Having a legend like Keith Dorton build a basically stock engine is like asking a world famous chef to prepare a well-done, plain hamburger. At least he got to work some of his magic on the oiling system 👍🏼 Still, it was cool to see one of the vintage engines 🇺🇸
Have to completely disagree with you when you're talking about a restoration, not a hot rod. Not ever car needs all the vroom and go fast.....some people just want it restored and built to the best quality they can.
Yea because when I’m getting an engine done weather it is or isn’t stock I like to take it to a back yard engine builder and have them run a dingle ball honer down the cylinders and hammer the pistons in.
kyndal anne first of all, my initial comment was tongue in cheek. Second of all, any competent machinist could’ve properly rebuilt the engine to stock specs. Math is math, machining and assembling an engine properly is based around math. While obviously Keith Dorton is a competent machinist, not all competent machinists have the skill set & experience that Keith does at finding power - which is what he’s truly known for. I understand what you’re saying, and going back to my analogy, if you did order a plain hamburger from a world famous chef, it’s probably going to be one of the best plain hamburgers you’ve ever had...but you also didn’t really take full advantage of the chef’s skills.
First motor I built was a 292 Y-Block back in 1983 when Y-Bocks were NOT cool. I learned all my motor knowledge from a neighbor who built and raced late model stock cars. I tried to build the Y-Block like he built the stock car motors. I Used ECZ-G heads fully ported with 1.940 intake valves. A forged steel crank out of a Ford 600 truck. Deburred the entire block, polished the rods ARP bolts. Built my own 2 x 4 aluminum intake, oil pan and windage tray, stepped headers, Schneider Cam valvetrain, it sure was something. I never dynoed it but it ran up to 7500rpm and ran high 13's at 107mph in a 1957 Ford pickup using a Top Loader 4 speed and 4.56 gears.
That sounds really cool thanks for your story! Where you a machinist back then or how did you get the access to the mills to manufacture the parts? In the beginning of my career I did a 3.5 year apprenticeship as a precision mechanic and learned every manufacturing technology and had access to everything from standard and cnc milling, turning and grinding over honing and electronic discharge machining with dies and dries. After I finished my apprenticeship and a few years of work I changed the company and became the leader for their manufacturing department where is also learned everything that had to do with CAD and CAM. Those times where amazing because I could build everything I could ever imagine with that huge park of machines! My boss told me I could use all the materials from the recycling containers for free and we often had huge plates of metal in their which where more than enough to manufacture my parts! Nowadays I’m just sitting on my as an engineer and tell people what to do or make presentations for the top management how my projects are running. I get much more money, but I really miss the opportunity to build whatever I want for myself at home and the fun of not only designing but also manufacturing a new part that you came up with! Some day I will at least get a small cnc mill and a conventional lathe for my little workshop in my garage, but that’s still a few years away since I first need to rebuild the garages on my property to put the cars somewhere else do I have enough space for those huge machines.
I built several ford Y block engines back in the late fifties early sixties, they seem to blow head gaskets constantly. My very best build was a 312 CU IN 1957 Mercury engine that was a match for any built 283 Chevy back then, sad to say it ate a valve on a missed power shift and died. I never found another Y block engine that could never come anywhere near that one! I remember those days, they turned me into the successful Engineer I later became. I certainly enjoyed your video! Thanks
Iam a proud owner of an 1960 F100 4x4 292 with the Y block, I seen it up in front of the collapsed Barn, I asked the lady if she wanted to sell it? she said hell no! you can have it for free.... I gave it away 12 years ago to a guy.. but it had four flat tires,.he never showed back up. Called up my buddy Joey I said Joey bring me a battery and your car trailer.and a six pack of beer.. Joey showed up, I put the old girl down in first gear granny Low, slap the battery in it, pulled out the spark plugs then turned it over,, and womp womp womp womp right up into the car carrier.... The lady said where in the hell you from? I said right here in Oregon, she goes I've never seen that done before with 4 flat tires. Yeah that old Ford sweetie walked right up that ramp like it was nothing... Then we sat down and drank that cold six pack of Rainier beer with the lady. Now She starts like she did 62 years ago.
To fix the blown head gaskets. I would use the steel shim head gaskets. Get a strand of copper wire from a battery cable and glue it in that embossed circle around the cyl. That worked sort of a poor mans O ring. They blew because not enough bolts holding the heads on.
The old Y blocks didnt have oiling problems unless you didnt keep up with oil changes which alot of people didnt back then.They had small feed holes in the block and heads and a little sludge is all it took to plug them.People used to pull the valve covers and run wire through those holes to open them back up.They were tough as hell and nearly impossible to break.Fords engineers did an outstanding job bringing in the 1st OHV for the company.
Spent many hours tinkering with the 312 cu.in. Y in my dads '56 Mercury back in the early 60's. This brings back many good mems. Enjoyed this vid. very much.
Hey guy, man thanks for the trip down memory lane. I really appreciate your documentation on the 292 Y block. I truly believe in the durability and strength of the 312 y block. I purchased a pretty beat up '56 thunderbird in 1989 &I had mine rebuilt by NAPA in 1990, bored .o40 Rebuilt the Holly 4 bbl ,Also had the air cooled ford-0-matic rebuilt. I did the bodywork for about 3 years, but had it painted. New Stainless dual exhaust pipes,with golden turbo mufflers, & eventually added the suspension upgrades rear stabilizer, and new front end bushings., also eventually went to electronix points, and the oil filter upgrade. Went to my first car show sometime in '93,(no trophy) and it still looked as good and ran perfectly when I did my last car show in 2014 (2nd place). That machine was my 25 year love affair, and I drove my baby hard, long and fast, and she was always begging for more⚘😏
My dad had a 292 HD Ford engine powering his water well drilling rig for around twenty years or more,it was one tough as nails engine that had a lot of power. The rig weighed around 70,000 pounds and this engine handled it well for many years as well as being the powerplant for the drilling platform of the machine. These truly are some tough,durable engines. I can personally attest to that fact.And this engine and another he had in a 1963 F100 made me a Ford man for life. Never a tougher engine was ever made. A small block Chevy may outrun the Y block,but it sure won't outlast the Y block.
@@wilburfinnigan2142 yeah the 318 (which was based off the desoto hemi btw) was a 60's motor. I tend to compare it to the 292 hemi which Don Garlits (who's considered the father of drag racing) used back in the 50's to dominate the sling shot ranks.
@@wilburfinnigan2142 The basic Plymouth poly motor came out in 56 as a 277 (303 in Fury). The 318 version (looks just like a 277; and is basically a bored and stroked 277) came out the very next year. (If you're thinking of the 318 wedge, then yes, that is a "newer engine" that wasn't introduced until 67, although even that was just a bored out version of the 273 wedge introduced in the 64 model year.)
@@davidmiller9485 I know "Uncle Tony" claims a DeSoto origin for the 318 poly, but other than the timing chain and distributor, there is almost nothing in common between the two motors. Bore spacing (bore center to center distance) isn't even the same. There is more similarity between the 318 poly and the Gen III Hemi - they at least share a common bore spacing.
Thanks for this video. I had a 1962 Ford short bed pickup back in the early 1970's. It was my first vehicle when I turned 16. The truck was special ordered when new with a 292 y-block engine and a granny geared (very low first gear) transmission with a positive track Dana 60 rear end. I had the engine rebuilt but could not find new rocker shafts so they turned them over and used the new surfaces on the shafts. We used a kit that teed off of the oil pressure sender and went through copper lines to the rocker cover bolts and oiled the top end that way. I was able to find an right side exhaust manifold to eliminate the exhaust crossover pipe and make it dual exhaust. I had glass pack mufflers. Was able to find the later style oil filter adapter to replace cartridge filters with modern style filter. This video brings back a whole lot of memories. Thank You
In '62 I rebuild my 312 Y-block T-Bird '57 Ford engine. Had good cam, cleaning ports, and 3 Strombergs. Gosh, I wish I'd never sold that car. It has some much "just right" horsepower and I loved it.
I love watching these old Engine Masters work if you ever get the chance to to watch or assist, don't pass it up these old guys are amazing you will learn stuff you ddefinitely didn't learn in school. Thanks for sharing nice build.
On the 272 Y, the 292 Y, , and 312 Y blocks-as with most every engine pre 1974/75 the only tools needed to work on and do everything you had to do to your engine, was a standard set of wrenches & sockets. Add a few screwdrivers, channel locks, pliers, needle nose, a couple of crescent wrenches a vacuum guage, timing light. I stopped doing my own repairs sometime around 1979, I got a Toyota Supra, inline 6, fuel injected and I'm glad I never had to do any work on that car. Kept it and drove it for 25 years, may have changed out the headlight bulbs, A/C condenser. & rear wheel bearings. 😏
The Y-Block engine was the first engine I ever built. I used a Isky cam and an Offy Intake with multiple Stromberg carbs. Learned a great deal and had a ball. It was in a 63 F100 shortbed. For the effort it would have been a bunch better to have installed a 289 or 302 but i was a Jr in High School. You have to start somewhere.
Back 45 years ago when I was taking auto shop at Peoria Central High school we still had a 292 Y block Ford as one of the shop engines that the students used as a project engine to teardown & overhaul. I asked the teacher about the valve covers that obviously had been bent up and then beat back in shape with a couple of large washers welded on where the studs to hold the covers on were. He explained while pointing to the two impressions in the shop ceiling twenty feet above a previous student had put the engine back together and when he tried to start it up it would fire so he used starting fluid while cranking the engine. What he didn't know was the carb was flooding the whole time and gas was gathering in the oil pan and when the engine finally caught it blew the valve covers off bouncing into the ceiling and at also blew the oil pan off but they were able to repair it enough for more years of students to practice wrenching on.
Back in the day I had a 56 ford sedan with the 292 T Bird engine. The rockers were worn out and rattled so loud that you couldn't hear the exhaust . Maybe a slight exaggeration but not by much. I also had a 54 Two 55 s and the 56 ,all had oiling issues. Back then all we knew to do was to run a line from the oil pressure sending unit to the rockers, not a satisfactory solution thankfully.things have improved in the last 60 years. Great video, I In Joyed hearing the old Y block once again. Thanks Jim
Reading the disclaimer made for more enjoyment as I ran those engines hard. I knew about the cam bearing problem and took that particular bearing to the lathe where I cut a groove around the bearing shell so that if the bearing did happen to spin and block the oil from coming to the top then I had it covered. I also staked the bearing through the oil hole to help keep it from spinning. I seen lots of them with oil lines on the outside and run through the cover and it made a mess. I would take a long drill and go down though the head and drill through the bearing to see if I could get it back and did on most. I liked that lifter in block design and thought hard on could I replicate it in another block but to no avail. They were very undervalued engines and I constantly won lots of races with them, very good piece of history
Too many people want to make this engine out to be mechanically problemed on the design aspect. People tend to think the oil issues was all mechanical outside of the cam bearing which there were two different styles used based off when the engine was built majority of the oiling problem was caused by bad quality oil that allowed the passage to the rocker arms get blocked off. My 292 in my '56 has never been out and never been apart still pumps oil like it was designed to because it was a well taken care of engine that had oil changes done with quality oil at the 2,000 mile change interval. Only problem I am encountering is the load o matic distributor issues I am trying to straighten out as I truly don't want to spend the outrageous price for a reman unit and have to wait.
@@Milner62 For which I used to know so well and loved the engine as it was my first real race one which took every thing I poured at it. I did race but I didn't try to blow it up, I just got all she was worth. I couldn't ask for more and it did make me more than I spent and it was well taken care of
@@morgansword, Of course, its why my fordor 56 will retain the original 292. I could do like everyone else and upgrade but the 292 is over 60 years old without a rebuild, sat for nearly half of that time, engine was seized up but a little MMO and 10w30 oil mix in each cylinder got the engine freed up and here I am a good 5 or 6 years later with the engine running just slowly working the bugs out of it as when the car was parked it was at a time when OE correct parts were not common place and lots of rigging. Took me nearly a year to find a NOS dual reservoir vacuum advance for my Holley Load O Matic distributor which I think I need to pull and have rebuilt anyways. But all of that doesn't stop the engine from running and going down the road. Just isn't running exactly how it should run.
I don't buy that. You might drill through the head and drill through the block, but not at the same time. Look at the video. At 7:15-7:24, you will see a slot in the head. One part of the slot lines up with the center of the block, that's where the oil galley to the center cam bearing is, the other end of the slot is the oil galley to the rocker arm shaft. That "groove" in the head is the biggest oiling problem. I don't know just how many of those I scraped hard burnt oil, almost carbon, out of. If nothing is done to the "groove", you don't accomplish anything.
@@ronaldharris2439 If the solid back on the cam bearing is covering the hole to the block where the oil travels to the rocker assembly, it can not get oil. The back of the cam bearing doesn't have the groove for the oil to circulate around and get to that oil passageway. Before I put the cam in the engine, I would spike the bearing so it could not spin and hence not get oil to the top. The one only head I ever tried, allowed me to go to the cam bearing and drill a hole down to the cam without tearing it down. I don't know personally if any other block was the same way... I grew up running those engines to the limits of their capacity to spin, including doing a turbo on several and also using a blower off of a detroit diesel engine myself. Working for Bendix Corporation had its benefits. If I am so wrong then why did it work everytime I spiked those bearings so they couldn't turn in the block?
I ran many of these in the 60's and 70's. 292" 4BBL in a 57 Ford wagon, a 312" 3-2BBL in a '55 Bird, 312" 4BBL in a runabout boat. Good mills. Biggest problem I had was leaky rear main seal on the T-Bird. Ended up repowering that Bird with a 302" and it was a vast improvement. Also had another 55 Bird all stock show car with a stock 292" 4BBL.
My father who was a Ford mechanic in the '50's and '60's once told me that the bypass hole on the rocker shaft was to prevent to much oil onto the valve train. After about 30 thousand miles the rockers would get to much oil and the valves would start sucking it in through the seals. I understand that it was a common problem.
I had a 54 ford with the overhead valves and I thought that was their first Y block , I loved that old two door post ford I put a hopped up 292 that I bought from a stock car racer ,it had very good heads that were ported and polished, l think they started out as 312 heads and he had them built up at Dougs racing stables back in the days, wish l still had that little ford.
50 years ago when I was a kid, we had a 62 Galaxy 500 with a 292 that had rocker arm oiling issues. My stepdad used an overhead oiling system teeing off the oil sending unit, worked great.
Thank you for sharing this build with us buddy! I've been trying to watch it since you posted it, but something always interrupted me when I'd click on it. When you think about it, 220 HP/290 lb ft isn't terrible considering the low compression ratio, deep combustion chambers, small valve faces, and flat top pistons. Imagine if he wouldve shaved the heads, extreme port and polish the intake and exhaust ports, larger valves, put some high compression forged rods and pistons in it, gone for an extreme performance cam, dual valve springs, 5 angle valve job, and brought the static compression ratio up to around 12 or 13:1. That old Y block could be capable of 400-450 HP without any power adders. The crank looked stout enough to support some power, but if not I'm sure a forged crank could be arranged. Imagine a 292 cubic inch V8 capable of 450 HP just naturally aspirated...I'd really like to see this builder's performance Y block buildup and see it ran on the engine dyno. Thanks again for sharing this oddball build with us!
Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for watching. Dorton has a Y-block build coming up over the winter that is supposed to be a significantly higher-horsepower upgrade versus stock, and I hope I'm able to document that build too. That's the main reason I shot this build, so we could see the differences. Thanks again!
@@TheHorsepowerMonster I sure hope that you get the chance to document that build because I'll definitely be watching. Actually, I'll be watching regardless, but I'll pay extra close attention for that episode! Lol
I’m looking to do a shoestring budget rebuild on a 272 that’s for a 55 Fairlane my grandma gave me. I’m hoping to bring an old heirloom back to life and maybe even give it a little more get up and go if I can. Got any more tips that could help?
Y Blocks have already been built, up to about 700hp naturally aspirated and 1000hp boosted. They have participated in engine masters for the past 10 years or so, producing as much as 603hp at that competition, many times over 500hp and at the most recent one, a pump gas, iron headed 303ci produced 430hp. At the Y Block Nationals, there are participants at all levels, from stock to purpose built dragsters, many of which exceed 500hp. This is a great event to go to if you want to see them in action and talk to people who have been building and racing them for decades. At this point in time, 400-450hp is not a challenge at all.
Holly Smoke ..... Keith Dorton is in the House . I am getting ready to rebuild a 292 in a ancient wood chipper . I will for sure use his oiling tricks .
Have a 1963 vintage 292 Block in a 1963 F-100. Has lasted over 100,000 miles with oil changes every 1,500 miles. No modifications except spin on oil filter adapter. Would probably make more power with overhaul, but since its never been apart since Ford built it is hard to fix something that ain't broke. Has had valve covers off for lash adjustment and new valve cover gaskets. The cork ones were pretty leaky.
I built a couple of these in my younger days and always enjoyed the small things that made them different from the "belly button" SBC's. Dorton knows his stuff and I always learn something when I watch the things he does. There's just so much that is different on these things. I built them as 312's and used Isky cam, good flat tops, and 3 Strombergs (hated those carbs). The engines ran pretty fair but those damn Chevys could wind to the moon. I really like the Mummert intake on this engine......mine was an Offy with 3 ducks.....pretty enough but I never felt that it flowed like it could/should of.
Although primitive by today's standards these were a pretty high tech compared to the flathead. One thing that's kinda cool is my 5.0 coyote is also a Y-block with it's deep skirts that help tie in all the main caps. So, in some small way, it kinda like the old Y block lives on.
That plumbing is not even necessary. Simply ensuring that the cam groove depth and width is good is enough but it can be taken farther with a camshaft bearing that is grooved along the outside perimeter or cutting a groove into the block, which requires restrictors to prevent too much oil from going to the rockers.
Clever indeed, and out of sight. Back in the day, the fix was aftermarket "oilers" that consisted of copper or aluminum lines running along the tops of each valve cover, and T-ed into the covers with brass fittings at several places, so as to squirt oil all along the rocker assemblies. Not very pretty and with so many fittings involved, leaks were inevitable, but they were effective, nonetheless. There may have been other configured fixes but those are the only ones I saw. My first car, a '57 Fairlane 500, had the 292 in it, but I never went the aftermarket oiler route. It also had the bulletproof 2-speed auto trans -- the toughest ever built by Ford, in my opinion.
One improvement you can make to the rocker oiling is to use a later camshaft with a grooved center bearing journal, or have a groove machined in the one you have. That way, the oil feed to the rockers is constant instead of intermittent. The other fix is to block off that tube that comes off of one of the rocker shaft stands. That way, ALL the oil goes to the rockers, not just part of it.
They sounded best w glasspack stacks coming up right behind the cab. Made Thunderbirds sound tame. Loved that sound! Not too load either, just pure and smooth.
@@alexisg311 Can you believe we are still using gasoline for 100+ years now? The technology of engines has remained almost exactly the same. The only thing that has changed since the 1940's is the metallurgy, the invention of new nitride coatings, teflon coatings, better quality oil, better aluminum alloys, and not much else. The thing is, modern cars do not get better gas mileage. Somehow they have managed to put alien technology and modern computer chips into new cars, and they still only get 28 mpg.
Yeah by 1 year, The Y-block was a turd compared to a small block Chevy. The Ford FE (352-390 - 428) was the first decent performing OHV engine Ford made .
Stop and think: in 1953, the last year of the Flathead, the Horse Power rating of the 239 Cubic Inch Flatty was 100 HP. In 1954, the first year of the Over Head Y Block, the Cubic Inch was the same as the 1953 Flat Head at 239. The Bore and Stroke measurements were different but, the Cubic Inch was identical. Horse Power rating: 130. This shows the vastly improved breathing ability of the OHV Engine.
I had a 1956 Ford in 1965. It had the 292 and a Ford-a-matic transmission. Paid $300 for it. Sold it and bought a 1957 Ford with a 292. It had a three speed manual transmission. Paid $300 for it too. Those were reliable engines. You could rely on having to stop for gas very often. They got terrible mileage. But those cars did have large back seats. Lots of fun at the drive-in.
IMO it's our duty as humans to preserve these huge amounts of knowledge and experience people like Keith Dorton has. It has to be passed on to subsequent generations. Guys (and gals) like this really know their stuff and I'm impressed everytime I have the opportunity to watch them work, just wow. And the mindset you have to have when you significantly customize an american engine is so different to the thinking behind european or asian engine technics. Diversity is king!
In 1982 I bought a 57 F-100 that had a Y-block in it. I was never sure if I was a 272 or a 292, but it was a torky engine, it was just as easy to take off in second as it was in first gear. I remember the two barrel carb was roughly the size of a 16 ounce beer can.
Love it! I've been a Ford kid since the late 80s at Street Machine Nationals with my Uncle, about 1994 he bought a 66 Mustang, and I was involved ever since.
I left mine just about all stock because I know if I push it it won't take it for long and the expense that goes into one of these engines just isn't worth the headache unless you have a ton of money to throw away. I changed the heads for a little more compression and had the block lined bored to accept the inserts instead of Babbitt, and believe me I was really struggling to even put that much money into it but I wont be drag racing my car since it's pretty much all stock except for the overdrive I installed for better gas mileage and hopefully less engine wear due to overrevving. The 35 had 4:11to 1 rear gears so I opted for a 36 % overdrive for open road flat driving and the lower gears for parades The little coupe isn't heavy so it should be ok for power but if it were a sedan and I were to have it full of passengers then maybe the 36% over would be way to much of a strain on the engine and defeat my purpose for mileage and power . Personally I would have gone with a small block Chevy but I didn't want to stray too far from it's originality . I grew up riding in a 35 Ford 5 window sine it was our second car for my Mom to drive . The Ford actually belonged to a very good friend of my Dads and he drove it on the weekends when he came to stay with us .
The 239, 272, and 312 Y block was preceded by another Y block that was introduced in 1952 with a 279, 317 and 368 CID displacement of which the 368 was called the Turnpike Cruiser. It featured side by side and not stacked siamesed intake and exhaust ports, hydraulic lifters and was rumored to be the engine that Ed Cole copied off of to start the design the small block Chevy. .
Ran a lot of these in the "old days". 272s. 292s. 312s. Last one was a 312 in my first '55 Bird with 3 deuces, Mallory ignition, headers, and a T-10 4 speed. Ran good, but prone to oil leaks. But I replaced it eventually with a stock 302 2BBL engine with an FMX Ford O Matic and it vastly improved the car. Faster, quieter, better mileage and leaked nothing. In my next '55 Bird, I had a shop rebuild the orig 292 -all stock. It was a nice running mill, smooth and quiet. 3 speed stick. Fun times.
Personally I loved that engine and for me it was a connection to sounding cool an for what ever reason, mine were exceptionally fast. I outrun all the power pack 265 and most 283 chevy engines without breaking a sweat. Mated with a T85 three speed I could get a solid 90 mph out of it and third was not impressive as that transmission was direct in third but second gear was long legged.... Skagit Speedway had my name on the winner wall many times back in the early sixties. After Nam I moved on up to the FE block and never looked back
At 8:50 stating the Y block has a chevy exhaust layout. Actually a Ford flathead V8 layout that the Y block replaced. The Y block ports were better because of the increased spacing between the middle two.
1961; building engines in an auto supply machine shop, it seemed that nearly every Y-block that came through the shop had a flat cam. But when they were running right, I was always fascinated at how slowly and smoothly they idled; reminded me of a fine watch. Was hoping to get a glimpse of that in this video, knowing a stock cam was being used, but oh, well...☹
2 57 Rancheros, 58 business coupe, and 59 wagon, all with Y blocks, 312 in one Ranchero , 292's in the others - open up the valve clearance get a little more top end, close it up grab a slight bit more torque. always fun playing with them once you cleaned out the sludge build up :)
I have a 57 ford custom 300 with a 292 and adapted 5 speed. The drivetrain is 100% stock besides the trans, factory duals, and a "modern-er" Holley on the factory big pattern iron intake. So... pretty damn stock. She purrrrrrrrrs and she snarls and roars. It amazes me because it's super fuel efficient and somehow it still stomps on Chevy 350s. How? Idk. I like my Chevys so I attribute it to good vs bad tune. Idk..... But, I love that 292. I'm building a 312 for her. I hope it lives up to what the 292 has done.
@@CreatorCade wish you great success on your build. I THINK you'll truly love working with the Y blocks. I did one way back in the last millennium.'1990/'91. Mine was a 312 hooked up to the air cooled ford-o-matic slush box. It was still running good when I finally sold my car in 2014. There's a lot of meat in the 312 y block. Could easily be bored out to .o60 from what Ive been told. Mine was bored out .o40 over. I always trusted Larrys Thunderbird Parts and accessories for my needs. There's a couple of other reliable parts dealers for the ford y blocks. Just search the web and you'll find almost everything you'll need. Some parts stores will have items like oil filters, bulbs, fuel pumps, radiator caps spark plugs etc;. Good Luck!
I owned a 1956 Ford 4 door Custom. As a teenager, I pulled the automatic trans and put in clutch and 3 speed trans. It was a pretty fast car for it's time. I got good at speed shifting too. The rocker arm thing was really bad. Some guys put on an external oiler. I rebuilt the engine once. Those days are long gone. It was a fun car though. I bought it for $450 when I was 14. It would go 120 mph when running reasonably well. Right: America, bless God.
Painkiller Jones The 352 was an FE not a Y Block. Yes, technically both have deep skirted blocks that gave the Y Block its name but they are totally different engine families.
I've heard a 292 and a 312. I'm that old. My dad bought a 65 Ford with a 352. I had a 60 T-bird with a 352. It was slow getting up to speed but it would really cruise down the highway.
I like when they take the neglected V-8s of the first generation of OHV designs and see what they can do. The nailhead and caddy got all the attention.
We have one of those 64 ford wrong bed trucks in our collection. A guy named Hastings English bought it new. 3/4 ton. Set up high. I remember when we met him going down the highway. There was a plume of blow by coming out from the crankcase breather. Got to look under the hood. That truck came with a factory PCV. However it produced more puff back than it could handle. So they had installed one of those earlier cannister road draft on the side of the block. Many decades later. I bought that truck. Upon inspection. It was clear that there wasnt a hole in the block for that early road draft. They had drilled the cast and broke a opening.
The Y-block was my first love. a 312 T-Bird in a 55 coupe. Nothing sounds like the "Coffeepot" carb and pulled as hard as that dual vacuum advance distributor Y Block.
Ellis Arnold had a 53 ford with three duces and four speed back in 1963. It outran everything that ever tried. I don’t know what the specs on the engine were but I do know he had a 56 Ford that was a his race car. It was crazy fast. He worked on it at my dad’s service station in Norphlet Arkansas in 62-65. Ellis was killed in the yellow 53 and it was destroyed. It was a beautiful car with glass hood and the roof was par glass. I was just 10 but was already working at my dad’s station. It was the best time I ever had hanging with the fastest guys in south Arkansas and anyone that came to see this one called BIG RED ,the 56, left with their tails tucked between their legs. A 409 Chevy from Dallas heard about this little Ford and brought a butt load of money when he came to beat it, he left broke and broken. Life was much easier and way more fun back then. The Feds have screwed it up like a Russian football bat.
Y blocks are awesome motors and this man totally perfected the oiling system so now it's totally reliable. Maybe more people will put them in some old Ford builds. I love to see Ford motors in old Fords.
A high school friend of mine's dad would brag about having a '54 ford that would run a 12 second quarter mile. I think he was giving revisionist history. It was a hot engine in 1954, but a 460 hp Coyote powered mustang does a 12 second quarter mile.
All et times depend on the gearing and the reaction time and skill of the driver. I've personally seen daily driver pickups that could do 12 second quarter mile times.
@@cfisher11 I think it was some revisionist history. There were genuine muscle cars in the 60's, such as a 390 Mustang, that would only do a 15 second quarter mile.
Back in 1975 I owned a shop and the local city street department had a 64 ford pickup with a 292 in need of overhaul. This was a college town with an automotive depart so I hired a college student who said he could handle the overhaul. What he didn't realize was the cam bearings had to be indexed to the holes (he was used to small block chevys). At startup we had no oil to the rocker arms, so we had to pull the engine out and tear it down enough to replace the cam bearings again. Lesson learned!
Thanks for those videos in all the years I have been watching any videos none of them made me feel so good and happy oh man super best videos i ever watch as a kid I used Audels American books wish these videos were around Bless these Engineers
An oddity of the Y blocks was the 12 timing pins on the timing chain between timing marks on the oil filter side of the engine. That has threw many a person for a loop. Lots of Y blocks had external overhead oilers added back in the day. I have taken a few loose where they hooked up to the rocker arms and no oil would come out; drop the copper tubing down below the crankshaft and oil would trickle out. Every time the main on the crank would be worn real bad. I remember one that turned down on .030. I still quite a bit of Y block stuff.
Back in the day, the first real engine I messed with was a 292 in an old ford parked out in a field. The owner assured me it had a hot cam in it, and I paid him ten bucks for it then proceeded to remove it....but, I couldn't. I had no idea it had mushroom lifters that had to be removed or pulled-up and held with clothes pins for the cam to come out. Later, my old man bought a ragged-out 1961 F-250 4 WD and used it as the base for a water well pulling rig. I put thousands of miles on that thing, and with the 4.56 gears, it always seemed to be wrapped tight. Over the years, I rebuild that engine four times. Knowing it had oiling problem to the top end, I tapped the oil gallery and rigged-up a system of copper tubing to deliver oil to the rockers. An old hot rodder told me the torque spec on the head bolts was way too high, so I backed down to 70 pounds, then after some blown head gaskets, finally solved the problem at 85 pounds. I was all set to build a 292 or 312 hot rod engine, but found a 392 Hemi in an old push button transmission Chrysler, and well, went off in a different direction. But, I have never forgotten to potential of the Y block for a solid engine in a light car, and am running some possibilities through my head. I was in my teens back then and had managed to get a hardship drivers license to drive the rig truck. Over the years I built an Austin Healey with a 500 HP 327, a Comet with a 454, and finally owned a brand new 1969 Mach One with a 428 CJ....which I now wish I had back.:)
my dad bought a used Ford wagon for 600 in 1961 with a right rear fender that was 300 to repair. I learned to drive on this car and by 1966 I had beat this car a bit. It was a 292 4brl, dual exhaust auto. Always worked.
When I was in high school in the early 1970s (you know, a previous lifetime) I bought a '55 F-100 into which someone had removed the stock 292 Y block (or inline 6) and replaced it with a supercharged 312 Y block.... Ah the memories, replacing the old 3 speed transmissions on the way to school because I slammed 2nd gear too hard and broke another cluster gear (9 times) breaking the glass out of the back of the cab with the back of my head when I finally learned that running screws through the tire beads would keep me from spinning the wheels inside the old bias ply tires and breaking off the valve stems. (Solved that problem with a pair of swivel bucket seats out of a Monti Carlo.) Being the only kid in school with a pick-up and still being as fast off the line as the Mustangs and Chevelles with my factory 411 gears.... Those were the days.
Back in 1970 when i was seventeen i had a '57 Ford, that someone had put this engine into before i got it. Three on the tree. That sucker would sink you back in the seat ! Hottest car in our neck of the woods. It's the one car i miss the most!
The second-generation of Y-blocks, known as the FE and MEL series, that ran from 1958 to 1976, consisted of... FE (Ford-Edsel, or, Ford Engineering) / FT (Ford Truck), 1958-1976 332: 4.0" bore x 3.3" stroke (1958-1959) 352: 4.0" bore x 3.5" stroke (same dimensions as the 351/W SBF) (1958-1967) 360: 4.047" bore x 3.5" stroke (1958-1976) (also available as the FT 361 for medium-weight trucks) 390: 4.047" bore x 3.78" stroke (1961-1976) (also available as the FT 391 for medium-weight trucks) 406: 4.127" bore x 3.78" stroke (1962-1963) 410: 4.047" bore x 3.98" stroke (1966-1967) 427: 4.23" bore x 3.78" stroke (1964-1968) 428: 4.127" bore x 3.98" stroke (1966-1970) MEL (Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln), 1958-1968 383: 4.3" bore x 3.3" stroke (1958-1960 Mercury) 410: 4.2" bore x 3.7" stroke (1958 Edsel Corsair/Citation only) 430: 4.3" bore x 3.7" stroke (1958-1965) 462: 4.38" bore x 3.83" stroke (1966-1968) (the 462 was initially slated to be discontinued after 1967 in favor of the 460 cid "385" BBF, but there were still a few 462s left unsold)
One minor correction: in 1958 the engine was "361". The "360" was the "F"-series truck engine. Yea, I know: same bore/stroke, just different nomenclature. 😏 BTW, the Mercury/Edsel 361 was also the Police Interceptor engine in the Ford. And the 361 and 391 engines in the trucks were "FT" instead of "FE", and featured forged steel crankshafts, while the FEs used cast iron.
I honestly have to say, as a replacement for the flathead V8, that was one hell of an improvement. I personally say, however, the flathead sounds better after hearing both in person.
My first mode of automotive mobility came in the form of a 1963 F-100 powered by a 292 Y block with a 4 speed manual transmission. My dad bought the truck new in '63 and was his daily driver during the week. On the weekends it was the family camper with dads homemade cabover camper on board. When I got the pickup as a gift on my 16th birthday it was 15 years old with 120,000+ meticulously maintained miles on it. I continued to service the engine as dad had but to say I was hard on the old truck would be understated. I pushed the limits of reasonable as only a male teenager can in the harsh environment of the Arizona desert. The only modification to the truck since rolling off the Ford assembly line was the addition of aftermarket air conditioning and for reason I cant recall, an electric fuel pump. After 2 1/2 years of adolescent abuse I gave the truck back to dad to use at his business when I left for Marine Corps boot camp. The only time the truck failed to deliver was due to electric fuel pump failure, which happened several times always when most inconvenient or I was where I wasn't supposed to be. The pickup carried on in commercial service use another 10 years retiring with over 300,000 miles on it. The motor was never rebuilt or taken apart and the only major component replaced was the clutch shortly after I gave it back. I have many fond memories in that truck and all things considered is arguably the best vehicle I've ever owned to this day. Dad bled blue as a die hard Ford guy while the rebel in me lead me to the bowtie brigade when I left the Marines. Dad passed away a few years ago and I inherited his new F-150 which I still have as my daily driver. After three decades I bailed on the bowtie and am now a happy camper true blue Ford guy adding a fox body and Roush Mustang to my stable. I'm hoping to add an early 60's F-100 with Y-block V-8 someday... soon.
Your timing had to be off had several, worked the living piss out of em. Never broke a crank. And only blew one head gasket. Lost a fan blade through the hood once though!
Having a legend like Keith Dorton build a basically stock engine is like asking a world famous chef to prepare a well-done, plain hamburger. At least he got to work some of his magic on the oiling system 👍🏼
Still, it was cool to see one of the vintage engines 🇺🇸
Have to completely disagree with you when you're talking about a restoration, not a hot rod. Not ever car needs all the vroom and go fast.....some people just want it restored and built to the best quality they can.
Yea because when I’m getting an engine done weather it is or isn’t stock I like to take it to a back yard engine builder and have them run a dingle ball honer down the cylinders and hammer the pistons in.
Chummins there is a huge separation between who you’re talking about and Keith Dorton. Lol 😂
@@jimmy_olds Given that the engine had already been jacked up once..... sounds like there's not a whole lot in the gap to fill it.
kyndal anne first of all, my initial comment was tongue in cheek. Second of all, any competent machinist could’ve properly rebuilt the engine to stock specs. Math is math, machining and assembling an engine properly is based around math. While obviously Keith Dorton is a competent machinist, not all competent machinists have the skill set & experience that Keith does at finding power - which is what he’s truly known for. I understand what you’re saying, and going back to my analogy, if you did order a plain hamburger from a world famous chef, it’s probably going to be one of the best plain hamburgers you’ve ever had...but you also didn’t really take full advantage of the chef’s skills.
First motor I built was a 292 Y-Block back in 1983 when Y-Bocks were NOT cool. I learned all my motor knowledge from a neighbor who built and raced late model stock cars. I tried to build the Y-Block like he built the stock car motors. I Used ECZ-G heads fully ported with 1.940 intake valves. A forged steel crank out of a Ford 600 truck. Deburred the entire block, polished the rods ARP bolts. Built my own 2 x 4 aluminum intake, oil pan and windage tray, stepped headers, Schneider Cam valvetrain, it sure was something. I never dynoed it but it ran up to 7500rpm and ran high 13's at 107mph in a 1957 Ford pickup using a Top Loader 4 speed and 4.56 gears.
That sounds really cool thanks for your story!
Where you a machinist back then or how did you get the access to the mills to manufacture the parts?
In the beginning of my career I did a 3.5 year apprenticeship as a precision mechanic and learned every manufacturing technology and had access to everything from standard and cnc milling, turning and grinding over honing and electronic discharge machining with dies and dries.
After I finished my apprenticeship and a few years of work I changed the company and became the leader for their manufacturing department where is also learned everything that had to do with CAD and CAM.
Those times where amazing because I could build everything I could ever imagine with that huge park of machines!
My boss told me I could use all the materials from the recycling containers for free and we often had huge plates of metal in their which where more than enough to manufacture my parts!
Nowadays I’m just sitting on my as an engineer and tell people what to do or make presentations for the top management how my projects are running.
I get much more money, but I really miss the opportunity to build whatever I want for myself at home and the fun of not only designing but also manufacturing a new part that you came up with!
Some day I will at least get a small cnc mill and a conventional lathe for my little workshop in my garage, but that’s still a few years away since I first need to rebuild the garages on my property to put the cars somewhere else do I have enough space for those huge machines.
7500 rpm on stock rods is insane, wanna make my 239 turn 7000 under a dash of boost lmao
😊
@@captainchicken8983 We have a modified 272 that still has stock rods. Normal shift point is 6500 but it will easily hit 7000+.
I had a stock 292 2bbl. Fresh rebuild. According to a tachometer from K mart, it would turn 7000.
I love that he lets youtubers film him, and even explains what he's doing. Truly loves what he's doing.
I built several ford Y block engines back in the late fifties early sixties, they seem to blow head gaskets constantly. My very best build was a 312 CU IN 1957 Mercury engine that was a match for any built 283 Chevy back then, sad to say it ate a valve on a missed power shift and died. I never found another Y block engine that could never come anywhere near that one! I remember those days, they turned me into the successful Engineer I later became. I certainly enjoyed your video! Thanks
Iam a proud owner of an 1960 F100 4x4 292 with the Y block, I seen it up in front of the collapsed Barn, I asked the lady if she wanted to sell it? she said hell no! you can have it for free.... I gave it away 12 years ago to a guy.. but it had four flat tires,.he never showed back up. Called up my buddy Joey I said Joey bring me a battery and your car trailer.and a six pack of beer.. Joey showed up, I put the old girl down in first gear granny Low, slap the battery in it, pulled out the spark plugs then turned it over,, and womp womp womp womp right up into the car carrier.... The lady said where in the hell you from? I said right here in Oregon, she goes I've never seen that done before with 4 flat tires. Yeah that old Ford sweetie walked right up that ramp like it was nothing... Then we sat down and drank that cold six pack of Rainier beer with the lady. Now She starts like she did 62 years ago.
That's a good tale, Dale
To fix the blown head gaskets. I would use the steel shim head gaskets. Get a strand of copper wire from a battery cable and glue it in that embossed circle around the cyl. That worked sort of a poor mans O ring. They blew because not enough bolts holding the heads on.
@@williamglendye1692 348's where not fast.
@@thecollectoronthecorner7061, Yes but they sure could burn rubber with all the torque.
The old Y blocks didnt have oiling problems unless you didnt keep up with oil changes which alot of people didnt back then.They had small feed holes in the block and heads and a little sludge is all it took to plug them.People used to pull the valve covers and run wire through those holes to open them back up.They were tough as hell and nearly impossible to break.Fords engineers did an outstanding job bringing in the 1st OHV for the company.
Beautiful said I change my oil lots more in my old 292 took it to 3 cars shows Ran strong love it in my 57 rancho 3 on the tree
And the oil is better today too.
@G.S.W.SewmesomeMusic yes it is!and that's really all they need to live without any maintenance.
Spent many hours tinkering with the 312 cu.in. Y in my dads '56 Mercury back in the early 60's. This brings back many good mems. Enjoyed this vid. very much.
Just rebuilt a 292 for my 1963 F100! Love the sound of it breathing through Patriot Headers!
I'll be posting a video of it running this week!
Cool, will look for it.
Hey guy, man thanks for the trip down memory lane. I really appreciate your documentation on the 292 Y block. I truly believe in the durability and strength of the 312 y block. I purchased a pretty beat up '56 thunderbird in 1989 &I had mine rebuilt by NAPA in 1990, bored .o40 Rebuilt the Holly 4 bbl ,Also had the air cooled ford-0-matic rebuilt.
I did the bodywork for about 3 years, but had it painted. New Stainless dual exhaust pipes,with golden turbo mufflers, & eventually added the suspension upgrades rear stabilizer, and new front end bushings., also eventually went to electronix points, and the oil filter upgrade. Went to my first car show sometime in '93,(no trophy) and it still looked as good and ran perfectly when I did my last car show in 2014 (2nd place). That machine was my 25 year love affair, and I drove my baby hard, long and fast, and she was always begging for more⚘😏
My dad had a 292 HD Ford engine powering his water well drilling rig for around twenty years or more,it was one tough as nails engine that had a lot of power. The rig weighed around 70,000 pounds and this engine handled it well for many years as well as being the powerplant for the drilling platform of the machine. These truly are some tough,durable engines. I can personally attest to that fact.And this engine and another he had in a 1963 F100 made me a Ford man for life. Never a tougher engine was ever made. A small block Chevy may outrun the Y block,but it sure won't outlast the Y block.
The Dodge/Plymouth Poly 318 was a better engine then either and didn't have the valve train woes these things had.
@@4thstooge75 318 dumb ass was a newer engine !!!!
@@wilburfinnigan2142 yeah the 318 (which was based off the desoto hemi btw) was a 60's motor. I tend to compare it to the 292 hemi which Don Garlits (who's considered the father of drag racing) used back in the 50's to dominate the sling shot ranks.
@@wilburfinnigan2142 The basic Plymouth poly motor came out in 56 as a 277 (303 in Fury). The 318 version (looks just like a 277; and is basically a bored and stroked 277) came out the very next year. (If you're thinking of the 318 wedge, then yes, that is a "newer engine" that wasn't introduced until 67, although even that was just a bored out version of the 273 wedge introduced in the 64 model year.)
@@davidmiller9485 I know "Uncle Tony" claims a DeSoto origin for the 318 poly, but other than the timing chain and distributor, there is almost nothing in common between the two motors. Bore spacing (bore center to center distance) isn't even the same. There is more similarity between the 318 poly and the Gen III Hemi - they at least share a common bore spacing.
Thanks for this video. I had a 1962 Ford short bed pickup back in the early 1970's. It was my first vehicle when I turned 16. The truck was special ordered when new with a 292 y-block engine and a granny geared (very low first gear) transmission with a positive track Dana 60 rear end. I had the engine rebuilt but could not find new rocker shafts so they turned them over and used the new surfaces on the shafts. We used a kit that teed off of the oil pressure sender and went through copper lines to the rocker cover bolts and oiled the top end that way. I was able to find an right side exhaust manifold to eliminate the exhaust crossover pipe and make it dual exhaust. I had glass pack mufflers. Was able to find the later style oil filter adapter to replace cartridge filters with modern style filter. This video brings back a whole lot of memories. Thank You
That sounds like a fun truck. Thanks for watching!
In '62 I rebuild my 312 Y-block T-Bird '57 Ford engine. Had good cam, cleaning ports, and 3 Strombergs. Gosh, I wish I'd never sold that car. It has some much "just right" horsepower and I loved it.
What exhaust did you have on the engine ?
I love watching these old Engine Masters work if you ever get the chance to to watch or assist, don't pass it up these old guys are amazing you will learn stuff you ddefinitely didn't learn in school. Thanks for sharing nice build.
Thanks a lot!
like how to please a lady? it can't be done.
On the 272 Y, the 292 Y, , and 312 Y blocks-as with most every engine pre 1974/75 the only tools needed to work on and do everything you had to do to your engine, was a standard set of wrenches & sockets. Add a few screwdrivers, channel locks, pliers, needle nose, a couple of crescent wrenches a vacuum guage, timing light. I stopped doing my own repairs sometime around 1979, I got a Toyota Supra, inline 6, fuel injected and I'm glad I never had to do any work on that car. Kept it and drove it for 25 years, may have changed out the headlight bulbs, A/C condenser. & rear wheel bearings. 😏
@@kbtube8125 Hahaha.
They say if it has tires or tits, its trouble 😊
No doubt about it!!
The Y-Block engine was the first engine I ever built. I used a Isky cam and an Offy Intake with multiple Stromberg carbs. Learned a great deal and had a ball. It was in a 63 F100 shortbed. For the effort it would have been a bunch better to have installed a 289 or 302 but i was a Jr in High School. You have to start somewhere.
Back 45 years ago when I was taking auto shop at Peoria Central High school we still had a 292 Y block Ford as one of the shop engines that the students used as a project engine to teardown & overhaul. I asked the teacher about the valve covers that obviously had been bent up and then beat back in shape with a couple of large washers welded on where the studs to hold the covers on were. He explained while pointing to the two impressions in the shop ceiling twenty feet above a previous student had put the engine back together and when he tried to start it up it would fire so he used starting fluid while cranking the engine. What he didn't know was the carb was flooding the whole time and gas was gathering in the oil pan and when the engine finally caught it blew the valve covers off bouncing into the ceiling and at also blew the oil pan off but they were able to repair it enough for more years of students to practice wrenching on.
So it WAS getting spark.....
Y Blocks were rather tough engines compared to at least the small bolt main SB Chevy V8's, through 1967
I went to Spalding; 74; small world !!!
Saw a 390 ford throw the valve covers once what a bang!
You should learn how to spell and punctuate.
Back in the day I had a 56 ford sedan with the 292 T Bird engine. The rockers were worn out and rattled so loud that you couldn't hear the exhaust . Maybe a slight exaggeration but not by much. I also had a 54 Two 55 s and the 56 ,all had oiling issues. Back then all we knew to do was to run a line from the oil pressure sending unit to the rockers, not a satisfactory solution thankfully.things have improved in the last 60 years. Great video, I In Joyed hearing the old Y block once again. Thanks Jim
History...your preserving and telling automobile history. These engines are long gone but live on thanks to Engine builders like you
My first engine overhaul was a 1954 Ford Y block. My dad helped my twin brother and me. The engine ran great for years.
Same here. I was 16 years old and a VO-tech student in high school.
I've seen people drill out and enlarge oil feeds through casings to increase oil flow but that internal plumbing is another level,
Reading the disclaimer made for more enjoyment as I ran those engines hard. I knew about the cam bearing problem and took that particular bearing to the lathe where I cut a groove around the bearing shell so that if the bearing did happen to spin and block the oil from coming to the top then I had it covered. I also staked the bearing through the oil hole to help keep it from spinning. I seen lots of them with oil lines on the outside and run through the cover and it made a mess. I would take a long drill and go down though the head and drill through the bearing to see if I could get it back and did on most. I liked that lifter in block design and thought hard on could I replicate it in another block but to no avail. They were very undervalued engines and I constantly won lots of races with them, very good piece of history
Too many people want to make this engine out to be mechanically problemed on the design aspect. People tend to think the oil issues was all mechanical outside of the cam bearing which there were two different styles used based off when the engine was built majority of the oiling problem was caused by bad quality oil that allowed the passage to the rocker arms get blocked off.
My 292 in my '56 has never been out and never been apart still pumps oil like it was designed to because it was a well taken care of engine that had oil changes done with quality oil at the 2,000 mile change interval. Only problem I am encountering is the load o matic distributor issues I am trying to straighten out as I truly don't want to spend the outrageous price for a reman unit and have to wait.
@@Milner62 For which I used to know so well and loved the engine as it was my first real race one which took every thing I poured at it. I did race but I didn't try to blow it up, I just got all she was worth. I couldn't ask for more and it did make me more than I spent and it was well taken care of
@@morgansword, Of course, its why my fordor 56 will retain the original 292. I could do like everyone else and upgrade but the 292 is over 60 years old without a rebuild, sat for nearly half of that time, engine was seized up but a little MMO and 10w30 oil mix in each cylinder got the engine freed up and here I am a good 5 or 6 years later with the engine running just slowly working the bugs out of it as when the car was parked it was at a time when OE correct parts were not common place and lots of rigging. Took me nearly a year to find a NOS dual reservoir vacuum advance for my Holley Load O Matic distributor which I think I need to pull and have rebuilt anyways. But all of that doesn't stop the engine from running and going down the road. Just isn't running exactly how it should run.
I don't buy that. You might drill through the head and drill through the block, but not at the same time. Look at the video. At 7:15-7:24, you will see a slot in the head. One part of the slot lines up with the center of the block, that's where the oil galley to the center cam bearing is, the other end of the slot is the oil galley to the rocker arm shaft. That "groove" in the head is the biggest oiling problem. I don't know just how many of those I scraped hard burnt oil, almost carbon, out of. If nothing is done to the "groove", you don't accomplish anything.
@@ronaldharris2439 If the solid back on the cam bearing is covering the hole to the block where the oil travels to the rocker assembly, it can not get oil. The back of the cam bearing doesn't have the groove for the oil to circulate around and get to that oil passageway. Before I put the cam in the engine, I would spike the bearing so it could not spin and hence not get oil to the top. The one only head I ever tried, allowed me to go to the cam bearing and drill a hole down to the cam without tearing it down. I don't know personally if any other block was the same way... I grew up running those engines to the limits of their capacity to spin, including doing a turbo on several and also using a blower off of a detroit diesel engine myself. Working for Bendix Corporation had its benefits. If I am so wrong then why did it work everytime I spiked those bearings so they couldn't turn in the block?
Not really a Ford fan, other than a flattie, but I liked this. Always pleased to see someone restore rather than replace. Two thumbs up.
love the ford FE we put a fe 390 in 80s thunderbird drag racing
I ran many of these in the 60's and 70's. 292" 4BBL in a 57 Ford wagon, a 312" 3-2BBL in a '55 Bird, 312" 4BBL in a runabout boat. Good mills. Biggest problem I had was leaky rear main seal on the T-Bird. Ended up repowering that Bird with a 302" and it was a vast improvement.
Also had another 55 Bird all stock show car with a stock 292" 4BBL.
I dig early V8’s of any make, awesome to see them running after 60+ years. 👍🏻
My father who was a Ford mechanic in the '50's and '60's once told me that the bypass hole on the rocker shaft was to prevent to much oil onto the valve train. After about 30 thousand miles the rockers would get to much oil and the valves would start sucking it in through the seals. I understand that it was a common problem.
Great engine❤❤
Thanks for this. When I was younger I helped my Uncle rebuild a 292 that was in his dad's 54 Ford pickup truck. Thanks again.
Thanks for watching!
I had a 54 ford with the overhead valves and I thought that was their first Y block , I loved that old two door post ford I put a hopped up 292 that I bought from a stock car racer ,it had very good heads that were ported and polished, l think they started out as 312 heads and he had them built up at Dougs racing stables back in the days, wish l still had that little ford.
50 years ago when I was a kid, we had a 62 Galaxy 500 with a 292 that had rocker arm oiling issues. My stepdad used an overhead oiling system teeing off the oil sending unit, worked great.
Saw many like that.
Wow James I had a 62 Ford galaxly Xl it was a 390. With a 3on a tree weird car. Not much power thx
W used to attach rocker drains together as other reduced pressure caus bearing failure.
@@robbierussell9536 390 is a fe not y block
@@tomschweikert9537 Seems like Robbie wanted to join the y-block club even if he didn't have one.
Thank you for sharing this build with us buddy! I've been trying to watch it since you posted it, but something always interrupted me when I'd click on it. When you think about it, 220 HP/290 lb ft isn't terrible considering the low compression ratio, deep combustion chambers, small valve faces, and flat top pistons. Imagine if he wouldve shaved the heads, extreme port and polish the intake and exhaust ports, larger valves, put some high compression forged rods and pistons in it, gone for an extreme performance cam, dual valve springs, 5 angle valve job, and brought the static compression ratio up to around 12 or 13:1. That old Y block could be capable of 400-450 HP without any power adders. The crank looked stout enough to support some power, but if not I'm sure a forged crank could be arranged. Imagine a 292 cubic inch V8 capable of 450 HP just naturally aspirated...I'd really like to see this builder's performance Y block buildup and see it ran on the engine dyno. Thanks again for sharing this oddball build with us!
Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for watching. Dorton has a Y-block build coming up over the winter that is supposed to be a significantly higher-horsepower upgrade versus stock, and I hope I'm able to document that build too. That's the main reason I shot this build, so we could see the differences. Thanks again!
@@TheHorsepowerMonster I sure hope that you get the chance to document that build because I'll definitely be watching. Actually, I'll be watching regardless, but I'll pay extra close attention for that episode! Lol
I’m looking to do a shoestring budget rebuild on a 272 that’s for a 55 Fairlane my grandma gave me. I’m hoping to bring an old heirloom back to life and maybe even give it a little more get up and go if I can. Got any more tips that could help?
Y Blocks have already been built, up to about 700hp naturally aspirated and 1000hp boosted. They have participated in engine masters for the past 10 years or so, producing as much as 603hp at that competition, many times over 500hp and at the most recent one, a pump gas, iron headed 303ci produced 430hp. At the Y Block Nationals, there are participants at all levels, from stock to purpose built dragsters, many of which exceed 500hp. This is a great event to go to if you want to see them in action and talk to people who have been building and racing them for decades.
At this point in time, 400-450hp is not a challenge at all.
Love these classic and original engines; the way they ran when new; that's the spirit of classic cars; and maintaining history too !
Holly Smoke ..... Keith Dorton is in the House . I am getting ready to rebuild a 292 in a ancient wood chipper . I will for sure use his oiling tricks .
Have a 1963 vintage 292 Block in a 1963 F-100. Has lasted over 100,000 miles with oil changes every 1,500 miles. No modifications except spin on oil filter adapter. Would probably make more power with overhaul, but since its never been apart since Ford built it is hard to fix something that ain't broke. Has had valve covers off for lash adjustment and new valve cover gaskets. The cork ones were pretty leaky.
That’s pretty awesome
it needs the kind of overhaul known as an LS swap (!!!!!!!!)
My Dad had 56 F100 standard cab truck with a 292 Y block It was very reliable my Dad always changed that oil.
I once had a 54 Mercury that hat a 312 police engine in it. Kind of miss the old girl...
I built a couple of these in my younger days and always enjoyed the small things that made them different from the "belly button" SBC's. Dorton knows his stuff and I always learn something when I watch the things he does. There's just so much that is different on these things. I built them as 312's and used Isky cam, good flat tops, and 3 Strombergs (hated those carbs). The engines ran pretty fair but those damn Chevys could wind to the moon. I really like the Mummert intake on this engine......mine was an Offy with 3 ducks.....pretty enough but I never felt that it flowed like it could/should of.
Although primitive by today's standards these were a pretty high tech compared to the flathead. One thing that's kinda cool is my 5.0 coyote is also a Y-block with it's deep skirts that help tie in all the main caps. So, in some small way, it kinda like the old Y block lives on.
Great to see an old engine brought back to life by an expert. Modern ideas carefully integrated for durability is excellent.
using cocking and a cheap pistonring Tool is what you call an Expert ?
@@10zoll Well...as far as I can gather ...he's forgotten more about V8 engines then you'll ever know.
Built a few here in Australia
Great old motors. Don’t see many these days
That plumbing for the oil lines is pretty clever. I remember my dad saying that Y blocks had oiling problems.
That plumbing is not even necessary. Simply ensuring that the cam groove depth and width is good is enough but it can be taken farther with a camshaft bearing that is grooved along the outside perimeter or cutting a groove into the block, which requires restrictors to prevent too much oil from going to the rockers.
@@charliemccraney 🤣🤣
Clever indeed, and out of sight. Back in the day, the fix was aftermarket "oilers" that consisted of copper or aluminum lines running along the tops of each valve cover, and T-ed into the covers with brass fittings at several places, so as to squirt oil all along the rocker assemblies. Not very pretty and with so many fittings involved, leaks were inevitable, but they were effective, nonetheless. There may have been other configured fixes but those are the only ones I saw. My first car, a '57 Fairlane 500, had the 292 in it, but I never went the aftermarket oiler route. It also had the bulletproof 2-speed auto trans -- the toughest ever built by Ford, in my opinion.
One improvement you can make to the rocker oiling is to use a later camshaft with a grooved center bearing journal, or have a groove machined in the one you have. That way, the oil feed to the rockers is constant instead of intermittent. The other fix is to block off that tube that comes off of one of the rocker shaft stands. That way, ALL the oil goes to the rockers, not just part of it.
Sir I worked for Ford Dealership for 17 years I truly love it. I owned a 56 Crown Vic. with a 292 with a cross over pipe. Man she was awesome
That sounds really good! It sounds way burlier than 200hp, I actually like the clickety clack of the solid lifters too
All of these huge old engines makes like 200hp but sound like 2000hp
They sounded best w glasspack stacks coming up right behind the cab. Made Thunderbirds sound tame. Loved that sound! Not too load either, just pure and smooth.
218 HP is a huge jump up from the flathead V8's that struggled to make 100 HP...
200 HP 70 years ago.
@@alexisg311 Can you believe we are still using gasoline for 100+ years now? The technology of engines has remained almost exactly the same. The only thing that has changed since the 1940's is the metallurgy, the invention of new nitride coatings, teflon coatings, better quality oil, better aluminum alloys, and not much else. The thing is, modern cars do not get better gas mileage. Somehow they have managed to put alien technology and modern computer chips into new cars, and they still only get 28 mpg.
Had 59 f350 dump. Replaced 6cylinder with 292 yblock mated to t98 trans. One tough truck. Loved the sound of the y block. Was very dependable.
you say the exhaust port look like a small block chevy remember this engine came first
Gary Steffan i just thought the same
Yeah by 1 year, The Y-block was a turd compared to a small block Chevy. The Ford FE (352-390 - 428) was the first decent performing OHV engine Ford made .
Gary Steffan sbc heads will work on it 2 lol
@@4thstooge75 uhhhh, the 265 sbc was a literal turd.
I'd say Chevy copied the Y block on the exhaust port design.
Great build. Fatigued by all the high horsepower build vids, This was refreshing.
That ol boy got some tricks up his sleeve. Love to watch a pro at work
Stop and think: in 1953, the last year of the Flathead, the Horse Power rating of the 239 Cubic Inch Flatty was 100 HP.
In 1954, the first year of the Over Head Y Block, the Cubic Inch was the same as the 1953 Flat Head at 239. The Bore and Stroke measurements were different but, the Cubic Inch was identical. Horse Power rating: 130. This shows the vastly improved breathing ability of the OHV Engine.
I had a 1956 Ford in 1965. It had the 292 and a Ford-a-matic transmission. Paid $300 for it. Sold it and bought a 1957 Ford with a 292. It had a three speed manual transmission. Paid $300 for it too. Those were reliable engines. You could rely on having to stop for gas very often. They got terrible mileage. But those cars did have large back seats. Lots of fun at the drive-in.
the girls I dated wouldn't caught dead in the back seat of a Ford -let alone with pants off.
@@timmullens9479 I believe you.
IMO it's our duty as humans to preserve these huge amounts of knowledge and experience people like Keith Dorton has. It has to be passed on to subsequent generations. Guys (and gals) like this really know their stuff and I'm impressed everytime I have the opportunity to watch them work, just wow. And the mindset you have to have when you significantly customize an american engine is so different to the thinking behind european or asian engine technics. Diversity is king!
In 1982 I bought a 57 F-100 that had a Y-block in it. I was never sure if I was a 272 or a 292, but it was a torky engine, it was just as easy to take off in second as it was in first gear. I remember the two barrel carb was roughly the size of a 16 ounce beer can.
My dad bought a 57 Mercury M100 truck with a 292 in 92, truck sounded and looked so damn good, fast as hell too!
The '57 Ford truck was available with supercharged 312"
57 series 292, had torque up the wazoo. 292 w 272 heads raised comp and could lug to nothing and walk right out of it. Perfect for hauling hay!
Love it! I've been a Ford kid since the late 80s at Street Machine Nationals with my Uncle, about 1994 he bought a 66 Mustang, and I was involved ever since.
The video was well done with great videography, explanation and fast forward at appropriate times. Good job.
Thank you very much!
I left mine just about all stock because I know if I push it it won't take it for long and the expense that goes into one of these engines just isn't worth the headache unless you have a ton of money to throw away. I changed the heads for a little more compression and had the block lined bored to accept the inserts instead of Babbitt, and believe me I was really struggling to even put that much money into it but I wont be drag racing my car since it's pretty much all stock except for the overdrive I installed for better gas mileage and hopefully less engine wear due to overrevving. The 35 had 4:11to 1 rear gears so I opted for a 36 % overdrive for open road flat driving and the lower gears for parades The little coupe isn't heavy so it should be ok for power but if it were a sedan and I were to have it full of passengers then maybe the 36% over would be way to much of a strain on the engine and defeat my purpose for mileage and power . Personally I would have gone with a small block Chevy but I didn't want to stray too far from it's originality . I grew up riding in a 35 Ford 5 window sine it was our second car for my Mom to drive . The Ford actually belonged to a very good friend of my Dads and he drove it on the weekends when he came to stay with us .
The 239, 272, and 312 Y block was preceded by another Y block that was introduced in 1952 with a 279, 317 and 368 CID displacement of which the 368 was called the Turnpike Cruiser. It featured side by side and not stacked siamesed intake and exhaust ports, hydraulic lifters and was rumored to be the engine that Ed Cole copied off of to start the design the small block Chevy. .
Lincoln Y- block. 279, 302, 317, 332, 341, 368 cu.in.
Ran a lot of these in the "old days". 272s. 292s. 312s. Last one was a 312 in my first '55 Bird with 3 deuces, Mallory ignition, headers, and a T-10 4 speed. Ran good, but prone to oil leaks. But I replaced it eventually with a stock 302 2BBL engine with an FMX Ford O Matic and it vastly improved the car. Faster, quieter, better mileage and leaked nothing. In my next '55 Bird, I had a shop rebuild the orig 292 -all stock. It was a nice running mill, smooth and quiet. 3 speed stick. Fun times.
Personally I loved that engine and for me it was a connection to sounding cool an for what ever reason, mine were exceptionally fast. I outrun all the power pack 265 and most 283 chevy engines without breaking a sweat. Mated with a T85 three speed I could get a solid 90 mph out of it and third was not impressive as that transmission was direct in third but second gear was long legged.... Skagit Speedway had my name on the winner wall many times back in the early sixties. After Nam I moved on up to the FE block and never looked back
At 8:50 stating the Y block has a chevy exhaust layout. Actually a Ford flathead V8 layout that the Y block replaced. The Y block ports were better because of the increased spacing between the middle two.
I know several people that were around when these engines were on the road.They loved the Y block and the power they had.
I had to work on them leak oil valves calking
I have a 1952 Ford with a flathead in it and a 54 with a white block and a 59 but a white block and I love those old engines
Awesome video as usual , you never let down , Great work ... thank you for your time and passion
Thanks for the kind words!
1961; building engines in an auto supply machine shop, it seemed that nearly every Y-block that came through the shop had a flat cam. But when they were running right, I was always fascinated at how slowly and smoothly they idled; reminded me of a fine watch. Was hoping to get a glimpse of that in this video, knowing a stock cam was being used, but oh, well...☹
2 57 Rancheros, 58 business coupe, and 59 wagon, all with Y blocks, 312 in one Ranchero , 292's in the others - open up the valve clearance get a little more top end, close it up grab a slight bit more torque. always fun playing with them once you cleaned out the sludge build up :)
I have a 57 ford custom 300 with a 292 and adapted 5 speed. The drivetrain is 100% stock besides the trans, factory duals, and a "modern-er" Holley on the factory big pattern iron intake. So... pretty damn stock. She purrrrrrrrrs and she snarls and roars. It amazes me because it's super fuel efficient and somehow it still stomps on Chevy 350s.
How? Idk. I like my Chevys so I attribute it to good vs bad tune. Idk.....
But, I love that 292.
I'm building a 312 for her. I hope it lives up to what the 292 has done.
Thank you for this video. I'm in the process of rebuilding the Y block in my '55 fairlane.
Me too mines a family heirloom.
@@CreatorCade wish you great success on your build. I THINK you'll truly love working with the Y blocks. I did one way back in the last millennium.'1990/'91. Mine was a 312 hooked up to the air cooled ford-o-matic slush box. It was still running good when I finally sold my car in 2014. There's a lot of meat in the 312 y block. Could easily be bored out to .o60 from what Ive been told. Mine was bored out .o40 over.
I always trusted Larrys Thunderbird Parts and accessories for my needs. There's a couple of other reliable parts dealers for the ford y blocks. Just search the web and you'll find almost everything you'll need. Some parts stores will have items like oil filters, bulbs, fuel pumps, radiator caps spark plugs etc;. Good Luck!
Magnífico trabajo, felicidades. Es gratificante ver cómo funciona un motor de casi 70 años, reconstruido lo más original posible.
Threading and placing a bolt into the rocker block is exactly what I did on the 272 that I overhauled when I was about 22 years old.
I owned a 1956 Ford 4 door Custom. As a teenager, I pulled the automatic trans and put in clutch and 3 speed trans. It was a pretty fast car for it's time. I got good at speed shifting too. The rocker arm thing was really bad. Some guys put on an external oiler. I rebuilt the engine once. Those days are long gone. It was a fun car though. I bought it for $450 when I was 14. It would go 120 mph when running reasonably well.
Right: America, bless God.
If you don’t like the sound of a yblock you’ve never heard one!
My 352 purred and screamed!!
Painkiller Jones The 352 was an FE not a Y Block. Yes, technically both have deep skirted blocks that gave the Y Block its name but they are totally different engine families.
@@foxfordcatguy2283 In 1960?
I've heard a 292 and a 312. I'm that old. My dad bought a 65 Ford with a 352. I had a 60 T-bird with a 352. It was slow getting up to speed but it would really cruise down the highway.
@@jamesglass5402 Mine burned 'em in 1st, 2nd, and chirped 'em going into third, but I only did it a couple of times.
This was good to see these old pro master mechanics rebuild that 65 year old engine, thanks.
Thanks! And thanks for watching!
Brought back memories, the '55 Bird was my first car. (1965)
I love these build videos of old engines
I like when they take the neglected V-8s of the first generation of OHV designs and see what they can do. The nailhead and caddy got all the attention.
We have one of those 64 ford wrong bed trucks in our collection. A guy named Hastings English bought it new. 3/4 ton. Set up high. I remember when we met him going down the highway. There was a plume of blow by coming out from the crankcase breather. Got to look under the hood. That truck came with a factory PCV. However it produced more puff back than it could handle. So they had installed one of those earlier cannister road draft on the side of the block. Many decades later. I bought that truck. Upon inspection. It was clear that there wasnt a hole in the block for that early road draft. They had drilled the cast and broke a opening.
The Y-block was my first love. a 312 T-Bird in a 55 coupe. Nothing sounds like the "Coffeepot" carb and pulled as hard as that dual vacuum advance distributor Y Block.
i’m guessing you’re talking about the Holley 4000 4 barrel? it was called the teapot carb.
Ellis Arnold had a 53 ford with three duces and four speed back in 1963. It outran everything that ever tried. I don’t know what the specs on the engine were but I do know he had a 56 Ford that was a his race car. It was crazy fast. He worked on it at my dad’s service station in Norphlet Arkansas in 62-65. Ellis was killed in the yellow 53 and it was destroyed. It was a beautiful car with glass hood and the roof was par glass. I was just 10 but was already working at my dad’s station. It was the best time I ever had hanging with the fastest guys in south Arkansas and anyone that came to see this one called BIG RED ,the 56, left with their tails tucked between their legs. A 409 Chevy from Dallas heard about this little Ford and brought a butt load of money when he came to beat it, he left broke and broken. Life was much easier and way more fun back then. The Feds have screwed it up like a Russian football bat.
Y blocks are awesome motors and this man totally perfected the oiling system so now it's totally reliable. Maybe more people will put them in some old Ford builds. I love to see Ford motors in old Fords.
The stacked intake ports on the heads is funky. Cool build
A high school friend of mine's dad would brag about having a '54 ford that would run a 12 second quarter mile. I think he was giving revisionist history. It was a hot engine in 1954, but a 460 hp Coyote powered mustang does a 12 second quarter mile.
charlesvan13 maybe it was 12 sec 1/8 mile time?
All et times depend on the gearing and the reaction time and skill of the driver. I've personally seen daily driver pickups that could do 12 second quarter mile times.
Lawnmowerman Reaction Time has NO AFFECT on Elapsed Time. The ET clock does not start until the tire moves out of the starting line beam.
@@cfisher11
I think it was some revisionist history.
There were genuine muscle cars in the 60's, such as a 390 Mustang, that would only do a 15 second quarter mile.
so does a 57 Chevy
Back in 1975 I owned a shop and the local city street department had a 64 ford pickup with a 292 in need of overhaul. This was a college town with an automotive depart so I hired a college student who said he could handle the overhaul. What he didn't realize was the cam bearings had to be indexed to the holes (he was used to small block chevys). At startup we had no oil to the rocker arms, so we had to pull the engine out and tear it down enough to replace the cam bearings again. Lesson learned!
These Engines have been smacking the LS Chevies around in the Engine Masters Dyno challenge for a few years now. Sure do miss mine
joking right? LS engines have nearly double the hp
Thanks for those videos in all the years I have been watching any videos none of them made me feel so good and happy oh man super best videos i ever watch as a kid I used Audels American books wish these videos were around Bless these Engineers
Nice build. The oil reroute techniques are innovative.
An oddity of the Y blocks was the 12 timing pins on the timing chain between timing marks on the oil filter side of the engine. That has threw many a person for a loop. Lots of Y blocks had external overhead oilers added back in the day. I have taken a few loose where they hooked up to the rocker arms and no oil would come out; drop the copper tubing down below the crankshaft and oil would trickle out. Every time the main on the crank would be worn real bad. I remember one that turned down on .030. I still quite a bit of Y block stuff.
Great video and education. I learned a lot about some upgrades for the Y -Block. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks! And thanks for watching
Dave, you’re the man I wish I had a mechanic like you trying to help somebody out but he’s just not quite get at all there super job
Beautiful 😘. It's a shame that modern engines don't present that well
They mostly have a turtle!!
Very enjoyable video. I grew up with Chevy small blocks, never really understood much about the Ford 272/292 engines.
Thanks!
Just wondering, did he put in hardened valve seats for unleaded fuel? thanks
Yes
Back in the day, the first real engine I messed with was a 292 in an old ford parked out in a field. The owner assured me it had a hot cam in it, and I paid him ten bucks for it then proceeded to remove it....but, I couldn't. I had no idea it had mushroom lifters that had to be removed or pulled-up and held with clothes pins for the cam to come out.
Later, my old man bought a ragged-out 1961 F-250 4 WD and used it as the base for a water well pulling rig. I put thousands of miles on that thing, and with the 4.56 gears, it always seemed to be wrapped tight. Over the years, I rebuild that engine four times. Knowing it had oiling problem to the top end, I tapped the oil gallery and rigged-up a system of copper tubing to deliver oil to the rockers. An old hot rodder told me the torque spec on the head bolts was way too high, so I backed down to 70 pounds, then after some blown head gaskets, finally solved the problem at 85 pounds. I was all set to build a 292 or 312 hot rod engine, but found a 392 Hemi in an old push button transmission Chrysler, and well, went off in a different direction. But, I have never forgotten to potential of the Y block for a solid engine in a light car, and am running some possibilities through my head. I was in my teens back then and had managed to get a hardship drivers license to drive the rig truck. Over the years I built an Austin Healey with a 500 HP 327, a Comet with a 454, and finally owned a brand new 1969 Mach One with a 428 CJ....which I now wish I had back.:)
I love this thank you. How amazing the knowledge and expertise of these guys.
thanks a lot!
my dad bought a used Ford wagon for 600 in 1961 with a right rear fender that was 300 to repair. I learned to drive on this car and by 1966 I had beat this car a bit. It was a 292 4brl, dual exhaust auto. Always worked.
That is a timing chain! Good God!, what an awesome build.
When I was in high school in the early 1970s (you know, a previous lifetime) I bought a '55 F-100 into which someone had removed the stock 292 Y block (or inline 6) and replaced it with a supercharged 312 Y block.... Ah the memories, replacing the old 3 speed transmissions on the way to school because I slammed 2nd gear too hard and broke another cluster gear (9 times) breaking the glass out of the back of the cab with the back of my head when I finally learned that running screws through the tire beads would keep me from spinning the wheels inside the old bias ply tires and breaking off the valve stems. (Solved that problem with a pair of swivel bucket seats out of a Monti Carlo.) Being the only kid in school with a pick-up and still being as fast off the line as the Mustangs and Chevelles with my factory 411 gears.... Those were the days.
This is the video I’ve been waiting for I’m just now getting ready to rebuild an old Y block.
Back in 1970 when i was seventeen i had a '57 Ford, that someone had put this engine into before i got it. Three on the tree. That sucker would sink you back in the seat ! Hottest car in our neck of the woods. It's the one car i miss the most!
The second-generation of Y-blocks, known as the FE and MEL series, that ran from 1958 to 1976, consisted of...
FE (Ford-Edsel, or, Ford Engineering) / FT (Ford Truck), 1958-1976
332: 4.0" bore x 3.3" stroke (1958-1959)
352: 4.0" bore x 3.5" stroke (same dimensions as the 351/W SBF) (1958-1967)
360: 4.047" bore x 3.5" stroke (1958-1976) (also available as the FT 361 for medium-weight trucks)
390: 4.047" bore x 3.78" stroke (1961-1976) (also available as the FT 391 for medium-weight trucks)
406: 4.127" bore x 3.78" stroke (1962-1963)
410: 4.047" bore x 3.98" stroke (1966-1967)
427: 4.23" bore x 3.78" stroke (1964-1968)
428: 4.127" bore x 3.98" stroke (1966-1970)
MEL (Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln), 1958-1968
383: 4.3" bore x 3.3" stroke (1958-1960 Mercury)
410: 4.2" bore x 3.7" stroke (1958 Edsel Corsair/Citation only)
430: 4.3" bore x 3.7" stroke (1958-1965)
462: 4.38" bore x 3.83" stroke (1966-1968)
(the 462 was initially slated to be discontinued after 1967 in favor of the 460 cid "385" BBF, but there were still a few 462s left unsold)
One minor correction: in 1958 the engine was "361". The "360" was the "F"-series truck engine.
Yea, I know: same bore/stroke, just different nomenclature. 😏
BTW, the Mercury/Edsel 361 was also the Police Interceptor engine in the Ford. And the 361 and 391 engines in the trucks were "FT" instead of "FE", and featured forged steel crankshafts, while the FEs used cast iron.
A FE is not a Y block. Not any major parts from a FE will fit a Y Block. Ford quit using Y blocks in Passenger cars in 62. Trucks had them until 64.
I honestly have to say, as a replacement for the flathead V8, that was one hell of an improvement. I personally say, however, the flathead sounds better after hearing both in person.
I love this!! I find perfecting stock for a driver. very interesting.
Thanks!
Oh Man haven't seen one of these since high school in the early 70's.. Memories.
Thanks. That's very interesting my dad had a new 1957 Ford wagon and it had a 272 V-8 hmmmm
Robbie Russell my 1955 Ford has a 272 aswell
@@2strokepower803 wow. They were ok motors!!
'57 Ford truck was available with supercharged 312"
My first mode of automotive mobility came in the form of a 1963 F-100 powered by a 292 Y block with a 4 speed manual transmission. My dad bought the truck new in '63 and was his daily driver during the week. On the weekends it was the family camper with dads homemade cabover camper on board. When I got the pickup as a gift on my 16th birthday it was 15 years old with 120,000+ meticulously maintained miles on it. I continued to service the engine as dad had but to say I was hard on the old truck would be understated. I pushed the limits of reasonable as only a male teenager can in the harsh environment of the Arizona desert. The only modification to the truck since rolling off the Ford assembly line was the addition of aftermarket air conditioning and for reason I cant recall, an electric fuel pump. After 2 1/2 years of adolescent abuse I gave the truck back to dad to use at his business when I left for Marine Corps boot camp. The only time the truck failed to deliver was due to electric fuel pump failure, which happened several times always when most inconvenient or I was where I wasn't supposed to be. The pickup carried on in commercial service use another 10 years retiring with over 300,000 miles on it. The motor was never rebuilt or taken apart and the only major component replaced was the clutch shortly after I gave it back. I have many fond memories in that truck and all things considered is arguably the best vehicle I've ever owned to this day. Dad bled blue as a die hard Ford guy while the rebel in me lead me to the bowtie brigade when I left the Marines. Dad passed away a few years ago and I inherited his new F-150 which I still have as my daily driver. After three decades I bailed on the bowtie and am now a happy camper true blue Ford guy adding a fox body and Roush Mustang to my stable. I'm hoping to add an early 60's F-100 with Y-block V-8 someday... soon.
I had a 64 three on the tree. Found out a few years ago one of my daughters had wanted it. If I had only known, I'd have kept it.
Great engines, I ran 4 myself. Crankshafts were weak I snapped two of them pulling medium loads.
Your timing had to be off had several, worked the living piss out of em. Never broke a crank. And only blew one head gasket. Lost a fan blade through the hood once though!
Fun to see. My original 292 in a 1963 F100 is still running. Yes, still on all eight.
Good bless V8 engines🙏🏻