I rebuilt my first Y-block in 1973 (age 17, I think). It was a 272. Had to: ream cyl wall ridges, hone out cyl walls, all new wrist-pin bushings, some new rocker arm bushings, all new main and piston crankshaft bearings, new timing chain & sprocket, new camshaft & bearing set. Everything was done using cheap handheld type reamers, piston ring compressor, workbench mounted wire-wheel for cleaning valves. The valve spring compressor was actually an ancient giant C-clamp (still have it) with a slot cut-out for the valve stem & keepers. I hand-lapped the valves into the seats using a hand-held spindle with a suction cup stuck to the bottom of the valve. One of the valve stems was bent. I had to replace that one valve with a new one. The worst part about the whole thing to me was the cleaning. This was the engines first rebuild and it was gunked up so bad that when you took the valve covers off, you couldn't even see the rocker shaft assembly. Valve lash adjustment sucked too, because the '55 Ford had the old type threaded stem with the slot and a locknut. Even though you held the slot where you wanted it, when you went to tighten up the locknut, it would turn the stem and make your adjustment tighter than you wanted. I had to have a second person hold the feeler guage, because you need both your hands for the screwdriver and the wrench.
Engine was still running great in 1978 when I got rid of it.
