Rex, do you think it is coincidence, after at least 20 were downed, there was no personal, house, or car damage?  Each of those trees weigh many tons; I call that a protective-miracle straight from God himself.  Glad to hear you and your family enjoyed Mother's Day unscathed.

-  Dave

Royal Oak, Michigan (Four miles north of Detroit, and 12 miles NORTH of Windsor, Canada).  That's right, we're north of Canada.

Ford 292 Y-Block major overhaul by simplyconnected

Glad to hear you are alright, sounds like quite a ride.

   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

Guys, thanks for all the advice.  Would have responded sooner but live in southern Illinois and we just got the heck torn out of us by what has been called an inland hurricane.  Darndest thing I have ever seen.  House and cars OK no power but thank god for generators, but 20 trees at least 50 to 70 feet tall down.  Wearing out chain saw blades right now.

I drilled my hole straight in.  You are going into an oil hole with ~40-psi of pressure.  The concern is, not to make the hole too large because the #1 cam bearing needs oil flow.  There will be plenty of oil (regardless of angle) to lube the timing chain.

I like the idea of cutting passages into the bearing as that ensures the bearing gets oil first.  Either method is good as long as it's done right.

I put a rod inside the oil hole from the crank journal, and picked my drill-hole location by eye (it's easy).  Then I drilled the sixty thousandths hole straight in at 90*.  I spread a very thin layer of plumber's putty (or clay) on the thrust plate, I bolted the uncut plate in, to squish the putty.  When I unbolted the plate, the block hole showed up as a dot on the back side of the plate.  I center-punched the dot, and drilled a shallow dimple in the punch mark (for location variation).  Then I grooved the plate from the dimple to the plate's edge with a thin Dremmel disk.

The thrust plate (not the block) gets the small groove.  That way, if you ever need, you can block the hole by simply turning the plate.

Whew!  All that for a tiny (but important) hole.  The chain only needs a few drops of oil per minute.  A .060" hole will give much more than that, in fact, a smaller hole will do just fine.

-  Dave

Royal Oak, Michigan (Four miles north of Detroit, and 12 miles NORTH of Windsor, Canada).  That's right, we're north of Canada.

Ford 292 Y-Block major overhaul by simplyconnected

The hole originates in the same location that Tim"s picture shows.

It is then drilled upwards towards the 12:00 o"clock position.

There is also a reccomendation in Eickmans Y Block book on page 66 about cutting 4 stright grooves into the thrust bearing itself.

Worth taking a look see at.I can send you copys of both if you like.

Oldmics

Among other options are stainless steel freeze plugs which fit much tighter in the core holes and do not have the tendency to be pushed out by water pressure like the brass plugs.  Brass just doesn’t have the same friction fit as the original iron plugs so they are not looked upon favorably in this part of the country without additional measures being taken to insure they stay in place.  Stainless steel freeze plugs are available in most common sizes including those for the Y.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Which way is the angle on the hole for thrust plate modification.  If drilling at 45 degrees I assume this is done to angle towards the flow of the oil to allow for better passage into the groove.  Towards 12 Oclock, or 6 Oclock etc?

Appreciate all the advice!

Other good cam grinds for a stock converter automatic is 224 @ .050 rated duration 270S .468 lift  and a 110 LSA. This is far better than stock and very streetable.    

If you are running a stick shift then you can step up to a 232 @  .050  rated  duration  MA259-1  .495  lift  110  LSA.  I've run these cams and there much better than stock.             These cams are from Comp cams. Good luck with your build.                                                                                     

-Gary Burnette-

Do you mean, hardened exhaust valve seats?  Modern fuels demand hardened seats.  Some guys claim they have no problem with the original seats because they only run the engine in the city and 'on occassion'.

I plan on driving my '59 Galaxie to Chicago (from Detroit).  My 292 must be totally roadworthy at highway speeds with no worries.

I retained my original valves because they were within spec's.  Sloppy guides must be re-worked and small-diameter valve stems must be replaced.  Most machine shops bore the guides and insert a bronze insert.  After reaming, they do a complete valve grind on the seats, using the guides for tooling.  The valve angles and tips are ground in a separate machine.

USE BRASS FREEZE PLUGS.  They don't cost much more and they will never rust out (from the inside as well).  Marine engines use them, so brass is available.

Royal Oak, Michigan (Four miles north of Detroit, and 12 miles NORTH of Windsor, Canada).  That's right, we're north of Canada.

Ford 292 Y-Block major overhaul by simplyconnected

According to a Mercury modification letter that I have,that .060 hole was originally speced as 3/32 and it needs to be drilled on a 45* angle to the surface of the plate.

Oldmics