I went to a guys farm today to look at a Y he said was available, which had belonged to his deceased grand dad.  It was a C2AE block out of a '63 F-250, with Rams Horns, and model B 4V intake, sitting in a scrap metal pile where it had been for years.  Unfortunately one of the exhausts was all busted up.  The other had an old repair, but looks useable.  The intake had been sealed with metal cover bolted in place of the carb.  A quick overall impression was that there wasnt much there but the intake.  The heads were ECR-A.  valve covers were crushed from the engine being rolled onto its top.  $30 was agreed to on price.  However he didnt have a lift.  So I took off the heads and manifolds and some other bolt ons.  The heads looked like they had been thoroughly redone, including new rocker adjusting nuts and rocker shafts, and they are posted.  There was NO wear ring at the top of the cylinders, nor any rust on the cylinder walls except for one.  Someone had the presence of mind to punch a hole in a couple of the freeze plugs.  I arranged to go back in a week or so to complete the disassembly and haul the short block home.

There was an interesting bracket on the front right side, mounted through the timing cover by two bolts and by a third bolt on the side and forward portion of the head, below the line of the sparkplugs.  It is very heavy duty, original equipment and basically a square plate with two long slots.  Whatever it held was powered by the double sheeved balancer.  Anyone have an idea what it is?

Another interesting thing was how the exhaust valves were setup.  They had what look like one piece spring retainers, with a rotator cup between the top of the valve stem and the rocker.  My 54 Ford tractor has this setup, but didnt know the earler Y's had it too.

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.

 

Another interesting thing was how the exhaust valves were setup.  They had what look like one piece spring retainers, with a rotator cup between the top of the valve stem and the rocker.  My 54 Ford tractor has this setup, but didnt know the earler Y's had it too.[/quote]

That's a "free valve" the rocker actually pushes down on the retainer and the valve is free to rotate. '50s Ford HD trucks, tractors, and marine engines use these.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

The bracket could be for a compressor if the truck had air brakes

That is along the lines of my thinking too.  It is a substantial "bracket".  Seems too much for something like power steering, and on the wrong side.  Perhaps it was for auxilliary trailer brakes?

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.

This block could very well have a steel crank and C1TE rods, good find. They are still out there, you just have to get out and look for them. By the way Tim I finally got the ARP studs from Summit last week, I'll get them boxed this weekend and get them too you next week.

Glen Henderson



Freedom is not Free

Letohatchee, AL

I have few heads with those caps on exhaust valves. One pair is from 57 F-600 with HD Y-Block 272 (no steel crank and about 22000 miles on speedometer when engine was lifted out of the truck about 15 years ago), these caps are what truck parts books says about dimensions. Then I have a pair of heads from industrial engine and the caps are much smaller than those in truck heads. I found from ebay a parts book for industrial engines also, but it didn´t know those small caps either, what I remember, just couldn´t find the book right now, it must be in that special easily find place where all my lost stuff are. The industrial engine has plate on the block which says it is from year 1956 but it is 292. I think that there are caps also in my 1961 F-600 HD engine, but that is still in the truck or what is left of it. Does somebody know something about the different size exhaust valve caps?


Tero from Nurmijarvi, Finland

56 Country Sedan, 61 F-100, 61 F-600, 55 F-620, 52 Mercury

http://www.dlc.fi/~teros

http://www.y-block.info

http://www.hollowheads.net

http://www.fordnationals.net

Steel crank, C1TE rods?  You may be right!  I am going back over there today.

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.

Aren't those caps used on the Sodium filled valves? If so you will need to replace the guides with smaller ones and use the regular type valves. The Sodium's are prone to breakage when old and are not good for performance engines. 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

Very correct.  I got into the heads today and the exhausts are sodium filled with big 7/16 in. stems.  Arent special precautions supposed to be taken when getting rid of Na filled valves?  New bronze guides were there for intakes with positive seal inserts at their tops.  Combustion chambers cc'd at 73.  Hardened seats have been installed on the exhausts.

The lucky streak ended today.  Called the son of the man who has the farm and asked about coming over to finish dissassembly, and he said his dad would want more money for the block.  He was supposed to call back but hasnt, and probably wont.  He must have been curious why I was so interested in the hunk of junk, and did some investigating on the internet.

Mike 

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.

The lucky streak ended today.  Called the son of the man who has the farm and asked about coming over to finish dissassembly, and he said his dad would want more money for the block.  He was supposed to call back but hasnt, and probably wont.  He must have been curious why I was so interested in the hunk of junk, and did some investigating on the internet.

Mike [/quote]

Sorry to hear that, should have waited till you got it home. Maybe he looked at this site.

We just got back from El Mirage this evening, met a guy out there that says he has a yard full of "Y" stuff, I wont say any more till I see what he has.

Glenn, I'll be watching for the rods, I just got through doing a set for Charlies "New" engine we will be building this winter. I wont say much about it till we see what it does, but there was a Dodge at Bonneville that needs to be put in its place.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias