anyone got any tricks to stop a leaking cross over pipe it keeps coming loose on the right side ive put new washers on new gaskett it came loose again takes  about 2-3 weeks to happen i have a bit of a hearing problem & i dont hear it untill its to far gone one of the reasons im not a mechanic any more.

ive tried most of what you mentioned it has brass nuts i havent tried the 2 nuts yet its just annoying to have this one tiny problem  that i cant hear the dumd part is i can hear base sounds really well so listening to the thump of the y block when im driving is a joy they have to be the best sounding engine ever made my girlfreind had never heard one before & now she's in love with them too.

Great looking Ute I wish we had them up here. 

The best thing you could do for your motor is get rid of the cross over and go to dual exhaust. The US Y's with single exhaust have the dump on the car's right side, is that where your's is? Is it a big hassle with the clutch and steering on your driver's side? BTW the sound stays the same or even better with duals, it becomes stereo!

Is your crossover a 2 piece one that has a slip joint in the middle.  Is there a clamp on that slip joint, or is the joint rusted solid.  The expansion rate of the pipe is greater than that of the block and heads, so as the pipe heats and cools, something has to give.  It is designed for the slip joint to actually slip, and if that feature is defeated, something else has to give.

John

ive got pictures of the engine & busted crank in the street section i went to the place where the ute was done yesterday had a look at another motor & saw staight away what the cause is theres a part missing on the right side of the crossover where it bolts to the manifold some sort of butterfly valve with it missing the crossover on that side is under a lot of tension i will have to make a spacer the same thickness. gary i have heard about that problem with the manuals over the autos the extra gear linkage makes all th difference i would like to keep the crossover for now as i want to enter it into the geelong all ford day next year & they judge them on originality.

thanks for looking mate ive made up a spacer by hand 10mm thick which should work i havent fitted it yet, will let everyone know when its fitted & if it works i never thought i would be hand making my own parts  haha.

Cusso Bill sells dual exhaust headers ,I have used them on a 57 Mainline ute with a Toploader and stock clutch linkage .Everything cleared OK ..Also John's Rod & Custom.sells them . There's a guy, Glen Henderson  here in Brisbane ( Greenbank )who makes cast  exhaust manifolds for Y-blocks .They are good but because our drivers side is slightly bent down more than stock ( to clear RHD steering box ),#4 plug is a real pain to remove .I have one on my Vicky .When it was ultra low I went over a speed bump ,caught the engine pipe ,pushed up and snapped off the factory dual manifold .Stock manifolds are very thin compared to the ones that Glen makes .All the above phone # can be found in Just Parts magazine.

Regards Lon

gary good idea on the ebay part i might be able to stop detailing or i could only detail cars with y blocks for car shows

ray your kidding me we must have missed each other by minutes thanks for comment i cant take credit for the ute that goes to charlie but i can for the mechanicals not charlies forte hes building a 57 cussie at the moment i told him how  to set the engine up when he fires it his mechanic doesnt know how to do it when i got the ute it was sluggish & wouldnt change out of second until about 60mph when i got it back to geelong i checked the timing it was set on tdc & the auto linkages were out of wack.

cross over update i finally got time to fit my spacer & discovered a gap between the flange & spacer took it of same with flange to manifold then i looked at the weld on the flange it had been re welded sometime on the wrong angle so its been restored to the right angle refitted & i now have the quietist 272 ive ever heard.