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Cool Pics of 1963 Ford 255 Indy Engine


mackinaw

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My dad was an engine engineer who worked in Ford's Triple-E Building back in the "Total Performance" days.  He was always bringing home stuff for us to look at.  Thankfully, I kept some of these old SAE brochures.  Here's one which shows the 1963 Ford Indy engine which was based on the then-new 260.  I love that the test mule was a 1963 Galaxie.

indy+260a.JPGindy+260b.JPGindy+260e.JPGindy+260d.JPGindy+260c.JPG

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  Back then, the only Indy requirement was that the engine had to be 255 cu.in.   There was no displacement increase allowed for push-rod engines vs.  OHC  racing engines.   In other words, non of this "balance of performance""  stuff.   This engine also ran gasoline instead of racing fuel  to  keep it more related to Ford production offerings.    To me,  this was also a test of the new SBF vs. the  established SBC on equal ground as there were SBC entries too.   As I recall, Jimmy Clark came in second in this initial effort.   There was some controversy as the winning Offy was leaking fluids; and Clark had to back off to keep from  crashing.    The original version of the Ford GT  (later referred to as the GT-40)  was initially configured with this "Indy" engine.

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38 minutes ago, bifs66 said:

  As I recall, Jimmy Clark came in second in this initial effort.   There was some controversy as the winning Offy was leaking fluids; and Clark had to back off to keep from  crashing.    

Yeah, the ending of the 1963 Indy 500 was very controversial. Parnelli Jones car, who won the race, was leaking oil in his Offy roadster, and should have been black-flagged.  Some believe that Indy 500 officials didn't want a non-American winning the race, so let Parnelli win.  Ford came back next year, 1964, with the "bundle of snakes"  DOHC 255 V8.  I'll post images from that SAE brochure next.

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This topic has jarred my memory of those days as I closely followed Ford's racing program.  Correct me if I'm  wrong; but I recall something about  replacing the "ball socket" rocker arm valve train with rocker shafts straight from the the old Y-block.  Perhaps the same bore centers made this possible.   Isn't that ironic?   As  Mackinaw stated,  in 1964 the engine was converted to DOHC heads.   At first, the head was configured as on a regular DOHC V-8 (Coyote); but after further development, the exhaust ports were  moved to the valley area and the intake ports  routed between the cams.  

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I believe that the the rocker shaft valve-train for the '63 engine did come from the Y-block.

I also have a 1965 Ford publication on the 255 DOHC engine.  I'll post more images from that in a few days.  

Interestingly, the 1964 DOHC engine used a block based on the 289.  

As an aside, I knew most of the engineers responsible for Ford's performance engines of the 1960's.  Bill Innis, Bill Gay, A.J. Scussel, Ralph Rays, Ray Kuzma, etc.  Both Rays and Kuzma were close personal friends of my dad.  Of course that's a long time ago.

indy+dohc.JPG

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