Hot Rods The all inclusive,almighty Y block thread

y'sguy · Jan 11, 2025

You got some goodies there. I'm glad I'm not the one writing the check to clean up those G heads tho. Haha. They will be good ones. Seems like those rockers may be 1.6 ratio, Not sure, can't recall. I had some old hedmans like those at one time. Have you got a good 292-block lined-up for that crank?
Have fun.

miker98038 · Jan 11, 2025

You did real good. Those look like the Hedmans I put on my first bird, back in 1968 or so.

guthriesmith · Jan 11, 2025

Fixing to pull this 56 312 apart and see what all it needs. Hoping it won’t cost a fortune to go through so I can freshen up my 56 for this year.

y'sguy · Jan 11, 2025

^ I have some G heads, 312 crank and these.

Just down the road from you.

guthriesmith · Jan 11, 2025

y'sguy said: ↑

^ I have some G heads, 312 crank and these.
View attachment 6289430
Just down the road from you.
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Hmm…I may need to get with you on those heads and valve covers. I do have some Offenhauser valve covers on it now, but those are cool.

Boneyard51 · Jan 12, 2025

mctim64 said: ↑

Here is a little story I wrote for Y-Block magazine. It's a bit of a long read but I thought you guys might like it too.

A Tale of Two Trucks
By Tim McMaster
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness………” and so it goes. I have been asked many times why I am interested in Y-Blocks, after all I am so young (age 56, born the year Y-block production ceased in the US 1964). My frivolous answer is “I grew up in and around them so it seeped into my blood”. Truth is I was raised on a citrus farm in central California where we had a 1960 F-600 with a 292 and a 1964 F-100 with a 292 that was one of the first vehicles that I learned to drive in.
“the best of times” Truck number one. I recall vividly riding between my Father and my Uncle Frank in that ’60 F-600 hauling a load of oranges to the Blue Goose packing house in Strathmore CA. It was the late 60s and you as the farmer were still responsible for getting the fruit to the plant. I would get out and as my Father and uncle would go about their business I would roam the packing house watching in awe the people sorting and packing, the boxes going down roller ramps and conveyor belts to reach their final destination, another larger truck where they were loaded and shipped all over the world. Then, before leaving, my Dad would buy me an ice cold 10 oz. bottle of Frosty root beer. I can taste it now. After 1970 though the “Citrus association” started sending large diesel trucks with 4x4 field bins to the orchards to get the fruit and do the hauling job. Gone were the days of the smaller “lugs” that we were so familiar with and the old wooden boxes became building blocks for forts for us kids. The old F-600 was then relegated to the job of pulling trailers with equipment to the various orchards in our little area of Terra Bella.
“The worst of times” After many years of performing the thankless task of equipment hauler the F-600 was getting a little tired. It was 1991 and my Uncle Frank asked me if I could take a look at it and see if I could improve the power a bit. I had since gotten older and a little more experienced and was working in a machine shop building engines and I figured myself a pretty good mechanic by that time. I told him I would take a look and he told me how the neighbor, a line mechanic for the CHP, had rebuilt the carburetor and it was running better but not perfect. Upon opening the hood I first notice that the engine had been modified with the all popular band aid external oiler kit to the rockers. It had been a while since I had spent much time at “the ranch” so I was not familiar with the caring for and maintenance of the old truck and who had been doing it, but I did know of the “Mickey Mouse” fix and I did not approve. Upon removal of the valve covers I was greeted with a broken rocker shaft on the driver’s side. My Uncle had been driving this truck for years on six cylinders! Always short trips of only a few miles but a testament to the power of the ol’ Y that it did the job adequately. I decided we would pull the heads and go through them, as well as, rebuild the rocker assemblies. With the heads and the valley pan removed I recalled an article in Hot Rod magazine from a few years back where they showed how to remove the cam from a Y-Block without pulling the engine by holding the lifters up with old wooden clothes pins. With this in mind I dropped the pan, removed the timing cover, and poked the lifters up one by one while my Uncle clipped each one in place. Worked like a charm! I then slipped the cam out and inspected the center cam bearing. My uncle told me that the truck received a replacement engine in the late 70s and it had those oiling tubes from the start. This led me to believe that the cam bearing was installed incorrectly during rebuild (something I would see many times in the future, a common problem with sloppy rebuilders). I didn’t want to beat on the engine to replace the bearing as I thought the lifters might fall so I just took a long 1/8” drill bit, ran it down the feed hole in the block and put a hole in the side of the bearing as it was in the block. My Uncle seemed impressed with my action and I thought of myself as quite clever, after all there was no internet at the time for me to look for this stuff.
The heads were rebuilt at the shop I was working for, and the engine was reassembled with the old cam back in place, clothes pins pulled and the timing chain reinstalled. Twelve pins of course. When all was complete the 292 came to life and purred like it hadn’t in years. My Uncle was quite happy and decided it was time for a test drive. The next thing I knew, my 70 year old Uncle was jamming gears down Ave. 80 with my 72 year old Father on the bed holding onto the head board. It was quite a sight, two old men acting like kids again. When they returned, Uncle Frank told me they had the old Ford up to 70 mph “that truck hasn’t been that fast since it was new!”
All was right in the world again and later that year he let me use the truck in the Visalia Christmas parade to pull the Jaycees’ Santa Claus float. Good times.
“Better times” Truck number two. In 1985 I went to work for Hanford Auto Supply as a machinist grinding crankshafts, I had learned this skill at Automotive parts Co. in Visalia but was lured away by my old boss Leonard Tripp with the promise of double pay so I left for greener pastures. In my first year there I was asked to do a number of other things that wasn’t in my job description but when the boss says to do something you do it. One day I was told to go to the old man’s warehouse In Avenal, some 40 miles to the west of Hanford, to put some stuff in storage. I had not yet been to this treasure chest of a building. But when I arrived I found inside all manner of things related to machine work, old engines, V8-60 race engines and best of all a 1959 F-600. I thought to myself this was almost like the one my Uncle Frank has. How fun would it be to have an old two ton truck? When I returned to the shop I asked the boss about the truck and he told me how he bought it at a city auction in 1974 and how he built a 312 for it to replace the tired 292, he used it for many things like hauling equipment when he moved the shop from 116 E 6th street to the current location of 200 E. 6th street but after a few years it wasn’t needed and he just stored it away. I let him know my interest in the truck and if he ever wanted to sell it I would like to have it.
20+ years later the boss was selling his warehouse and needed to clear it out. I asked what he was going to do with the ’59 F-600 and he told me that his son wanted it and was getting it running to move it to Coalinga. Darn! I wanted that truck still after all these years but it was not meant to be, not yet anyway. The truck was moved from a nice indoor storage to a lot out in the open where it sat for another ten years, the boss’ son did nothing with it except let it sit.
In 2015 after working for Leonard Tripp for 30 years the old man passed away at age 94, after spending his last day working at the shop, not a bad run. He had considerable assets but the shop really wasn’t one of them and no one in the family wanted the place. I hadn’t looked for a job since I was 18, so I really didn’t want to at 51. The family made me a good deal on the property and now I own the place. Then one day the old man’s son called me and asked “do you still want that old Ford flatbed?” It wasn’t part of the deal for the shop but for a little extra cash I now had, after waiting 30 years, my F-600. I went over to Coalinga on a Saturday morning with a little gas and a new battery and with little effort the truck was up and running. Now, will it make the 40 mile trip back to Hanford? It ran very well all the way back to the shop although it did smoke a bit. No worries, I’m well known for not leaving things as is when I acquire a new vehicle. After all, I do own an engine rebuilding shop.
I have quite a collection of Y-Block parts and cores, I build engines for others and make a good living plus pay for my racing exploits. I wanted to build an engine for the “two ton” but didn’t want to use stuff that I can sell for profit to a customer. The idea for my “junk motor” came to mind. I would use the less desirable stuff I had, saving the good stuff for customer builds. I had a 312 block that needed three sleeves and was already .060” over, not the best but I can use it. I had a 312 crank with a burnt rod and was .030”/.030” under already, not the best but I can use it. I had a set of ECG-H heads that nobody really cared for but I can use them. The block was sleeved and bored to 3.905” as I had a set of .030” over 307 scrub pistons that would work for me. I ground the mains on the 312 crank to .040” under and offset ground the rods to 2.100” and a stroke of 3.5”, with a set of 6.2” aftermarket rods the 307 pistons came just even with the deck. This combination gave me 335 cubic inches. The heads came from the factory with 1.78” intake valves but I cut them out for the larger 1.92” intakes and cleaned up the ports and bowls to take advantage of the larger valves. Everything in the heads were old, used but still serviceable. I did use new heavy valve springs and hard ex seats but that just makes sense. A special reground camshaft was used with refaced lifters. Truth be told the cam is probably not right for a big truck but it sure sounds good. Topped with 1.54:1 rockers and a “B” intake the engine was installed with a set of rams horn exhaust and a 600 cfm (reman) 4160 Holley carb. How did it run? Great! I use this truck for everything from hauling scrap to the recycle yard, bringing home new Model A projects, even trailering the Y-Block powered dragster to the races and pitching a tent on the bed for camping. I’ve had this truck to 90 mph (gps backed) with the stock gearing. It really screams, probably my best demonstrator as to the quality and power of my Y-Block builds. Better than my 192 mph roadster. And I finally got it over to “the Ranch” to have a photo op with the original F-600 that my Uncle bought brand new in 1960 and although he and my Father have long since passed, my Cousin still works the truck on the farm some 60 years later. My personal Y-Block powered F-600 hauler, and the truck I rode in as a kid that would infect me with the Y-Block disease.
There is continuity in life.

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On our ranch back in the sixties, early seventies, we had a long bed 1959 F-600 with a 292 in it. It had a 24 foot bed on it . It was a single axle, but we added a drag axle to it and built 4 foot side boards on it.We took an eighty acre piece of the ranch and planted watermelons. We had the contract for melons for Safeway in about a 200 mile radius of Oktaha, Okla.
Not sure how many pounds or tons of melons we put on that truck, but it was huge. With Farm tags we were exempt from wieght limits. That 292 combined with a five speed and two speed carried that load with out complaints to a three state area! This went on for several years!
Testimonial to the toughness of the Y-block. And it was box stock!

Bones

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Hot Rods The all inclusive,almighty Y block thread

y'sguy
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from Tulsa, OK

miker98038
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guthriesmith
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H.A.M.B. Chapel

y'sguy
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Hot Rods The all inclusive,almighty Y block thread

y'sguy Member from Tulsa, OK

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guthriesmith ALLIANCE MEMBER from Guthrie, OK H.A.M.B. Chapel

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y'sguy
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guthriesmith
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H.A.M.B. Chapel

Boneyard51
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from Muskogee, Oklahoma