Forgive me guys,,,,but I have never owned a Ford personally. But,,,I have been admiring the Y blocks I have been seeing here. What would I need to look for in year and model to find a nice candidate? I understand that they might not make awesome amounts of power. I don’t really care about that,,,I am older anyway,,,just thinking about a nice engine that I could appreciate. Now,,,,don’t get me wrong,,,I still love my BB Mopars,,,,and my Hemis,,,,and the Chevies. I would love a flathead someday,,,,just can’t afford anything like that right now. Lol,,,,,can you imagine,,,,I can afford a Hemi,,,but not a flathead,,,,! Thanks guys,,,I know you will tell me where to look. Tommy
It's probably best to just search for and snoop on Ford Y block pages. Way back in the early 70's when I wanted to build a T bucket I picked up a 292 dirt cheap and then started hunting "the" good pieces. Can't remember what the casting number was on the heads but I found a set in a wrecking yard in Texas that I ended up selling at the Pate Museum swap meet a couple of years later. I still want one, with the right set of glass packs they sound fantastic.
Lots of information out there. 1957 was the hottest year for all displacements of Yblock. 272 and 292 will be the best bang for the buck and easiest to get parts for. Here's a good place to start. www.ford-y-block.com https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hotrod.com/articles/build-reliable-powerful-ford-y-block/amp/ Sent from my SM-G950U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
They peaked about 1957 in terms of horsepower and were steadily detuned after that until the end. So there are definitely certain parts that are more desirable for performance, better flowing heads with bigger valves and ECZ intake manifolds. As far as the block itself, I believe any year 292 is about as good as any.
Find the 312, it made 245 horse power in stock form. It came with better rockers, bigger heads( ECZ) and larger exhaust manifolds. It made awesome torque. We put one in our 1956 Pickup, back in 1965. It was the engine my Dad taught me how to rebuild an engine on. You can see the truck in the barn if you look closely.
I’ve seen that there are various bell housings on the different Y blocks that could make running a stick behind it easier or harder. Anyone have any information in that regard? I’d also love to run a y block someday but it’s still a little foreign to me as far as what will bolt up and what wont
Only 2 bells for the stick machines. The passenger car style and the truck style. The truck bells will have the rear engine mounts cast onto the bell housing on each side. Either style of bellhousing will allow early T 10s and toploaders to be directly bolted on. (may require shorting of the head gear length) as well as all of the period correct transmissions such as the T85s,T86s ,overdrives ,etc. No blowproofs availiable except for the Quicktime and those are a P.I.T.A. to get installed properly. All of the 57 engines used the factory hi lift rocker arms and good heads. You want the 1957 ECZ-G heads. Oldmics
Stay away from the early 239 and 256 ones unless you find a good one that doesn’t need any work or improvement. The early ones don’t interchange many parts with the later 272/292/312. Get the later intake that accepts a standard 4bbl Holley and use a distributor from a ‘57 or later. The 292 Y-block in my wagon runs great and pushes the big car around no problem. It’s a ‘57 engine with a 600 Holley 4010 and a parts store distributor for a ‘63 F100 292. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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