Hang in there, Ronald! I was told the same when I wanted more from my Buick. I did not listen. Be different. Do it YOUR way. Ben
Yup, Ben’s right...different strokes for different folks. If your focus is to drive this car and be out on the road, your path is clear. There are many more or less “drop-in” options regardless of make. (If you had the cash, you could literally have a crate motor at your door by next week.) If your focus is a creative, period-correct vehicle and you want to spend time in the garage or money on a shop’s time in the garage, then you have a fun, long-term project in front of you.
Explorer 5.0, Motorsports E cam, edelbrock intake, 85 mustang duraspark distributor with box, holley carb and 88400 headers...….DONE! Oh.....and JeffB's install instructions with part numbers.
Ronald, Like I posted and Jeff said; go to Ted Eaton's site first and then you can make an educated call on what your goal will be. I've been in Teds shop during one of my vacations along with guru Karol Miller and he showed me a lot. I like the Y in my car and have no intentions of removing it. At normal driving and freeway speeds the stock cam is great in these engines were known for low end torque anyway. The old automatics were bulletproof in there day but it has passed and a more modern trans should be used. An auto for the 55 was air cooled so more will need to be done. There are many adapters out there so it's ez but not cheap. Good Luck
I dont know what kind of horsepower I really have Sent from my SM-A600A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
But my 312 pulls an 8000lb truck around like a hot rod. Seriously. Sent from my SM-A600A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Head on over to the Y Blocks Forever web site and join in on the Forums. http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Default.aspx Less haters over there and you can get some straight answers Oldmics
Jeff beat me to it but read that article he posted, keep the Y block and just do some hop up work to it. Makes me laugh at all the "traditional 5.0 swaps" that get suggested here. Also Yblocksforever forum has some great info so search on there for answers. But if you do a rebuild with some new pistons and slightly hotter cam, 57+ intake and distributor with a 4bbl and some dual exhaust that car will be plenty enough.
Looks great! An engine you can show off and be proud of also. I had a 272 in a 1957 Custom a while back and it had adequate power to keep up with traffic. With a 4-bbl, intake, headers it would be more than enough to most people happy.
Oh, and while the hp you want to achieve with the little y-block may not be cheap, few motors sound as good as a y-block through glass packs! And another thought, while the 250 hp is a target you set, in stock form, tuned up well, those little motors moved the car down the road quite nicely, pulled travel trailers, climbed over mountain passes etc.
Hi. It has been many years since I owned a Ford so I cannot comment on engine sizes. But as I got my license & began driving in 1953 I vividly recall the 56 Ford station wagon dad purchased new. It had the "thunderbird engine" and automatic tranny and air conditioning for gods sake. I was in Heaven driving it. From experience I can state that on the asphalt roads of the time that it would burn rubber until I took my foot of the pedal with those bias ply tires of the day. It did not take Dad too long to figure out why he could not keep rear tires on it. Should you change the engine I vote on the 302. Jimmie
GOOD indication of $$$$$ that needs to be spent to get mediocure (by today's standards) power from the 272. Those mods on a 5.0 SBF would put you to the LIMIT of what a 5.0 can survive....400+ HP aprox. Good article!!! 6sally6
Horse power is just a number. In other words it's all baloney 99 percent of the time. It's just a useless number thrown around in conversation. Unless you have it dynoed and race competitively.....what difference does it make? Another thought.....even if a car has 1200HP.....how are you really going to use it? You are only going to use 100-200 of them. See sentence 2........Baloney. Upgrade the distributor to a 1957 and up vacuum mechanical unit. Get a 1957 and up Y block 4bbl intake. Put a Autolite, Eddy, or Holley on top. Consider headers....or not. Tune up the car. Enjoy the significant improvements. Call it 250 horses if you wish.
You haven't discussed the most important aspect of your build, that being your budget. Getting 250 horsepower out of a Y block is easy. Same like getting 250 horsepower out of a flathead Ford, Slant 6, Chevy 235, or a flat 4 VW. If you throw enough money and engineering at an engine it will probably make pretty good power. That's a cost/benefit analysis for you to make. You can look at a lot of the parts from John Mummert, http://www.ford-y-block.com , which will definitely give you the power you're looking for. I will tell you though, that the Aluminum heads alone will cost you more than a brand new GM Performance 350/300 hp crate engine, with delivery, and a 50K mile warranty. 250 hp out of the Y block is no small task, and will require a significant amount of money in both parts and labor. Don't forget, even the 5.0 fox body Mustang didn't have 250 hp, they only had 225 hp, and you're surrendering 30 ci with the Y block, not to mention a significantly heavier rotating assembly and engine, and an antiquated head design. You're also forgetting what is equally important in your drivetrain, that being what transmission you're going to run. If you have a FOM behind that Y block you have now and you swap it out to a modern 5 speed, it will FEEL like you added 100 hp. Simply by using better gearing and mechanical advantage, you'll accelerate better and blast down the highway in OD, while a more powerful engine may have to overcome lousy gearing and running out of gear on extended runs. My Olds makes 315 hp, and would get dropped like a bad habit in a drag race or top speed run by my wife's 2009 Ford Fusion with a 2.3l I4 with all of 120 hp. There's just s much more to the equation than a HP number.
Try giving Tim McMaster a call in Hanford, Ca. He is a Y-Block guru. He can give you suggestions and even rebuild your engine for you if desired. He is also on the H.A.M.B.
250 HP from a 272 is very easy and can be done on the cheap if you know what you are doing. Problem is most don't want to take the time, throw a 350 sbc crate motor in it. join the rest of the herd.
Thank you! No one expects that engine in this truck lol Sent from my SM-A600A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Therein lies the rub. You're obviously extremely well-versed in the world of Y Blocks and have a significant amount of experience to draw on. I was just looking at your web page and the dyno chart from Ted Eaton's testing of various Y block cylinder heads. Based on the dyno chart, only a couple heads would come close to 250 hp in factory form, and may even fall short accounting for the loss of 40 cubes over the 312 used in the test. I can't think of many guys, even those who are good wrenches, who'd feel comfortable enough to start porting their own cylinder heads. I don't disagree with you that it would be easy to get that power out of the 272. But am I out of line to think it's beyond simply adding an intake, cam and exhaust to a factory engine? I'd imagine it would probably take that, and a modified set of heads, and perhaps a bump in compression, to get to that 250hp number without being unruly on the street.
It will take a good budget and a lot of work to hit 250, but in reality if he did the basic stuff recommended he'd make a solid 200-ish hp and it would be more than plenty. Your average person says they want to make X amount of horsepower but theyd be completely happy with much less. Google search 500hp small block chevy, theres 8 billion questions and answers on how to do that, but half of em would shit a brick with 350 to the tires. And to beat the dead horse, no sbc or sbf will sound as good as the 272 will through some glass packs. Us Y blocks guys dont get much to brag about, but we got that.
You're absolutely right on both counts. My first Y block, a 272, sounded awesome right through the point that it threw a rod and ripped the cam in 3 pieces. I have a running 292 sitting in garage that I pulled from a parts car that I'd love to build a rod around one day.
Looked at a sweet 55 Ford one time that the owner wanted to trade straight across for a motorcycle I had. Looked good until he opened the hood to see a dressed up Chevrolet 350. That killed the deal for me. Lot of hate for the Y block here. Is this Street Rodder magazine, or the HAMB? Call me when you can get a 350 to sound like a Y
You are correct in that just a cam and bolt on stuff wont do it in a 272 but the average person (at least the average motor head that went to a HS auto shop class back when they actually taught you something) with a cheap die grinder and a little guidance could make a set of stock C1TE/C0AE heads flow good enough, with the help from a cooperative machine shop that would cut the seats out for a little larger valve (1.78" stockers will do). Mill the heads .040" and run a steel shim head gasket to get the compression up. Make sure you get as close to zero deck height as possible. Chose the right cam (don't even think of a "Thumper"). Properly modified (also can be done with the same die grinder you did the heads with) stock "B" intake with a good 625 cfm carb. Stock '57 - up distributor with a Pertronix. (set your initial advance at 12* btdc and look for 34-36* total advance, disconect the vacuum and leave it off) Dual exhaust with good flowing mufflers. With the tight trans and gears in the rear you will feel like you have 300. (it will be closer to 225 but no one out there knows what real HP is anyway) All this if you do everything you possibly can yourself including assembly and finding parts on the internet you should be able to do this for $2k. Sure you can buy a 350 crate motor for about the same money and less work but the Y is cooler and belongs in a mid fifty's Ford. p.s. as long as you have it out for rebuild just bore it to 292. Same rods and crank, 20 more cubes and more volume stuffed into the same chamber for more compression. Also any time you have the engine out for rebuild, balance balance balance.
No hate just facts I love Ys but replaced one for a SBC. Saving the Y for a future project where HP is not as important as the look. The comments to replace the 272 are based on the OPs expectations not the lack of respect for a Y.
You are looking for fuel economy, I think people only have talked about engine build economy and possible power so far. Going for a more modern engine gives you a basic engine design where fuel economy has been a factor, as well as performance - cylinder heads with efficient combustion chambers, ports and valve sizes that flow well at high rpm without running poorly at low rpm, and the same goes for the camshaft (more or less), a good ignition system that gives the appropriate amount of ignition advance can also work wonders both for performance and economy (goes for any age engine). I'm sure you can get the power you want out of your 272, as well as I'm sure you can swap in another engine and get that or more. But the swap probably gives you more power for les money, less fuel consumption, and you may bring a more modern transmission along with it for additional improvements.
More performance and great fuel mileage you may as swap in a 3.5 Ecoboost. It'll lay waste to the y-block and the sbc in both departments. They can be found the wrecking yards for next to nothing. Sometimes it's not about the total performance, mileage or cost, it's about having a well rounded package. The owner already has a running engine in it. Rebuild it as mctim64 suggested and I'm sure it would easily keep the owner happy.
Two things that are hurting your 272 very small carburetor and the load O matic distributor. A change to a 4 barrel or even a 1957 and later 2 barrel manifold and larger carb and a 57 up distributor. But first check out the health of the 272 compression and being a Y block oil to the rocker arms.
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