Eaton Balancing

This is a first in a series of articles about engine families and their history/ idiosyncrasies. Eaton Balancing offers services for all types of engines.

Manufacturer: Ford Motor Company
Production: 1954–1964
Predecessor: Ford L-Head engine (Flathead V8)
Successor: Ford FE engine, Ford Windsor engine

The Ford Y-block engine was introduced in 1954 by the Ford Motor Company to replace the side-valved Ford Flathead V8 engine. It was later superceded by the Ford FE (Ford Edsel) engine in 1958 and the Ford Windsor engine (on smaller cars) in 1962 but remained in production until 1964 as a viable engine for the Ford truck lineup.   Regarding its 1954 introduction, the story goes that the engine was originally planned to be introduced in 1953 to coincide with the Ford Motor Company’s 50th anniversary but a nickel shortage that year (in part due to the military action taking place in Korea) delayed the planned introduction until the following year. But that extra year paid off in that the 239 (Ford) and 256 (Mercury) engines had very few new engine introduction issues and many of these engines are subsequently still on the road today. The same could not be said for the introduction of the 1955 Chevrolet 265 cubic inch engines which were confronted by a majority of warranty issues due to its rush into production. The last year for a Y-Block engine to be officially used in a Ford car was 1962.

Because this engine was the result of ‘clean slate’ engineering, there were many new design features not previously seen on a Ford production V8. Some of these features included full pressure oil filtration, counterweighted fuel pump concentrics, oil trough for timing chain oiling, valve guide oil diverters, shaft rocker arms, a single water pump, and staggered oiling at the connecting rod journals. Priority oiling to the mains was also a standard feature and was eventually reintroduced on the sideoiler 427 as an upgrade to the FE oiling system. Although some of these features were eliminated after the introduction of the engine as cost cutting measures, other improvements were also introduced during the course of the engines production life (1954-1964).  Some of these included the oil slinger at the rear of the crankshaft (1956), neoprene rear seals that would replace the original asbestos rope seals, a gerotor style of oil pump over the originally introduced spur gear style of oil pump (1957), the introduction of the disposable spin on oil filter in place of the cartridge filter sytem, and an upgrade of the Load-O-Matic ignition system to a more modern ignition sytem (1957).

Particular to this family of engines are the stacked intake ports at the heads and intake manifold. Instead of the intake ports being side by side as is the common practice, the intake ports are in pairs and stacked on top of each other. The thought process behind this is a larger port being available while leaving room for the optimum placement of the pushrods. The intake ports being stacked also contributes to the runner lengths being the same lengths or more equalized between all the cylinders which in turn makes for a higher peak torque than an engine with varying lengths of intake ports.

This family of engines is infamously known for having oiling problems at the rocker shafts which in turn is directly attributed to the poor quality of the oils at the time. The non-detergent oils in conjunction with the already slow flow rates of oil to the topend subsequently allowed the oil galleries to plug or stop up. This problem plagued the entire Y-block family of engines during all years of production and the common fix was to run a separate oil line from one of the main oil galley plugs in the block directly to the valve covers to a hollow valve cover stud which allowed oil to directly feed to the rocker shafts. By the original design and so that the top end was not flooded in oil, an oiling restriction was placed at the center cam bearing that forced the oil to flow through or around the center cam journal in a very controlled manner. The design of the restriction simply added to the problem of the slow flow rate of oil to the topend. The oiling problem was also compounded by a cast 2” long horizontal channel on the head deck surface which allowed non-detergent oil to sludge up in this area and also inhibit the flow. The modern fix is to groove the block behind the center cam bearing so that a full flow of oil at this area is restored to the topend of the engine and restricting any excess flow at the rocker arms. And of course, a good quality oil and a reasonable frequency to the oil changes also helps significantly.

Distinctive also to this family of engines is the rear mounted distributor and other than the LYB engines that were introduced in 1952, these were the only V8 engines offered by FoMoCo having rear mounted distributors. Another distinction on the Y family of engines are the center cylinders having the exhaust valves placed next to each other. This created some overheating in this area and was eventually worked around by the use of ‘steam’ holes in the block and heads to aid in some additional cooling and especially on those cars with low profile radiators such as those offered on the 1960 thru 1962 Fords. With the introduction of the FE and MEL engines in 1958, lessons had been learned in regards to exhaust valve placement and the new engines remedied this issue by either placing intake valves next to each other at the center cylinders or simply doing an even stagger of the valves down the head.

A quick reference of the engine specifications for 1955-57 will show the Ford V-8s ahead of the Chevrolet counterparts in displacement, horsepower and torque. The Y-block head provided excellent air flow and considered superior to the Chevrolet engines of the same time period. Although the Y-Blocks were on the heavy side, the real detriment was its displacement limit. The original architecture was very small and tight. Even with the benefit of today’s technology, (aftermarket rods and stroker cranks) the reasonable limit of a Y-block is about 352 cubic inches while the Chevrolet small block design could go well past the factory limit of 400. Simply put, with the ever increasing size and weight of the standard passenger car, the added parasitic losses for accessories like power steering, power brakes and air conditioning, cheap gasoline and the horsepower race all conspired to outgrow the first Ford OHV V-8 engine. It is interesting to note that both Ford and Chevrolet went to optional “big block” engines for 1958, 352 in³ (5.8 L) at Ford compared to 348 in³ (5.7 L) at Chevrolet.

Note that Lincoln introduced its own Y-block in 1952 and are more commonly referred to as the LYB (Lincoln Y-Block) or OHV (overhead valve). That engine was used in the various car lines through 1957 at which point it was officially replaced with MEL (Mercury Edsel Lincoln) engine that was introduced in 1958. The LYB engines did continue to be used in the trucks though through 1963.

239
The first Y-block was the 1954 239 in³ (3.9 L) Ford engine; known for its deep skirting which causes the engine resemble a Y. Rated at 130 hp (97 kW), it replaced the 239 in³ (3.9 L) Flathead which was rated at 106 hp (79 kW). The Y-block was considered a major advancement over the flathead. The 239 engines lacked the breathing abilities compared to the later model Y’s and the first year engines also had some of their own pecularities in regards to water pumps, fuel pumps, distributors, oil drives, oil pumps, and camshafts which made many of the parts on the 239 not interchangable with later model Y-Block engines. The early 239 engines also incorporated a washered 14mm sparkplug which was superceded by a tapered seat 18mm spark plug in 1955.

256
Introduced in 1954, the Mercury Y-block was the 256 in³ (4.2 L).   The 256 engine was available in the 1954 Fords for law enforcement use.  This engine was originally intended to be the Ford offering in 1955 and the 272 would then be the Mercury offering for 1955.   But the introduction of the 265 by Chevrolet in 1955 moved plans up in that the 272 was moved into the Ford spot and the 292 moved into the Mercury spot instead. The 256 engines subsequently were not offered in the Ford lineup and likewise, the 272’s were not offered in the Mercury lineup. The same interchange issues that were present with the 239 engines also apply to the Mercury 256 engines.

272
The 272 in³ (4.5 L) version was introduced in 1955. Most standard Fords used this engine with a two barrel version being rated at 162 HP. A four barrel version was offered and called the “182 HP Special”.  The 272’s were not a standard Mercury offering.  The 272′s were used in the truck lineup from 1955 through 1957.

292
The 292 in³ (4.8 L) was also introduced in 1955 and used in the Ford Thunderbird and Mercury cars (as the “Thunderbird Special”). For 1955, the 292 was not available in the Ford passenger car lineup except as an option when ordered by a government or law enforcement agency. For 1956, the 292 was offered in the Ford lineup as the Thunderbird V8 option while the 272 still remained the standard V8 in 1956. The 292 engine was also used in Ford truck lineup starting in 1958 and used through 1964.  The 292 was used in the Ford car lineup through the ’62 model year after which point it was replaced by the small block Ford engine. 

The 292 forged steel crankshaft available in the HD truck engines was popular with hot rodders in stroking the 289 V8’s. With some machine work, this part was used to upstroke the 289 V8’s to a 340 cid in combination with custom-made pistons and a .040 inch overbore (4.040 in. x 3.3 in.).

Ford Australia released this V8 motor as its only option in the 4 door sedan Customline for 1955 through 1959 (based on the Crown Victoria) and its utility based on the same styling as the Customline and called a Mainline.

The 292 version of the Y-Block engine was used in Argentina in the F-100 Pick-up well into the sixties, and was known as Fase I (Phase I). Later in the sixties, the engine was modified to accept a new-style cylinder head with a different valve arrangement (E-I-E-I-E-I-E-I versus E-I-I-E-E-I-I-E) and was re-named the Fase II (Phase II). In this form, the 292 Fase II continued into the eighties in the F-100, and in addition, was also used in the Argentine Ford Fairlane (built from 1969 to 1982, and based heavily on American 1968 model).

The 292 Y was used in Ford produced vehicles in Brazil until 1975.

312
The 312 in³ (5.1 L) engine was offically introduced in 1956 and was again used in high-end Ford and Mercury cars including the Thunderbird. Documentation exists showing this engine was available in 1954 as a test engine and for purpose built vehicles but was not offered in any production vehicles until 1956.  1957 was the last year the 312 was offered in the Ford cars while 1960 was the last year it was offered in the Mercury lineup.  The 312 engines incorporated a larger main journal size than its smaller counterparts (239, 256, 272, 292) but these crankshafts are popular with the hot rodding segment in that the mains can be turned to the smaller journal sizes and easily placed in the 292 blocks.

The 312 was available with a 2 barrel carburetor, a 4 barrel carburetor, two 4 barrel carburetors, and a McCulloch (Paxton) supercharger. Although the supercharged engine was factory rated at 300 HP, general concensus is that none left the factory at less than 340 HP.

Quickest Y-Blocks on record.
Randy Gummelt eclipsed a thirty plus year old Australian record when he traveled the measured standing quarter mile at 8.15 seconds at 163+ mph. This was done at National Trails Dragway located at Hebron, Ohio, Sep 3, 2005.

The Randy Gummelt record held until August 16th, 2009 when Bob Lindsay ran a 7.966 and 171.46mph in the quarter at an Oregon track.  Bob’s vehicle of choice is 180″ front engine dragster.  Congrats go to Bob.

Fastest Y-Blocks on record.
Karol Miller, 155.844 mph, 1956 Ford Victoria, Feb 14, 1958, Daytona Beach

Largest Y-Blocks on record.
412 cubic inch. Awaiting permission to publish name and details. Doubt anyone is going to beat this one with a factory block.  The next one down from this is a 403 incher which was a 4.00″ bore X 4.00″ stroke using a fully sleeved block.  Using a stock bored block without sleeves, a 375 incher is an easy put together.  Eaton Balancing used this combination in the 2009 Engine Masters Challenge competition.

If you have documentation of a quicker or faster or larger Y than previously stated, then please email me the pertinent (and documented) information. Thanks. T.Eaton.

It’s simply amazing how many times the rear crankshaft seal gets blamed for an oil leak when there are so many other places at the back of the block that can either be the root cause or at least a contributor. The rear oil seal retainer on the Y-Block is just one of these items that more often than not gets overlooked when it comes time to address an oil leak at the rear of the engine.

Upon tearing down a 292 Y engine for a rebuild, it was noted that the back of the block and oil pan were extremely oily but not much more was thought about it at the time as oil leaks on these engines seem to be common place by the time a rebuild is needed. Upon pulling the rear seal retainer loose from the block, it became apparent that the retainer itself was the source of an oil leak and had been abused somewhere in its distant past. In this particular instance, both of the grooves in the rear oil seal retainer where the side seals slip in place were distorted enough that the side seals themselves were not adequately up to the job for which they were designed.

 Two different thoughts come to mind on how these grooves became warped. The first one is that the grooves had become distorted when someone had tried to drive the replacement side seals in place with a considerable amount of force. The older style of asbestos seal was being used in this case and are potentially hard enough to actually exert this kind of force on the soft metal of the seal retainer. The other thought (and much more likely) is that the rear seal retainer had been pried out of the block sideways instead of being simply being lifted straight up and/or raised as would be normally recommended.

For this particular rebuild, I simply replaced the rear seal retainer with a visibly ‘good’ one and went on.  But if I had been in a bind and needed this particular retainer, then it could have very likely been straightened with some gentle persuasion using a hammer and reused.  Point here is that without being straightened, the retainer would have undoubtedly just leaked again and would have to be addressed again in the near future.

When working on these engines there just seems to be no end in the number of things that can go awry and just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, something else comes along.  The warped side grooves in the rear seal retainer just gets added to the growing list of things to watch out for.

Until next time, Ted Eaton.

Originally published in the Y-Block Magazine, Nov-Dec 2008 Issue #89, Vol 15, No. 5

In attempting to squeeze out that last bit of potential output from the Ford Y-Block (and other engines), there are those items that can be applied that may not be immediately measurable but they will be done because they will not be detrimental to the power output.  One of these items is spark plug indexing which tends to vary in its benefit depending upon the application it is being applied.  Indexing the spark plugs simply insures that the spark plug ground electrode is in a specific orientation within the cylinder to promote a more beneficial flame front when the fuel is ignited.  In those cases where detonation is a risk, spark plug indexing is of a proven benefit in that the flame front will not be split by a worst case scenario of the spark plug electrode being in a position to divide the flame path.  Indexing also allows the ground electrode or strap to be intentionally positioned away from the higher heat areas it would be subjected to if randomly placed closer to the piston and/or exhaust valve which can increase the propensity for pre-ignition.  In a normal situation where a set of spark plugs are randomly installed, the spark plug straps end up running at a variety of temperatures simply from the random placements of the straps.  In this case, indexing would provide a more accurate visual means towards optimizing jetting and ignition timing by eliminating potential variances in the spark plug readings themselves.  And if running a domed piston that’s marginally close to the spark plug, then indexing also helps in preventing the ground electrode from contacting the piston and potentially closing the gap.

 Because both the spark plug threads in the Y heads and the threads on the spark plugs themselves are randomly machined in relation to the ground electrode attachment, the spark plug strap orientation will also randomly install in a myriad of positions within the combustion chamber.  To install a sparkplug so that its ground electrode is in a specific position within the combustion chamber will require trying several spark plugs in a given hole until the desired orientation is achieved.  If the heads are off the engine, it’s simply a matter of observing the electrode position and trying different spark plugs in a particular hole until the electrode resides in the desired position when tightened (see Figs. 1&2).  If the heads are on the engine, then the spark plug porcelain can be marked with a magic marker stripe that aligns with the ground strap where it attaches to the base of the spark plug.  This spark plug is then installed and tightened in the various spark plug holes until the stripe or mark falls into the desired position (see fig. 3).  This process is continued until all the cylinders have an indexed spark plug specific to each cylinder.

It will not be unusual to use more than a full set of spark plugs in order to have enough to properly index all eight cylinders.  The spark plugs that will not index or align for a given set of heads can potentially work on another set of heads though so just label those as not fitting a specific set of heads so they are not re-ran through the same process at a later date on the same set of heads.

So just where is the optimum orientation of the electrode?.  For the Ford Y-Block, the electrode ground strap will be at the highest position in the combustion chamber where the center tip is fully exposed to the oncoming piston and the compressing fuel mixture.  If taken one step further, then the electrode strap will be angled slightly towards the intake valve so that the strap is intentionally placed further from the exhaust valve (see Figs. 1,2&3).  This promotes some additional cooling of the spark plug strap as the intake charge enters the cylinder while also keeping the strap itself again cooler by not being as close to the exhaust flow leaving the engine.  The opposing thought process to this is to angle the electrode attachment towards the exhaust valve to promote some additional intake air flow.  Regardless on what you decide for the final placement, just be consistent in the methodology or thought process that you use.

It ends up being quite an effort to go through the process of installing that first set of indexed spark plugs.  But there is a way to capture this information so that future changes of spark plugs can be made and properly indexed without having to go through the process of checking each spark plug in each respective spark plug hole again.  All that’s needed now is a fixture that the indexed spark plug from each cylinder can be installed in and the location of each ground strap attachment position is recorded on to indicate the cylinder for which it belongs.  What has been found to be expedient and not requiring a lot of fabrication is to simply use a spark plug anti-fouler (Fig. 4) as the basis for a tool to accomplish this.  In order to make this work, each indexed spark plug is removed from its respective cylinder in the heads, installed in the anti-fouler, and the location where the ground strap or electrode is attached to the spark plugs base is marked and recorded on the side of the anti-fouler.  Personal preference is to use a metal engraver to insure the marks are permanent.  To make it easier to see the spark plug’s ground strap, the hole in the bottom of the anti-fouler is made larger (Fig. 5 & 7).  The next time a set of spark plugs is needed, the new plugs are simply screwed into the ‘tool’ and by viewing the ground strap attachment, the ‘best fit’ cylinder number marked on the tools side will indicate exactly which cylinder will get that particular spark plug.  If the ground strap aligns perfectly with the mark, then you’ve got an exact fit.  Again, you’ll likely need more than eight spark plugs to make a ‘perfect’ set for your Y engine. When the tool has outlived the set of heads it was originally marked for, it can be simply remachined to give a new surface on which to mark a new set of spark plug locations.

Another ‘tool’ option is to simply take a flat piece of material and drill and tap it to accommodate a spark plug being screwed into it (Figs. 8,9,10).  The spark plugs that have already been indexed within a given pair of heads can then be removed one at a time from their respective cylinders, installed in this new tool, and the electrode strap locations marked on the tool as to the cylinder that particular spark plug belongs.  Like with using the anti-fouler, any new spark plugs can then be installed in this tool and you will know immediately for which cylinders the new spark plugs will be suitable for.

Now that you’ve made a tool to assist in indexing the spark plugs without having to actually install them in the heads, it becomes important to mark the heads so that they can be reinstalled on the engine without unknowingly swapping sides.  Heads can be marked L or R, DRV or PAS, or any other markings as long as they are sufficiently identified so they can be installed back on their original sides or banks which in turn keeps the cylinder numbering on the tool the same.  Because the Y heads are already left and right specific by lieu of the temperature sending unit and the blocked water ports at the back of the heads, not doing the labeling or marking is not a show stopper on a Y engine but can be a big consideration if doing this on other engine designs.  If the heads have been inadvertently swapped, the tool no longer works as originally labeled.  If you are indexing spark plugs for several engines, then mark the tool (or anti-fouler) as to the engine or the heads for which the tool belongs (Fig. 11).    Until next time, Ted Eaton

 Originally published in the Y-Block Magazine, May-June 2008 issue, Issue #86, Vol 15, No.3