953 Ford Panel delivery and I swear to ya , on a HOT day, my eyes are on TWO , YEAH TWO temperature gauges . OK , the 239 and the subsequent 279 292 312 had too small oil holes to deliver oil when MOST Needed ! Thats a relative EASY fix at ANY machine shop . Ford Flat heads near require the use of Hi Performance Aluminum heads as they at least could carry more water than the stockers .  

I have spent the last twenty years of my life working on the early V-8s and I still have all the special Ford dealer tools to work on them too . Would I put a Flat head in a newer Ford truck , NOPE !

[426 pack]

Well after reading all the coments I have decided to run the flathead as it looks the best in the engine bay and l modified the block so The one cylinder head and intake are removed.

[leafsprings]

I'm pretty sure no AMT kit, car or pickup, came  with the standard 223 six cylilnder engine (  used between 1954 and 1964 ). Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.   However the Chevy Six looks very familiar ( distributor on right side, manifolds and carb on left side), with a little valve cover reworking, it would be very unique sight  seeing a 6 banger under the hood!

[Force]

On 2018-02-08 at 4:25 AM, Eshaver said:

I'm a writer for the early Ford Club of America magazine , ( 1932-1953 ) first . Why you would want to put a Ford V-8 8-Ba into a 1956 is beyond me . Given the time , 1956, guys couldn't wait to get hold of a wrecked 292 or better , a 312 ! Look, the Ford had run it's course in a street driver . The Ford Flat head was and remains very troublesome as they haven't built a radiator large enough to cool one of those engines !!!!!! I actually run a THREE ROW School bus radiator in my 1953 Ford Panel delivery and I swear to ya , on a HOT day, my eyes are on TWO , YEAH TWO temperature gauges . OK , the 239 and the subsequent 279 292 312 had too small oil holes to deliver oil when MOST Needed ! Thats a relative EASY fix at ANY machine shop . Ford Flat heads near require the use of Hi Performance Aluminum heads as they at least could carry more water than the stockers .  

I have spent the last twenty years of my life working on the early V-8s and I still have all the special Ford dealer tools to work on them too . Would I put a Flat head in a newer Ford truck , NOPE !

I puzzles me too.
The Y-block came in 1954 and the kit you are doing is a 56 so going for a flathead when everybody wanted the newer OHV designs is for me a bit weird.
I would rather have put in an early Cadillac or maybe an Oldsmobile OHV V8 wich was a common doing in many pre Y-block Fords, the Cadillac and Oldmobile OHV V8 engines came in 1949 and was instantly poplular with hot rodders so many Shoebox 49--51 Fords and Mercurys ended up with Cadillac engines and I even know of a 56 Ford Victoria wich was at C.W. Moss in Orange, CA. when I was there some years ago, that car was appearently oredered without an engine and tranny, and a Cadillac engine and tranny was put in after the car was delivered, all according to the story I was told by the owner of the shop.

But of course a Ford in a Ford is allways better. 

Edited March 5, 2018 by Force