Hey guys, I reently acquired a 57 Ford Wagon for the wife that will double as a tow vehicle for our nostaligia drag car.  The original engine is a little tired and smokes some when first started.  I plan on driving it until it gets too bad, but in the meantime I would like to build up a spare.

Just curious what you would build if you were starting from scratch and what mods you would do to the Yblock?

Thanks

Root

CrossMembers Car Club, established A.D. 1

Everything you can to SQUEEZE horsepower and torque out of her. You can do all of the traditional things to every other motor. Bore it out a little, stroke the crank, offset grind the crank and run aftermarket rods. Run stock rods and have a custom piston made to the correct compression height. You can buy a great kit that will do all the "hard" stuff (so you can just bolt it all back together) from John Mummerts Y Block website.



Really, it boils down to how much money you are willing to spend, and how radical of an engine you want. But the sky is the limit, and this website, along with a few others is a HUGE resource. Good luck, and keep us posted.

Heber City, UT (15 mins outside of Park City- basically it's in the mountains)

55 Effie

I second dawg.  Money will drive your decision.  You can put a price on a new engine or rebuilding the one you have but having something different that not every other car has is priceless in my opinion. 

Warsaw, IN

Hey dawg...glad you made it over here!  Between this site and the HAMB, you should get a lot of good information.

I'll second that there's a lot of great hardware over at the 'ford-y-block.com' site for 272s, 292, and 312s, but especially the 292s and 312s.  If you think you want to upgread any parts, you may want to check there 1st.

The key word here is you want a good tow vehicle. So well building an engine up is great you don't want to lose your torque. More cubic inches is always nice, but don't go too far. There is a reason why the truck engines had smaller valves and a 2 bbl carb. I would take a look at my rear gear for pulling (and springs) before worrying about a 4 bbl carb, changing the cam, etc. You could free up the exhaust with duals.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

Hey Root!  Good to see you made it over.  Welcome!

   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

I think cam selection will help out there as well. You can talk to folks around here who are much more educated on good low end torque cam grinds ^^^ Tim is one, as well as John and Ted, and maybe even the Ol' Ford Nut. If you want bottom end the Y can give you all you more than enough and then some!

Heber City, UT (15 mins outside of Park City- basically it's in the mountains)

55 Effie

Just found a 292 with a 4 barrel intake partially disassembled for $100.  He said the motor was .030 over and the heads are off.  Anything I need to be leary of?  Apparently this guy died mid project.  No one knows why it is apart.  It has a truck bellhousing on it.  I figure the parts should be worth a hundred bucks alone.

CrossMembers Car Club, established A.D. 1

If the intake is ECZ-9425-B and in good condition then it's definitely worth $100. The rest is icing on the cake.


Lawrenceville, GA

Recently acquired 57 wagaon, and a $100 spare block! Nice work duder!

Heber City, UT (15 mins outside of Park City- basically it's in the mountains)

55 Effie