yes ,I have verified that the dowel holes are deep enough as well as the bolt holes.I have even tryed no dowels with the same result.To me installing heads and head gaskets are basic and remedial.Clamping one big hunk of iron to another is straight forward.Being a mechanic,Ido this stuff all the time.I have never had any problems with others.why would other engines that I never even touched end up in my garage with the same problem?I bought a 57 ranchero with 292 from some guy and I noticed it had new head gaskets on it.I wondered why?Soon after I blew one of them.As soon as I replaced one of them the  other one blew.I repaced them both to only blow them again.I sold the car.I had another 57 truck with a 272. IT had one blown head gasket when I bought it.The old owner was frustrated so he sold it to me.I will double check everything again today,but Ive been repeating the same old stuff for the last year.I run over all tha ovious things and still cant come up with a legitamite

55 fairlane gasser 312 /c4, 57 f100 292/c4, 52 mainline gasser 302/t10 4speed

I cant find a legit reason for this to happen .Im very frustated.Ive had this happen on engines that Ive never even touched.

55 fairlane gasser 312 /c4, 57 f100 292/c4, 52 mainline gasser 302/t10 4speed

How does this happen on every y-block that I encounter?Can they all have head bolt holes that arent deep enough?Is it possible that everyone of these has dowel holes that arent deep enough?3engines recentley and several others over the years?Did they ever have a head gasket recall?I had great success with 302 and 351w engines.I had one that ran mid 11 sec quarter mile runs and was street driven for years,no problems.even overrevved it and pinged it to death and still no blown head gaskets.The windsor engines only have 10 head bolts too.what gives?I would love to solve this problem.

55 fairlane gasser 312 /c4, 57 f100 292/c4, 52 mainline gasser 302/t10 4speed

You say you turned the 1/4 in 11 with the small block. What kind of compression are you running on the Y block? A HC piston and a HC head will be too much. Other than that I don't understand it either. I bought an old Sioux valve grinder in 1962 from a closed independent shop and did a lot of y block valve jobs simply because I was young and the young people wanted me to work on their y block instead of the old geezers at the Ford house. Now I'm the old geezer. The only thing that it appears that you do differently then I do is backing the head bolts before retorquing. I simply put the torque wrench to them again and they usually turn less then 1/8 turn before the wrench clicks. I think any of the old timers will agree with me that y blocks never had a head gasket problem. Nothing like the the GMC 6 inline cy of the same period that I also tinker with.

Kenneth

Fredricksburg, Texas

I'm running out of ideas too, but a couple of things I thought about.  Has your torque wrench been calibrated lately?  Maybe you aren't getting as much torque as you think.  I know, the small blocks have been torqued with it too.  Also, torquing the long bolts to 80 ft.lbs. may have started stretching them.  They are marginal at 75 I have found.  I am using 1/2" bolts on my F code drag car, torqued to 85 and 75, and have not blown a gasket in almost 2 seasons of racing.  Calculations based on performance shows I have run as high as 485 RWHP.  Blower boost reaches 14 psi.  8.0 compression ratio.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

im running stock pistons on all of the engines.Im looking in on the torque wrench being calbrated correctly.Ive tryed 3 different rediculicly expensive torque wrenches from snap on.Today it seems that my truck has stopped leaking water into the crankcase so I filled it with oil again and drove it around for an hour and no water in the oil!It seems like it stopped.I tore down the other engine a couple hours ago and found that water actually leaked in the lower corner thru the lower rear head bolt.Im stumpped.It leaked along the outside where the block meets the head.???It also leaked into the crankcase through the push rod holes. eventhough my truck is longer leaking water Im afraid to drive it.and another note the "small block" is all FORD Im a Ford guy for life! Thanx for listening

55 fairlane gasser 312 /c4, 57 f100 292/c4, 52 mainline gasser 302/t10 4speed

yes ,maybe 80 is a bit much?I think I need to look into that too.

55 fairlane gasser 312 /c4, 57 f100 292/c4, 52 mainline gasser 302/t10 4speed

Hi Nathan, haven't talked to you in quite a while. My only suggestion would be to either increase the differential of the steps you take in torque or only use 2 steps. 15 ft lbs isn't enough to get the bolt rotating before the wrench clicks. I would try 25-50-75 or 80 depending on which bolt. 

If you bought the Best gaskets some time ago there has been a change. After the fire rings are installed in the gasket the gasket is run through a roller to compress the fire ring. Armin Brown of Best Gasket told me he increased the crush on the gasket to get a better water seal. The fire ring can hold the head up, not allowing the water passages to seal. We torque the bolts 3-5 times during assembly to be sure the fire ring is compressed.

re:water in oil. There are water passages near the pushrod openings or water can get into the cylinder where it will drain past the rings if the engine is not running. If the engine is running you'll get steam in the exhaust.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

Nathan, i appreciate the frustration you are expierencing and i think we are all stumped, all i can add as a mechanic and y block rebuilder for 40 years like most of the senior guys here, is Not to back off the headbolts, sure, tap the block holes, check the bolt thread lengths, light oil on threads, just to reduce unnecessary thread contact friction, torque down in 3 increments to 75-80 . i personally after that, go down the row of bolts again as final check once they have settled. I must say you seem to have 100 percent succes rate in blown h.gskts with these engines and apart from backing off head bolts during torqueing, things seem normal. One more thing, when retorqueing bolts when warm, do you remove radiator cap to relieve pressure, if you are backing bolts off on retorque, it coulld be letting water push in under gaskt?? just a closing thought.! Never had a blown headgasket in 30 years. Look forward to your next results. regards aussiebill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

hey John,do you back off the bolts first?I always drain the water before re torqueing the heads.I relentlessly double and triple check everything since all this has started driveing me crazy.I amm currently useing the new redesigned Best gaskets on my truck.They did leak water after re tightening the bolts ,but have stopped leaking today.I poured 8 quarts of oil in the recycling bin and two filters.I hope its done leaking.Some of the other high performance engines that I have built have leaked a little water in the beginning,but later stopped.Water leaks seem to stop on there own.I keep blowin the sealing ring too.The longest Ive had one stay together was 5000 miles .They usually blow before then .,especially if Im hotroddin.For years I just avoided driveing them because of fear of getting stranded.

55 fairlane gasser 312 /c4, 57 f100 292/c4, 52 mainline gasser 302/t10 4speed