Hi guys, one of my favourite subjects are the old urban myths and passed on stories of these great old y blocks, in particular is the lack of oil to the top end or rockers. Putting it in perspective, when the cars were new and probably for the next 20years were driven 7 days a week as only everyday car, naturally the engine started to wear and like most cars went in for new rings and bearings and often the cam bearibngs werent replaced, hence another lot of miles and more wear till the center cam bearing lost its tension in the block and started to slip enough to block the oil holes to the top end, plus wear and gunk etc not helping. In rebuilding these engines for 40 years i found that the turned cam brgs initially were from the older style of manufacture and the steel backing was a metal strap with dovetailed ends, rolled round and the bearing metal poured into it,machined etc, this join allowed the loss of tension in the block tunnel and slippage occured, i havent seen another turned bearing for years since the bearing back was made from one piece, which held its diameter and tension better to prevent slipping. With more awareness of not mixing x drilled cams and later bearings, rodding out the block oil holes from cam to deck, deeper cam oil groove, modern oils, this problem seems to be overcome. These are only my observations and i,m sure there may be others, Thank you. regards aussiebill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

John Mummert cuts the oil groove deeper in every cam he installs (rather than grooving the block). Claims he almost never comes across a turned bearing, and by the time the cam bearing has worn enough to restrict the flow with the deeper cam cut, the motor is way overdue for rebuild.

But, I can see where the installation of a NOS cross-drilled cam would make block-grooving preferable.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Comrade,

       What's behind the Merc in your avitar? Are you sitting on the mud flats after the tide has gone out?

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Overhead oilers needed a valve in the line to control the amount of oil going to the rockers.  Without some kind of valve or restriction, too much oil went topside and would have a tendency to starve the bottom end from needed oil pressure.  Like has already been mentioned, modern oils pretty much eliminated the need for the top oilers.  Any Y’s I put together now gets a groove in the block behind the center cam bearing which eliminates any restriction in the oil going to the rockers as a result of a worn cam bearing, the groove in the camshaft journal being too shallow, or the minimal oil flow that comes from using a cross drilled camshaft.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

According to informed sources, another reason that long service engines can have top oiling problems, is that the center Cam bearings in some cases can be very worn, partly closing off the oil passage to the heads.

Paul

Apologies, but that does not look slick to me.  And how will oil/lubricant pulled into the combustion chambers help rocker arms?...It wont.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

Paul,

While you've got it torn down did you clean out the rocker shafts? They have a plug in each end that can be removed. Often the shafts get really clogged up from old oil. Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I looked at a Truck near me that had a 272 with that oil feed modification on it.

I very nearly copied it for my 312. My top end was getting very rattly & noisy. However I fixed the internal problem on mine so didn't need to do it. I clearned out the bunged up oil ways which were staving the rockers.

  Picture taken in 1960. Funnily enough it still looks like this!

1959 Mercury Monterey 312 Y Block.   NORFOLK, ENGLAND, UK.

This oiling problem existed on a few of the 56 engines and was corrected in engines built later.Even the engines with the problem don't need the outside oiler kit if they are cleaned real good and modern oils are used.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

It should not be needed on a freshly rebuilt motor and probably never needed again with modern oils. It's easy to check that the engines oil system is functioning correctly but I doubt that the seller will want to check before closing the deal. But it wouldn't hurt to ask if you are thinking about bidding on it.

Either they did not clean the oil passages while it was apart or they just didn't know and reinstalled it.


Lawrenceville, GA