Ford Y Block Oiling Fix

all american boy

all american boy

Well-known member
i looked at the passage in cylinder head
that carries the oil over about an inch
from the gun drilled passage in block to the
the passage in the head up to rocker shafts
having the engine apart to rebuild it
the passages will be clean and clear
this is from Wikipedia 'Ford Y Block'
'The motor oils of the era were low in detergents, but high in coke; when combined with short trips and infrequent oil changes, this led to blockage of this passage'
i'm just going to put it back together and leave it alone
new better oil and oil changes will make it trouble free
plus 1956 manual recommends 20 wt oil sounds good to me
 
AN old trick that my Dad used to do is Drill a 1/4" hole through the cam center bearing. That is where all the oil that goes up to the rockers must pass through. Many of the old cams had a small groove there and just did not pass enough oil. I have also heard of making the groove deeper, either will pass more oil to the heads, what you need. Good luck
 
The groove in the center bearing surface of the cam is sometimes too shallow. It should be deep enough to catch your finger nail when drawn accross it. .050 to .060 seems about right. I bought a new cam from a respected supplier and the groove was way to shallow. I used a cut off wheel to deepen the groove. For motor oil, use oil meant for a modern diesel. I like Rotella. It will have plenty of zinc to protect the cam and lifters. If there is a circle on the oil bottle that says "For Gasoline Engines Only", do NOT use it in an old engine.
 
One other thing, when any Y block is overhauled, be sure to remove the steel plate under the oil filter. It has been known to hide enough crud to wipe out a crank and new set of bearings.
 
Just to clarify, Ole Don doesn't mean to remove the plate and throw it away. Clean under it and then reinstall. Just my 1¢.
 
If you are fully cleaning the block and installing new cam bearings you shouldn't have to do anything else. Make sure the hole in the cam bearing is aligned with the oil supply hole in the block. Also make sure that the groove in the cam is the correct depth, make sure that the rocker arms, the rocker arm tubes and the rocker arm stands are all clean. Make sure that the holes in the rocker arm tube lines up with the stand and head passage.

With today's oil you should not have a problem.

There are a number of modifications you can do, including grooving the block at the center cam bearing for increased oil flow, but this usually has to be combined with some kind of restrictor in the stand to prevent too much oil.

all american boy said:
i looked at the passage in cylinder head
that carries the oil over about an inch
from the gun drilled passage in block to the
the passage in the head up to rocker shafts
having the engine apart to rebuild it
the passages will be clean and clear
this is from Wikipedia 'Ford Y Block'
'The motor oils of the era were low in detergents, but high in coke; when combined with short trips and infrequent oilchanges, this led to blockage of this passage'
i'm just going to put it back together and leave it alone
new better oil and oil changes will make it trouble free
plus 1956 manual recommends 20 wt oil sounds good to me
Click to expand...
 
This may start an argument, but I've always had good results on a Y-Block by installing the cam bearings properly, making sure the passages are clean, deepening the 1" channel in the head, and plugging the spill over tube holes to pressurize the rocker shafts. Raises the idle oil pressure about 10 -15 PSI also.
 
check that your cam has the oil groove around the center bearing of the cam. If it's not there i suggest a new cam with the oil groove. doing this by hand may weaken the cam due the hardening process, it could crack it this area in time. The groove was fords answer to this problem. Then take a dremel grinder and POLISH the cast passage on the underside of the head. Radius the end of the oil passage in the block and head. keeping clean oil and and good maintenance your problem will be gone. Contact me if you need more help. Frank f_lydell@msn.com
 
Like Sweetdreams above says, a few minutes on the spill tubes could make the rocker arms last the rest of our natural lives. I have a set apart now and will try to post pictures on how I did mine. Also, if an engine is torn down, make a groove in the cam retainer plate. Cut or file a small groove from the center down to get a bit more oil to the timng chain. The old wide chain can also be made to last much longer than the new stuff. I reused a good one ten years ago, the motor is down now and the used chain seems as good as new.
 
the current 312 I am building...I put in a new set of Durabond Cam bearings. These have a center groove both on the inside and OUTSIDE diameter of the bearings so that oil goes through the system no matter where the hole is clocked in that critical center bearing. You can get these from Verne Schumman.

I guess I am just lucky, but in the 15 or so Y block engines that I have run in trucks and cars over the years, I have not had one oiling problem! I have only seen one or two oiling kits over the years as well. I wonder how common a problem it has been for folks....makes you wonder.
 
Don, glad you mentioned the thrust plate. That's on the prep list too, along with cylinder block drainback hole opening and polishing, Cyl head drain back smoothing, and, don't forget making sure the rocker shafts are chamfered on the bottom oil feed holes. All the above, this, and more, will keep a Y-Block running strong and dependably, like the great engine it is.
 
Poor crankcase ventilation was a problem on these engines, too, especially in cold climates. In Minnesota back in the day practically every Y-block on the road got an ouside oiler kit sooner or later. Some ran the oil line under the valve covers (the line was semi-flattened where it ran under the cover) and some used a hollow stud to replace the original valve cover studs and the oil line atteched to the top of the hollow stud to feed oil into the rocker shaft. You could buy the kits at any parts house or gas station, most hardware stores, J C Whitney, Sears, Montgomery Ward, etc.
A PCV system from a '64 pickup would be a good idea, too.
 
I have added my comments to the majority of threads that have been started on the Barn and other forums about oiling problems with the Y blocks.. Here I go again:
I've had several Y block trucks in my business and several personal vehicles, T Birds, etc., over a fifty year period.. I currently have two '59 Ford 4 x 4 F100's and a '57 Bird with Y blocks.
During all of these years I've only had one vehicle, a pickup, that had an oiling problem... The engine was near worn out and we tried to wring some more life of of it, adding an external oiling system to the rocker arms.. in short order a new engine solved the oiling problem.
Poor grades of oil and a lack of regular maintenance resulted in early failure to the oiling system on the Y blocks. We never used anything but high detergent oil in our vehicles, I figured if it was good enough for HD diesel engines it was good enough for the rest of the engines..
 
Ole Don said:
The groove in the center bearing surface of the cam is sometimes too shallow. It should be deep enough to catch your finger nail when drawn accross it. .050 to .060 seems about right. I bought a new cam from a respected supplier and the groove was way to shallow. I used a cut off wheel to deepen the groove. For motor oil, use oil meant for a modern diesel. I like Rotella. It will have plenty of zinc to protect the cam and lifters. If there is a circle on the oil bottle that says "For Gasoline Engines Only", do NOT use it in an old engine.
Click to expand...

I have participated in lengthy discussions about this zinc business for our old engines, on Volvo sites. I too was using Rotella for increased zinc, until someone pointed out that the cleaners inherent in diesle oils CLEANS the zinc off the internals. I am now using Joe Gibbs products with great results!

Kent
 
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