Y-block firing order fiasco...

Some of you may have seen my other thread that I posted the other day about the '62 F100 I recently picked up with a 292 in it. When I got that truck it was in non-running condition. The previous owner only had it for a short time and never had it running during the time he owned it. He admitted he wasn't a "Ford guy" and that he only messed with it briefly. Some of the plug wires were missing and he said he couldn't figure out the firing order and just quit messing with it.

So I get it home and I can tell that the engine is 'fresh' (turns out to be nearly new), so I figure it won't take me no time to get this thing running. Nevermind the fact that I had never messed with any Y-block Fords before. An engine's an engine, right? lol...

My first priority when I got it in my shop was to get online and look up the firing order and cylinder arrangement. Took me about 45 seconds to find this nice diagram...



I didn't second guess it for a split second, printed it off and headed out into my garage with it. Hilarity ensued.

If I ever find out who is responsible for that little drawing of a Y-block ford firing order I am probably going to hit him so hard he'll fall down twice.

The drawing is incorrect - for those of you who may not know. It shows the distributor in the FRONT of the engine, which is wrong. I just assumed maybe it was placed on that diagram backwards - so I turned the whole thing around. In retrospect - common sense should have told me that the fucking #1 cylinder would never be at the back of the engine. I dunno wtf I was thinking. I was stone sober, too.

Anyway - after talking to my old man on the phone and even getting into an argument with him - I finally decided to go back in the house and do MORE research. I am still very mad...even though I did finally get it running.

Just thought I'd share.

 

Lol, glad you got it figured out and running. Nice looking truck too!

 

Firing order is correct, distributor location is incorrect, all Y-blocks have the distributor in the rear, angled toward the passenger side. I also note that there is no diagram shown for the Ford FE engines (332 352 360 390 401 406 427 428) or perhaps I'm blinder than I think.

 

Also - take note of the flathead Ford firing order there....

These guys are real rocket scientists...they have a great QA program too apparently.

 

F O R D
Firing order really different

 

Also, I screwed up when I was rewiring a 302 in a '90 PU. It had a different firing order, apparently from a '95. Great Fun that was. It looks like they are calling all EFI 5.0's the same here, I have to question that. Truck has a '89 5.0 in it now, I'll have to check when I get home.

 

Yep...they did make two different firing orders for the Windsor motors. I dunno wtf that shit was all about, but they sure did it.

 

And people trust MSD to build ignition systems?

 

Wait until they develop a cam.

 

I'm surprised no one has followed up my comment about the flathead firing order they have listed there..

1-5-8-6-3-3-7-2

That'd be a fun one to wire up.

 

I know how it is we read the internet as gospel , but some dummies just post stuff without proper research and due care, so this I lesson to beware . Personally I thought MSD would be more thorough, this is embarrassing for them!!!!

 

Apparently I am not the only person that has been flim-flammed by this diagram...

http://hooniverse.com/2010/05/17/ready-aim-fire-in-this-order-please/

 

And here too....lol

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=727342

 

Yeah, I caught that flathead firing order too. I would like to see how they make number 3 cylinder fire twice in a row. LOL Gonna stick with my Mallory.

 

^^^ They developed a flathead cam? ^^^

 

I have to answer questions about the Y firing order all the time on my web site, never saw this diagram could explain a lot of the confusion. That Flathead order is a real pip!

If you ever try to time the cam in that 292 contact me first.

 

I reckon the #3 intake lobe was just round...but at the full open dia...lol.

 

I have followed your thread on your LSR truck build - very, very neat. I have also watched several of your videos on youtube.

I don't know how likely it will be that I tear into this 292 that I have. The engine appears to be new. The block is clean as a pin, it has new freeze plugs in it and it's equally as clean on the inside. If you could see how well it runs you would agree. It starts with just a bump.

In addition to the firing order problems I had, the engine did have another issue - which is probably the issue that resulted in the truck being parked 7 years ago. It appears that whoever built this engine either adjusted the valve lash too tight - or the person who owned the truck knew NOTHING about engines and just ran the new engine until the valve lash closed up. I found 3 valves (2 intakes and 1 exhaust) that had <0 lash. In other words, they weren't going closed all the way. This would've caused it to pop up through the carb and cause drastic power loss.

I figure the engine probably only has a few thousand miles on it at most - since it was overhauled.

 

I hear all the time about what a piece of junk Y-Blocks are but here you have shown with proper adjustment they run just fine. They do have a few quirks, that's what makes them interesting, but if you know what you are doing they are as good or better than other "vintage" engines. The guys that complain just don't know how to read a manual or figure things out.

 

Yep - I have always wanted to own a 'good' Y-block. I have had a few in the past that were just wore slap out and I just wasn't interested in spending the money to fix them. This one I have now is a very nice one. I can't wait to put a set of headers on it and a nice exhaust. I am looking forward driving it around.

My first experience with a Y-block was about 25 years ago when I was about 18 years old. I was working in a restoration shop and a fella brought in this pristine '57 T-bird on a rollback. He told us he had just spent 40k on a restoration (and it looked it) but that the shop that built the motor had "gommed it up" and it only ran for about 20 mins before it locked up. I was the 'engine guy' in our shop (if you can believe that - I was only 18), so the boss man put me on it. When I got the engine out and torn down I discovered the morons left the oil pump driveshaft out....lol. Didn't hurt it too bad though, I was able to clean all the babbitt off of the crank with a pocket knife and polish it up. He sure was happy to get it back in running condition.

In retrospect - I guess I 'forgot' the experiences I had when re-installing that engine and getting it running....otherwise I wouldn't have had this problem I had here the other day....lmao!

 

The VW one is wrong too, #1, and #2 should be swapped.

 

Ha! You're right - I totally missed that one too. I used to mess with VWs when I was a kid, I shoulda caught that one right away. lol

 

Doesn't the distributor rotate clockwise on the flathead also? I think this is why the Chevrolet distributor is a popular conversion distributor for the flathead. This error might create more fun than repeating cylinder 3 in the firing order.

 

I think the small block Mopar is also a clockwise distributor rotation.

 

This is why it is wise to spend a few buck for some old Chilton and Motors Manuals from the 50's and 60's. Looking for help on the internet can tend to be a fools errand.

 

The early flathead Ford crank/cam driven distributors do run CCW, while the later up-right 8BA run CW, like the sbc.

 

The nail head Buick distributor location is wrong too.

 

Yes the Y block is a differant motor, one of the many strange things about it is #1 cyl is the first cylinder on the bank that is further to the rear. I would have thought the #1 cyl would be the one closest to the front....this is where a good period manual comes in handy.

 

Isn't that the way all Fords are?

Henry numbered the cylinders in the bangers 1 through 4 starting at the front. Pretty simple. Then when they added four more cylinders to the engines, he followed in what he figured to be in the same manner. Right side, 1 through 4, left side 5 through 8. Ya, I know kinda odd but it is good for entertainment value with the Chevy guys.

Neal

 

True, but I really didn't consider the pre '48 flatheads. If you include them, then you get into crab vs. diving bell distributors and that really gets to be a sticky wicket, doesn't it.