John,

This is the Y Block magazine article I was referencing about Carpenter's museum in Charlotte, NC:

http://www.y-blocksforever.com/tech/html/sohc.html

If you look closely at the photos the Ambler logo is on the cam covers. Speedy Bill's look like the Argentine heads with Webers but not an SOHC.

Mark

57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Mark, you might be confusing Dennis Carpenter with "Speedy" Bill Smith. Bill Smith has a pair of the heads in his museum at Speedway Motors. Jerry Christenson contacted Westlake and they claimed to have no knowledge of the Y-Block heads. Perhaps the heads were a Ford product.

John not Jeff Mummert. Site won't let me login under my name.

Highvoltage, thanks for your great local knowledge and input into these heads, i will add these pics to my file on these engines! . With regards to the HUAYRA car, can you find out or know what actual race title they competed in and years? Thanks for shedding more info on these great engines.  I would like to see pic of the actual endcaps that go through end of each head to support rocker shaft? regards bill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Lucky bastard that guy on the HAMB!!!!!!!!!

As I wrote in another post, wecalled to Tandil foundry who build the heads and thy told us that they built 150 sets of heads.

You can add more heads:

-Pronello engineer(who designed that blue race car HUAYRA) has in your shop a set of heads maybe from the twin car HALCON (same as HUAYRA)

-A set currently on sale for U$S 2000

-another set of a broken engine with the remaining all 4 weber carbs. The owner tell this history:

"My dad bought the engine from Pirin Gradassi(a 5 times winner of argie stock car championship races) about 30 years ago when he studied on Cordoba(at center of Argentina). He put it on a F100 truck. The external oilpan got a failure and lost oil pressure. The engine was abbandoned for a while. When re build the engine, It was with stock Mercury conecting rods in place of the original Carrillo rods on a stock block(remember those engines were refitted to 3.0 litter instead of the original 292 CI) The engine was a BEAST. no one people wanted to take the right seat, they was scared. In conclusion, a rod was out to take some fresh air an broke the engine. So the block, rods, crank, cam was sent to a machine shop that went out of bussines and lost all the stuff less heads, carbs and other minor pieces."

Of ocurse, they don´t want to sell nothing.

here, the pics.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd89/ford1940deluxe2/tapaalumio.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd89/ford1940deluxe2/tapa2.jpg

-A machine shop owner who has a set of those heads.

-a hot rod built on mid 90´s that have another set.

Give me a bit of time, I will post pictures of each set.

Great photos Bill. Thanks for clearing up some of the mythology also. Has it been determined that the Weslake recently found in England has cast iron or aluminum heads? On the SOHC subject, I received a email reply form Dennis Carpenter this afternoon to questions I asked about the parts he allegedly has. He wrote he has "no information on that subject" and suggested I ask John Mummert about it. Don't know what to make of that reply but that trail is cold for me now. It may relate to the hurdles and difficulties of reproducing or developing parts for the Y Block. The photos from Y Block Magazine show the logo on the cam covers. It is AMBLER. They made high performance cylinder heads for Ford four bangers. There is a photo of one those engines in the Museum of American Speed. The Gallery number is E065. The company was in Pennsylvania. Has anyone traced that history? Did AMBLER have a military contract for tank engines during the war? Did Holman and Moody copy those or did they use the stuff as it was built by AMBLER?



Mark

57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Well back to weslakes, i have mentioned at times there were cast iron versions of these heads as well as the windsor style, rumours were 6 pair of aluminum heads, so far we can account for the Blue argentinian race car, speedy bills, 1 head i have, and now the recent find in england, thats 3 1/2 sets. The english engine was removed from a Sth american Can Am car and suspect was similar to recent blue one there. Thats as far as i,ve gotten. For those that are interested in this subject, these are the cast iron version of the aluminum heads. These belong to my good friends here who are true y block and sohc enthusiasts and originally got them and associated parts from retired US racer probably 15 yrs back. They are identical to the aluminum ones with same casting and identification markings. The mystery continues!

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Bill, yes definitely a good way to throw away large sums of cash over a long period of time. But it is an interesting subject. Going through the web pages of the Museum of American Speed to see all that innovation actually coming to the market back then is a revelation. Today's economy and the small niche Y blocks occupy would never make such a thing sensible. But....Don Orosco, who makes selected runs of repro unobtainium for Flatheads seems to get it done. He is reproducing very exotic stuff for those who have the coins to pay. I don't fall into that category. I did send an email to Dennis Carpenter asking about the stuff and any plans or history he or others may have for them. I expect they will remain with him and stay a museum item.

57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Mark, pie in the sky! i doubt they were direct bolt on but who knows for sure, but you can bet they would be financially unviable to remake and sell, just ask john mummert whats involved in his new heads and logically the costs against market need would be too far lopsided $$$ . They sure are interesting though. Wish i had a set!!!!!

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Charlie, thats the one i am talking about, so mysterious as to actual tank application? and hope someone somewhere can add some factual information to these unique parts. regards bill

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Okay...there it is. What is the year of the Y Block Mag are the articles are from? I have subscribed for many years but missed or forgot about these articles. Life has it's distractions. In the end it is a conversion kit. A set of parts to apply to a conventional Y block and heads. First question that comes to mind is who owns the rights to the kit? Ford? Holman and Moody? Then if someone wanted to repro them or at least replicate them, could that be managed. The next question is will they fit Mummert's new aluminum heads? I also noticed the cam covers have an AMBLER logo on them. I recognize that name from the Museum of American Speed as a manufacturer of aftermarket cylinder heads for the Ford four banger. The photo in the Museum website is EO65.

57 Black Tbird 312/auto