They've got super think cylinder walls you can bore them .060 with no cooling issues,a cure for the oiling problem is to have a machinist cut the oiling groove in the cam out eight thousandths. They have the absolute best sounds of any engine ( aside from the flatties but I'm partial to a y) and they're reliable. Before I rebuilt the 292 in my truck it had never been rebuilt and still ran fine. But that's Ford in general.
My Dad had one in a '63 pickup. He knew little about motors except how to put his foot off in it. He ran that 292 hard (and I mean hard) for years stock except for the exhaust. It had plenty of power and with him driving it, it had to be tough. Get it running, put some glasspacks on it and do it like he said "run it til it quits. If it won't do what I need it to do, I don't need it." Enjoy it!
I have Yblock experience and am close to you. Let me know what I can do to help. What most don't realize is that they have torque available and you will feel it when you drive. The great sound WITH duels is naturally there because of the firing order. It is easily enhanced to what ever degree you want, the cam change isn't necessary for costs sake. I can identify the numbers for you quickly.
Here is what mine used to sound like before I did extensive work on it. This one does have open headers but besides that, listen to the idle and that is the sound and pattern you will get. These are solid lifter engines. Some say they have valve "noise", I call it music. One of the great things about them IMHO. fyi, IF you change the cam it will most likely require a matched set of new lifters, just to add to your cost. otherwise it could go flat very quickly. get in touch with me and let's get it running. http://frakesdesign.com/mov02213.mpg
Sounded like a stock 292 with a tri power setup for looks. They sound real well with glass packs. 18" pacs were my mode of operation when I was in high school and smallish exhaust for the street like 2 1/8 or 2". A stock Y block with a smallish 4 bbl on it will run real well and is a good starting place for a kid. I ran them with stock single point distributers as well and tricked thunderbird distributers and mallories and liked them all. The mallory rev poll worked the best on my race car but a single point works just as well on a cruiser. I use to run a sig erson cam on the street all the time, it was called a 3/4 race cam. But I street raced and didn't mind adjusting the valve lash or the lumps when it was trying to idle through town. That is probably more then you are after. A stock cammed 292 with a single four works real well. All my Y blocks had drippers over the rockers, I never modified one that way I just never opened one up that was not that way. They were just fine for top end oiling, I did pull one apart one time that the had a squeek and it turned ou that the tubing was clogged. I never ran a PCV on one but it would be nothing to bypass the road draft tube and plug your PCV in there. No one is going to want to hear this but if the engine has lots of blowby it is a good time to overhaul it. Using a PCV to overcome blowby is like putting a bandaid on a cancer.
This is excellent advice especially the "get a manual" part. Y blocks have a pesky, quirky cam timing thing where you have to count chain links or the chain has marked links used to align timing.
The lifters are a "mushroom" type, meaning the foot of the lifter is bigger than the body, so the lifters have to be installed from the cam tunnel, you have to pull the engine out and apart to change cams.
I run a 272 in my '46 pickup. I used the Ford 312 supercharger cam and the high lift rocker arms. I drilled out and tapped the end rocker arm shaft stands and blocked the holes (after making sure the oil holes in the block and heads were clear) to run full pressure to the rocker shafts. Shimmed the oil pump spring to raise the pressure. VR-1 50wt oil has ZPPD for the lifters. I used a 289 distributor with an advance kit. I adapted (2) 4100 Autolites to run sideways on an Offenhauser early 2x4 manifold. Great sound (beats a SBC) and enough power for cruising. weld on.......
Sorry about jumping on this thread. I am building a 292, and someone turned me on to Reds Headers. The price seems fair, considering the cost of coating them. Has anyone ever run these?
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