Technical Being frugal bit me again ,but ya knew it would

I did a patch up job of rebuilding my Ford Y-block a few years back,knew it really needed new piston n bore out then. Just no $$$ at the time,or now for pistons etc.,so took a shot that hone an new rings would kind of work! Did get a few years running around on mostly weekends,but last week it started smoken out the oil fill tube pretty bad. And started poping out ex about 1/2 in the gas.
I checked valve adj. and pushrods and if life was good,timing and points,all seem good.
I checked the cly psi,have 7 that have between 105# to 120#,an #5 is down to 35#.
I'm betting a ring,or land in old stock piston broke. Other ideas or bets ?,before I get it apart ?To see.
I'm kind of good that it lasted as long as it did,yet sad it's going to take so long to fix.

 

LOL lets put my monster in it while you are freshening the Y block. You won't be able to drive it on the street much ( price of race gas) but when you do it'll probably make your bung pucker.

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. I think guys that are still hitting it hard for 8-12 hours a day don't understand what its like to try and live after you stop working.

 

I had a friend of mine that was so cheap he bought a vacuum cleaner so he could save the dirt!

 

Dana,it's a crying shame it's almost the right time of year and the weather is getting better and your faced with pulling the engine.

BTW,that is a darn good looking engine. HRP

 

Hold up, Dana...before you get the hoist...
Sure sounds like blow-by, and maybe you have pison/ring/cylinder wear and/or damage, but...
I'm thinking that the popping out the carb might be due to a worn down cam lobe on that cylinder. Maybe pull the valve cover and see how the rocker arms are moving on that cylinder?
And I'm trying to think if a worn lobe could somehow cause crankcase pressure.
ummmmmm...mmmmmmm...
Maybe if it's the exhaust valve not opening, it could? Sucking in the air/fuel mixture and burning it, but the exhaust has nowhere to go but the crankcase?

 

And as Danny said, your Y-block looks nice.
Love the Man-A-Fre? (sp?) intake and multi carbs.

 

A friend of mine just went through this. (bad cam lobe) blow by and miss on a sbc. Put in a new cam and blow by stopped.
New oils are not what they used to be (ok for roller cams) but they took away additives that help oil cling to the cam over winters making a dry start up in spring.
(when the case hardening goes the cam lobe goes away fast.)
They make special cam additives because of this.
Have been putting in 20-25 percent Lucas in all my flat lifter motors for a while now with no cam issues.

 

Except for that low cylinder pressure reading...
I'm not so sure that computes...as far as a bad cam goes. Crap.

 

Dana, I'd bet when you put it in, it wasn't a Perfect Circle cam! Actually, in a comp. test, seems even the slightest lift, would confirm Your diagnosis.

 

Hope its not as serious as your thinking and you salvage a major chunk of the season approaching. I know you know your stuff but maybe...(now I'll finish my premature entry...) it will be less than more...get another engineer to help you with the diagnosis...I hope its not to serious.

 

Someday the madness will end..........

 

Well if you have the coin for the parts and machine work it shouldn't take that long to pull it and tear it down, get the machine work done and reassemble it and be ready for the world. The longest part of the deal is waiting for the parts to show up unless the machine shop is backed up and you have to take a number and get in line. .

Been there done that far too many times as far as throwing a set of rings and bearings in an engine and running it goes. Normally that is good for 60/70 K at the most. That said, you did get a few years of driving fun out of it for a low investment.

 

Not here it won't, I have come to the conclusion that you got to be some special kind of crazy to live in this house.

 

Toss in a POS engine so you can still cruise while freshening the good one.
Speaking from experience cruising in anything is better than sitting at the curb.

 

Thanks for ideas,,
I went out and rechecked again in & ex valve movement/lift on in&ex on #5, the're moving as much as all the others ! But wroth looking at again,I had put a new cam in a few years back and I been using zink oil treatmint. I also use highlift intake rockerarms. Yes,extra $$$ is very limited retired at 76 years old. But there is a lot of things that could be very bad that are good for now too. God Bless us all !

Thanks,,the 4x2 intake* is home made by me,I started with a old driveshaft as the tubing too cut,bent an welded on too 1/4in. homemade intake flange.
I've found out that one thing I did do when building it,was not done to most log tube intakes. I had welded devider up the center of stand tubes=porting for each valve goes up into the main log vs,most don't' it's just open from head up. This I thought was a good thing to do,as Ford-Y- V8 fires both clys on right side front, right next to each other{ #2 &#1}so if intake was open just about the head= #2 will mess with the flow too #1,was my thinking. Most after market cast alum log design intakes also don't have a wall between ports next to each other{ I think it cost power to do that.

 

Two words - Leakdown Test.

Oldmics

 

Yup,Oldmics ,but at 35psi on #5 no matter how fast it chanks with full battery tells why I'm thinking ring n piston land prob. . I did chank it with ear to carb,but no hissing an same for left side header. Add mittedly my ears are not what they once was,after 40years of racing stockcars,but I think valves are working,all the hiss is in the oilfill tube.

 

Sounds like you are going to have to take the heads off to be sure. When using your compression tester,pour oil in bad cylinder, if comp comes up it's a ring problem, sounds like it is. A suggestion if money is that tight, just fix the one hole, I've never done it that way, but I know years ago, some racing engine men would just bore the one hole .010 or .020, 1 new piston check piston weight to match your set, reassemble, hone, rering other 7 and run it. On a low compression street engine, not raced, IMO, you can get away with this. I'll be the first and loudest to say fix correctly, but you're probably like me in retirement, have more time than money. I never had much success pinching the nickel in any project, that little bird ( singing, cheap, cheap) always came and bit me in the A$$. Good Luck ! After thought, can you borrow a leak down gauge ? I have one and used it on my race engines to keep track of comp (rings) and valve condition, the positive is you can hear the air leak, being crankcase, intake or exhaust.

 

if you pull the head on the #5 piston and run it down in the cylinder, you could see if there is any damage to the cylinder wall. If not find a used piston a set of rings and put it together with that. if you need a used piston try Ted Eaton or some of the guys on the ford barn site, Good luck

 

Used piston , must be of same manufacture , there could be a balance issue , by just shoving any piston in a hole .


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You designed and built your intake manifold. Awesome. I didn't look close enough...and I don't see as good as I used to. Saw the 4 carbs...

 

I'm primarily a Chevrolet guy, but that's one nice looking Y-Block for sure!!! Leak-down test vote here too. Did you repeat the compression test WET, with oil squirted into the cylinders to see if things improved? I'd guess a broken ring before a ring land, or possibly a burnt valve (???), though that does't explain the blow by. Tine to pull the heads if you don't do any further testing. If it's a ring or ring land, lets hope it did't gouge the cylinder wall up; I had that happen to a 327 and had to have that cylinder sleeved. Keep us posted. That's a NICE Y-Block!!! I am Butch/56sedandelivery

 

Dana, I did the same thing with my Y block, it really needs to be boring but I just went back without. I guess it has been 5 years now and it still runs fine....so far. It does have some blow by out the fill tube and I guess i'm down on power some. Anyway good luck with the rebuild.

I just hope I'm rebuilding motors at 76, ....on the other hand, hope I don't have to rebuild a motor at 76.

 

Quite often, I see running Y-blocks for sale on Craigslist for less than $1k. Maybe find a cheap runner to drop in temporarily and keep driving?

 

THanks for input an ideas !
**** I found a y-block that fit my near zero piggy bank{ A tradefor a SBF 302,that I had ,even up} an got it,this AM ,"Y"dose turn over by hand an is dirty as a grease pit. This maybe a fill -in temp engine, if it checks out to have anything near even cly psi? We'll see in the next few days if this is just some parts or still runs good enough as is?
Plan,if we can call it that,is take PSI each cly,if that is OK,clean this up ,do whats needed to test start and run for a min or two with new oil filter an see oil psi,if that sounds n looks OK/add a 4bbl intake{its got a 2bbl on it now}paint it yellow an drop it in . Tell I can sell off enough of my old stash of rod parts,to buy new parts needed,for a good rebuild of my Y-block.
I'm staying Y-block power,it's what I built this hotrod with in 1959 ,so I had a car for highschool,an kept it that way.
Yes I have over the years put together a good number of SBC powered rods,My son's he an I built together,an for others,plus many race cars. So it is not what motor I like best,all V8s are cool,but what type motor I have had in it for its first day on the road .

 

2 and 2 doesn't always equal 4. Leak down test to see where the leak is happening with out taking anything apart?

 

Good for you, Dana, both for finding an affordable replacement in the interim, and for sticking with your traditional mill. I can't wait to see follow-up posts.

 

Man! wish I could find a Y block for a 302

 

I changed my vote -first I thought "scope the cylinder" -then -at 35 psi whatever is wrong , will require the head to be pulled - maybe just pull that one head and look. Maybe it was a head gasket or a valve. Then you could just fix that.

 

Could you use the short block from the dirty engine with your heads and cam? Give it a bath, a quick hone and some new gaskets