So the Ford Y-Block, From what ive seen, folks either love them or hate them..(I think that goes for all Fords) theres not much in between, Ive seen people freak out when they see one and swear by them, and others call them the "Y-Bother". What do you guys think?
I love mine, bought it off a guys garage floor, painted it and put it in the car. I blew a head gasket after about 15,000 miles the first year, the only gaskets I didn't replace before putting it in the car. It's been on the road now a little over two years and 23,000 miles. I haven't had any other problems out of it.
My 55 ford has had the Y block replaced with a 302/AOD but if I could get my hands on it I would stick this one from my old T bucket back into it.
Great engines. Very sturdy blocks and lower ends. Bore spacing is 4.38", same as the small block Ford. There was alot about those engines that was innovative like integeral valve guides for cooler valve stem temps. The headbolts are evenly spaced around the cylinders for a nice even pull and the bolts attached in a reinforced portion of the deck (less cylinder wall distortion than an sbc). The exhaust ports go up and so do the exhaust manifolds as they should for better efficiency. The cranks were nodular iron which was a process pioneered by Ford in an effort to provide a high strength crank without having to resort to an expensive forging. I don't like the over and under intake ports but I guess they work well enough. I love the looks of the Y with aluminum T-Bird valvecovers and chrome aircleaner housing. In short the Y was overshadowed by the cheaper to manufacture and modify sbc. Also Ford introduced the 332" & 352" FE engines in `58 with a 4.63" bore spacing. Most of Ford's racing develoment dollars went into the bigger FE series engines. Too bad because the Y's were not slouches and did a bunch of winning on oval tracks and at the drags through the late `50's and early `60's.
I HATE em. I had a 272 ci Y-Block in my '57 Custom 300 with a 3 speed behind it. Power was decent, but it was no barn-burner, and it blew oil like no other. Finally, I launched the rod through the bottom of the motor while driving 65 mph in the right lane...****ty, I wasn't even doing something cool to blow it up. The reasons I think Y-Blocks **** are many. -The are all solid lifter, which is a pain in the ***. Though it is true that the Y Block was ahead of it's time with a sturdy shaft mounted rockers and adjustable rockers, but they had to since they were solid lifter. Mine had to be adjusted constantly, I just got used to the noise. Compare this to other V8s of the time which only had stamped rockers, but had hydraulic lifters that didn't need to be adjusted. -Y Blocks are notorious for oiling problems -The starter drive is enormous. -They make ******** horsepower. I think it wwww.ford-yblock.com that built a 340 ci Y block with 12.5:1 compression, ported aluminum heads, huge cam, headers, port matched intakes....and made 451 hp, and a scant 388 lbs of torque. The thousands of dollars worth of specialized work to build an engine that isn't even streetable will get it's *** handed to it by a mild SBC, or even a Nailhead or Rocket Olds with similair or less work done. -They are heavy at 610 lbs. -Performance parts are expensive. -The mechanical fuel pump on some is an odd vaccuum dual action unit that also powered the wipers, so plan on using an electric pump if you have one of these. -They look cool, but don't look as good as a Nailhead or Rocket Olds. They sound good, but not as good as a Small block or flatty. I stay away from "WHY!?"-Blocks
Joe I just want to point out that the Mummert built Y- block did not have aluminum heads but rather the iron ECZ castings. Also a 340" engine that can get 451 hp is nothing to sneeze at. I don't think any "mild" 350 can do that. That would be considered a stout 350 in my book.
Henry, you're right that a 340 ci motor that can make 451 hp is certainly nothing to sneeze at. However, it's not really the hp number that I think does the talking, it's the engine's specs and torque numbers. 388 lbs of torque is poor for a motor with such wild specs...really we're talking a full race engine. My 383 ci Chrysler, which granted is 43 more cubes, but makes 425 lbs stock and can idle smooth at 500 rpm. Also, I'd like to draw the attention to the cost to reproduce those kinds of numbers with the Y block, not even just in parts, as speed parts for Nailheads and Olds are expensive as well, but the proce of machine work for the head porting, port matching and means of achieving the 12.5:1 compression ratio. We're talking big bucks. I know the whole Small block vs whatever debate has been beated to death, but check out this thread... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33707 6 grand to build, 541 hp on 87 octane...now that's impressive.
I think it all depends on what you want out of your car. I have a 292 in my Fairlane, it's noisey, uses about a quart of oil every 100-125 miles, and it'll do 80 mph easily. Anything faster than that, I start to worry about other parts of the car! I kept mine for originality, and to have something that others don't have or haven't even heard of. My goal with this car was a cruiser. Speed parts are hard to come by, but they're out there. That's pretty much the same for any vintage engine. If you want speed, ease in finding parts, and something cheaper, switch to a sbc or a Ford 289 or 302. It all depends on what you want.
I have a y block and it is just what you want or into to! I would like to keep mine but mine is just going to be a driver not a racer! Josh
I have a 272 4 barrel in my 55 fairlane sounds great ran great then the other day it went from 50 psi oil pressure driving to 0 it was idling at 25 psi that is also 0 now. Not rodding it and no bad noise yet. It has a mechanical gauge so I tried another gauge still 0, so I pulled a valve cover no oil getting to top but it was still wet. Love the sound and the look but no idea how to work on it so far I don't think it hurt it inside any idea's would be appreciated. It was running great no smoke and didn't use oil. Thank you for any input. Thinking about going the 302 route if I can't figure it out.
This is probably what you need:http://www.cnc-motorsports.com/arp-oil-pump-driveshaft-kit-154-7906-ford-239-312-y-block.html When I raced Y-blocks on dirt back in the day I had two shafts break in two different motors,the cause of one we found a small piece of cork material in the oil pump gears which seized the pump and snapped the shaft.Replace the pump too it may have a bad relief spring.
all easy fixes, and well worth the effort, theyre not much heavyer than a small block, definatly a great sounding motor.
I'll suggest looking at the oil pump nut where the external tube goes in. These have a rubber grommet behind the nut and you may simply have to tighten that 'gland' nut to put some more squish on that rubber seal to get your oil pressure back. Ted Eaton.
Hear this all the time from people who just don't know. I took an old core 292, cleaned and balanced all the internals, re-ground cam, ported iron ECZ-G heads and ran 127 mph on the salt with a 4000 lb pickup. That was with stock rods, crank and cast flat top pistons. No "high dollar" stuff. Not hard at all. just got to know what you are doing. I know this thread is almost ten years old but this kind of thing keeps coming up, there will always be haters.
My '29 coupster will have a y-block, t-5 and 3.55 8" rear. ECZ heads, '57 4 bbl and dizzie built by Bill Coleman. Found some Edelbrock valve covers. Not sure how it will like the big cam from John Mummert, but probably still a year from getting it on the road. Fitting it in the frame was worked out by moving the front x-member. No hood so it will be seen. The '35 (soon to be for sale) has a flattie so this seemed to be the logical progression in engines. Biggest problem is finding a variety of headers that will look as good as the motor. Just wanted to be a bit different from the sbc crowd. RB
What Mummert cam do you have? Really is no such thing as "too big" for a Y-Block, they like a lot of lift and with a manual trans or a high stall converter the overlap is not an issue. Look at the "Rams" on my Sedan, I think that is a great way to go for exhaust. Performs well too.
Mctim, I've followed your builds and exploits at the salt through here and value your opinion. My recollection is the cam is one of the 280 * durations. Looking at JM's site, that's about 228* at 050, so maybe not as radical as I thought. I was ready to by less duration and after explaining to John what I was building, I bought the 280. Time will tell I guess and after the '35 w/flattie, this may be the oomph I'm hoping for. When I get further on in the build, I'll start a thread. I'm too slow to start one now. RB
That is a very good street cam, I think you'll like it. Can't wait to see the build when you start your thread. Cheers!
Say what you will about the Y Block, but for me no other engine stirs my soul quite like the sound of a hot Y Block. Takes me back to when I was a wet behind the ears teenager and a 55 Ford 2 door sedan that I was in love with. The Y Block breathing through a pair of steel pack mufflers makes sweet music. I agree with Tim, there will always be haters but I love them. Sure you can make more HP and so on, but in my case there is much more to it than just the HP numbers. That's why my RPU will run a Y Block m***aged by Tim
I wish I never pulled the 272 4 bbl out of my 55 sunliner,it seems like it had more torque then the 351-w that replaced it. I am gathering the parts to put a Y block back in.
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