Y block reliabilty

Ole Don

Ole Don

Well-known member
Some folks have asked if a Y block is a reliable engine. I just returned from a 3250 mile round trip to Bonneville. The 55 blew a head gasket. This summer it has been thrashed on the chassis dyno, then run five times down the 130 course, (one mile to accelerate to a 132 foot trap). The last run it was well on its way to the goal and half way into fourth gear it fell down and smoked out the left side. In true Bonneville fashion, it was repaired the following day in the motel parking lot. I had carried a head gasket and rocker cover gasket just because. The local parts supplier furnished an intake set overnight to fit a 292 truck. With the help of several very good buddies, all was well. The car delivered 15.3 MPG, including the racing. The final top speed was 129.589 The shift points were right at 7,000 RPM. With the number of other brand engines, and the speed achieved, I would consider the Y block the most reliable of all racers I saw. It drove me home with no further problems, at 65 to 75 depending on state laws. The car number this year was T 41 if anyone wants to check the USFRA website.
 
that's a good testament to the Y for sure. now, i didn't race, but i drove my '54 to bonneville and the hamb drags last summer, and enjoyed a little over 6000 trouble free miles of motoring.
 
I earlier told of running my 61 Unibody with a 292/3 speed/3:73 gear from CA to AL at 55 - 60 with no issues from the engine.....don't get much better then that.
 
Hey Don. It was good to meet you at Bonneville. Your old ford Y-Block proved itself this trip. Y-Blocks and flatheads. Gotta love em. Sorry i did not get to talk with you a little more but our streamliner kept us busy. Three runs at 446. 441, and 462 MPH took its toll on broken parts. But there is always next year. Mark.
 
They are good engines but the problem starts when you break down . No one carries parts for them so you end up sitting to be towed home . That's one reason I sold mine and went with a 302 .

Jim
 
My 55 originally had a 272, but I let it sit for a long time and she locked up. In 1981 I replaced the 272 with a 292 crate engine (long block). I re-used the old 272 intake manifold & carb with oil-bath air breather, little dual exhaust manifolds and vacuum distrubutor. I used the car to drive 60miles/day, 5 days a week year in and year out, mostly hiway driving. Oil changes every 3000 miles and maybe changed plugs & points twice from '81 till 1992. Pulled the heads for a valve job and threw it all back together again. Been driving it pretty much the same way ever since. She still dont smoke. I would call that good service.
 
Most parts stores,particularly NAPA,have almost any part you would need for a Y-block.This includes water pumps,fuel pumps,starters,ignition parts,generators,regulators,etc.Most even have all the internal parts,pistons,valves,bearings,gaskets,etc.
Difficulty of finding parts for a Y-block is not a good reason to replace it with a later engine.
 
i've never had trouble getting parts. some may not be over the counter, so gratification is not immediate. but never a problem actually getting them. i keep a triple A card in my wallet for the unforeseen, and don't let the 'what ifs' keep me at home.

like i said, 6,000 miles in 3 weeks. and, for what it's worth, about 30k total in 3 years. my '54 is my summer daily, and i drive it all over. keep the oil changed, keep fluids up, and it's as reliable as the day is long.
 
zzlegend said:
Hey Don. It was good to meet you at Bonneville. Your old ford Y-Block proved itself this trip. Y-Blocks and flatheads. Gotta love em. Sorry i did not get to talk with you a little more but our streamliner kept us busy. Three runs at 446. 441, and 462 MPH took its toll on broken parts. But there is always next year. Mark.
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Very understandable that you were kept busy. Others on this site should know one of those runs set an all time internal compustion wheel driven record. Nobody has driven faster that George Poteet in Speed Demon. Mark and his buddies changed transmissions, drive shafts, then an engine, did it in record time and made it look easy. People should also know the top speed was with a small 347 engine, and the 441 speed with a 299 engine. Unheard of untill now. Take a bow Ron Main, George Poteet, and crew. I will be there next year if I have to crawl to get there.
Don
 
Retro Jim said:
They are good engines but the problem starts when you break down . No one carries parts for them so you end up sitting to be towed home . That's one reason I sold mine and went with a 302 .

Jim
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I had a questionable rocker cover gasket when I left home. So I wrapped up two new ones and a head gasket for good measure. One of the runs put coolant all over the motor. The last of five allowed runs blew the left head gasket. In true Bonneville fashion, the head came off in the motel parking lot. The local Car Quest owner is a prince. He can get anything fast for racers. He found intake gaskets to fit a 64 F100 overnight, the car was screwed together, and I drove home with no further dramma. The gasket did not fail, the dummy installing (me) it dented the fire ring and did not change it then upon initial assemble. It lasted two years. I should add, I carry a complete rocker shaft assembly, a distributor, a fuel pump, and a water pump when I go on these trips.
 
34pickup said:
7000rpm on a Y-Block? What kind of valve train do you have to be able to do that?
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The motor; 56 312 block with two sleeves. 57 unposted heads with 1.94 and 1.6 SS valves on hard seats for the exhaust. Massive porting by me following instructions from Jerry Christenson of Minnesota. Jerry's Yestertech headers flowing into 2 1/2 down tubes exiting in three inch caps straight down at frame level. Stock 1.54 rockers on shafts from John Mummert ten years ago. 3/8 tube pushrods ten years ago from Mummert. Cam is Iskenderian 505T with lash set to .020 Valve springs checked to 120 to 130 on the seat before the trip with the tool recomended by Jerry. Intake is a Blue Thunder with the heat risers welded shut, bought before the newest design by Mummert. Cam has advertised durration of 290, at .050 its 254. Centerline is 108* The block was bored .040, for a total of 320 cubic inches. The car runs best with a 600 Edelbrock with springs for 2.5 inches on a half inch spacer. When I race a 650 Holley double pumper goes on with a one inch aluminum spacer the dyno man sold me, it has an upside down funnel shape machined in. It runs like stink at high RPM's and will not pull the car below 2000 on the street, so we just use the tamer Edelbrock on the street. It will pull down to 1400, if I'm gentle with the throttle. I have no idea what the top RPM is, I self limit. I think I have proved what I set out to do, and I think I will not race the car again. All this with a stock crankshaft that is standard, never been turned. Heavy duty rods and forged pistons from Mummert, balanced and dynoed at R&R motorsports of Benton Illinois.
Don
 
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From a practical everyday driver point of view, the Y blocks gave great service if high detergent oil, like Castrol GTX 20/50 was used in them.. I had several trucks, '59-64 F100/350, in my company fleet for over twenty years. During the 100k's of mile we ran them we only had one blow up, it broke the crank. not a pretty picture.
One of the '64's I had, an F250 that I sold to my nephew in the early 90's with almost 300k on the engine, two rebuilds, is still going strong.
I have a '57 Bird with the 312 which I have owned since '73... My wife drove the car for daily transportation for almost ten years... In '81 I had the engine completely rebuilt.
I also have a '59 F100 4x4 with a 312 which I bought from Ford as a long block in about 1972.. It was in '59 F-100 that an employee wrecked.. I parted the truck out, keeping the engine until I could find a F-100 to put the engine in. The engine needed a valve job in '94 before I put it in the 4x4.... The engine had been sitting on the shelf for over fifteen years.
Lots of people had problems with the Y blocks, mainly rocker arm oiling problems, of course they were using non-detergent oil in them.. which plugged up the oil passages.
 
Back in the day my father bought a new 57 292 It was in 46 of the 50 states and all the way to Acapolco and all but one province in Canada. I must admit we rebuilt it a few times and repainted it almost every year but we finally drove it to the junk yard after about 300000 mi
 
Ive got a touch over 300K on my 292 and it is still running great, and fires up everytime. Its had the heads off once in the 80s,dual exhaust and thats about it.
 
One culprit causing the rocker oiling problem was the poor crankcase ventilation system. Like all manufacturers then, Ford used a road draft tube to (hopefully) pull fresh air in through the oil fill cap on top, through the engine and out the road draft tube hung off the engine somewhere down low. On the Y block Ford put a filter inside a little canister, which few knew or cared about. This would sludge up, block airflow and then the sludging really began!. Add in the quality of the oil at the time and failure to change it often enough and Presto!, recipe for sludge!
Also, add in short trips in cold weather (people lived closer to friends, work and the grocery store) plus the great backyard trick of removing the thermostat.
 
40 Deluxe said:
Add in the quality of the oil at the time and failure to change it often enough and Presto!, recipe for sludge!
Also, add in short trips in cold weather (people lived closer to friends, work and the grocery store) plus the great backyard trick of removing the thermostat.
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Actually it was not the quality of the oil, detergent oil became available with the advent of hydraulic lifters in the late '40's... The old habit of removing thermostats was a holdover from the days of alcohol based anti-freeze. Spring time ritual..... drain the anti-freeze and pull the thermostat, the thinking being that the thermostats only function was to provide heat for the heater.
OLD HABITS AND MYTHS DIE HARD. They also killed a lot of good engines.
 
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