Eaton Balancing

The 2009 EMC competition is now history.  The Y engine that was taken to the competition was the 375 inch version that was far from being a reality when September 1^st rolled around.  The 4” crank and 6.750” long rods from the previously wounded 4″X4″ Y engine were used in the 375 incher along with the cam and lifters.  Diamond Pistons came through with a set of custom pistons to fill a 3.859” bore and a pair of Total Seal 1.2mm rings with a 3.0mm oil ring sealed each piston to its respective bore.  This engine had good peak numbers on the dyno but the overall score was down due to the oem iron heads being a serious bottle neck in the higher rpms.  Just too much cubic inch for these heads.  Now I know.

With the 375” engine assembled by September 19^th, it was put on the dyno and some serious testing commenced.  Seven different intake manifolds were tested along with a variety of carburetors, carb spacers and rocker arms.  Also tested was a pair of headers with one set being off of my ‘23T altered roadster and the other being a set of stepped headers supplied by Jerry Christenson and Royce Brechler.  The final engine combination used the new Mummert intake manifold with a Holley 950HP (834 cfm actual) and the stepped headers with 1.75/1.875” tubes feeding into a modified 3½” collector and then the mufflers.  Metal Finishing Services (Church Brothers) provided the Jet Hot coating for the headers.  An electric water pump design was also finalized and used.  By the time the testing was completed, the dyno was showing 462-464HP and 446-449s/ft torque peak values through the mufflers for the combination that was being taken to the competition.  Not too shabby for a 10.1:1 compression ratio and on pump gas.  Of special note is a 1050 cfm Holley Dominator carb was tried and to my surprise, the torque values jumped up significantly.  There just wasn’t enough time in that last week of thrashing to build a rules specific carb spacer/adapter to work out that particular combination but the engine definitely likes more carb than what I was taking.

With all the testing behind me, the engine was crated and made ready for shipment.  By luck of the draw, the Y would make its qualifying pulls early on Thursday October 8^th which meant I could take it to the competiton myself rather than have it shipped in advance.  As a result, I get the engine to the EMC site (University of Northwestern Ohio) in Lima, Ohio on Tuesday by noon.  It was required to be there by no later than 5PM or it would not be eligible to run.  On Wednesday, the engine was installed on a docking cart and is hooked up to the dyno later that evening in preparation of being the first up the following morning in that particular dyno cell.  Thursday morning the engine hookups are finalized and the engine is ready to start and run for a timing and carb check.  I’ll add at this point that the crew members for this adventure also included Jody Orsag, Harry Hutten, Jerry Christenson, and Royce Brechler.  The Y was indeed being very well represented and was the perfect crew for the occaision.

There were some issues with the carburetor fuel line prior to startup on Thursday morning and the spare I had brought along was installed.  That could have been a show stopper but someone upstairs was looking out for us.  Once that was resolved, the engine fired right up and idled cleanly at 900 rpms.  Timing is checked at 3500 rpms and is sitting at 39° total.  Perfect!  After the prerequisite five minute warmup period where both the oil and water temperatures are brought to 160°F, the engine then makes three back to back warm up pulls from 3000 to 7000 rpms.  At that point the engine is shut off and the team has five minutes to decide on what tuning changes can be made in the allotted twenty minute tuneup period.  Prior to installing the carb on the engine the previous day, We had rejetted the carb up to 77/89 jets whereas it had been 75/87 jets on its last dyno pull in Texas.  Looking at the data from the warmup pulls, the Y team decides the engine would like more jetting.  The plan was to simply change the jets, make a short pull, re-evaluate the data, and make another jet change if necessary in the allotted twenty minute tuneup period.  Didn’t quite work out that way.  The bowls were pulled and the jets were changed out but upon repressurizing the fuel system, the rear float wasn’t holding the fuel and fuel poured out of the rear carb vent into the engine.  The bowl was pulled again, float moved around and reinstalled.  Same problem and more fuel into the engine.  Team members go to both sides of the engine and start pulling all the spark plugs while I pull the rear bowl once more but this time I remove the needle seat assembly from the bowl and blow it out.  I reinstall the bowl assembly back on the carb with the float level eyeballed in place and this time it holds the fuel when pressure is applied.  At this point, the engine is spun over with the plugs out and there’s a bunch of fuel coming out of cylinders on each bank.  As soon as the fuel is cleared from the cylinders, the spark plugs go back in and the plug wires are hooked back up.  There’s no time to double check the rear float level so I instruct the dyno operator to start the engine, make a cleanout rev on the engine and then a 3000 to 4500 rpm dyno pull.  This is done and upon shutting down the engine, there are only 90 seconds remaining in our tuneup period.  The pressure was definitely on for a bit but all is looking better now.  A quick look at the short pull data shows an increase in power so it looks like a good call on the jet change.  It’s a good thing as We are now officially out of time.

At the end of the twenty minute tuneup session, the engine is restarted, allowed to warm back up, and then go into three more back to back 3000 to 7000 rpm pulls.  These are the qualifying pulls and the ones that count.  Jerry calls them the money pulls.  Did I forget to mention that the dyno permits the engines to over-rev to 7400-7500 rpms on each pull?  I wasn’t really excited about that but the team members as well as the spectators were starting to cringe.  I had already increased the over the nose valve spring pressure from 330 lbs to 388 lbs during the course of my own testing to insure that the rpm capability would not be compromised. The engine makes the three required back to back pulls and I then give the dyno operator instructions on how to shut it down.  A quick look at the data shows that the jet change was still a good call as the engine is now peaking at 433 horsepower and 416 torque.  At this point, I’m taken to a side room where the score is tabulated and I sign off on a 1949.8 score.  Yes!!!  We’re ahead of a 426 Hemi with dual quads and two other engines that couldn’t complete their qualifying runs.  Mission accomplished.  We’re not in last place and as Jerry says “Just a few spots out of first”.

The rest of the day is spent watching the remaining competitors run their engines.  The top six from the four days of running will run again on Friday for the money.  Jon Kaase ultimately wins the competition on Friday with the 403 cid Ford engine he won it with last year and his other engine (a 511 cubic inch Boss engine) comes in sixth.  Second place comes in 1.4 points behind first so it was a close race for first.  A mid Fifties Hemi (360 CID) comes in third place overall and was indeed impressive with its rows of Weber carbs doing their job.

Of special note is all the competitors were getting lower numbers at the competition than seen on their own dynos.  Some of the competitors were commenting that they were down at this event by over 100 horsepower.  Our Y entry ended up being over 30 HP down from what I was seeing at my shop.  Not a major concern as everyone is in the same boat on this one but this did create some speculation as to why the differences.  A possible consideration and falling into the equation is that it essentially rained each day of the competition.  Although the air was cooler, it was definitely saturated with moisture.

The engine oil and fuel was provided at the competition.  I had already tested and tuned the engine at the shop with the sample of 91 octane fuel that had been sent to me.  The oil used during my own testing was Valvoline 20W-50 racing oil.   At the competition, Valvoline was not on the selection list so I used Lucas 20W-50 full synthetic racing oil along with some Lucas zinc additive that was available.  It was interesting that the oil pressure was about 10 lbs less with the full synthetic than with the Valvoline although both were the same rated viscosities.  At this point the oil pressure difference could reside in either the oil itself, a difference in sensor readings between the two dynos, or the oil temperature.  There will be more testing later to determine exactly what is going on in this regard.

In looking at the other engines in the competition, the Y entry was the only engine present with oem iron heads.  All other competitors were using some form of aftermarket aluminum head.  Roller camshafts were also very prevalent and if the Y wasn’t the only one with a flat tappet camshaft, then it was difinitely in the minority.  When the Popular Hot Rodding and Engine Masters Magazine articles hits the newstands starting in January, more details on the competitors engines will be available.

On Friday, We recrate and load the engine and the second crate of parts back into the truck and prepare for the trip home.  After the awards ceremony later in the afternoon, Jody and I jump into the truck and start putting some miles between us and Lima, Ohio.  Harry, Royce, and Jerry have already headed home long before this.  And of course it’s still raining.  After spending the night in Southern Illinois, We use up Saturday travelling back to Texas and get home after the sun has set.  All in all, a very good trip.  Special thanks again to all that helped make this happen!!

Originally published in the Y-Block Magazine, Nov-Dec 2009, Issue #95.

The Holley 94 and 2100 two barrel carbs came as the standard equipment 2 barrel carbs on the 1938 thru 1956 Fords.  When converting the distributors on the Y-Block Ford engines from the original Load-O-Matic (LOM) design to the later model Ford (1957 and up) distributors, the Holley 94′s original distributor vacuum port for the distributor will supply an excess of negative pressure or vacumm signal to the late model distributors.  The original Holley 94/2100 carb port design uses an anti-spark valve as well as a speed sensing venturi port and a ported vacuum signal just above the throttle blades to provide the proper vacuum signal to the original LOM distributors.  All three of these work in unison to supply a vacuum signal to the distributor even at full throttle with the LOM system.  This is a good thing for a LOM distributor equipped vehicle but a bad thing for the later model distributors.

The LOM distributors did not incorporate a centrifugal advance and relied solely on the vacuum signal supplied by the carburetor in which to maintain the proper advance curve under a variety of driving conditions.  When using these carbs with the later model distributor which incorporates both a centrifugal and vacuum advance system, hooking up the vacuum advance without any carb modifications will provide an excess of vacuum signal to the distributor’s vacuum advance chamber at both idle and full throttle.  This in turn creates tuning and drivabilty issues as well as increasing the propensity for detonation.  Here is a pictorial in which to convert the Holley 94′s and 2100′s so that only a ported vacuum signal is supplied to the distributor and in turn makes this older model carburetor function similar to the ’57 and up carbs in both performance and fuel economy.

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 while a gasoline 272 Y was used in the F-100 until 1977.  Ford kept the 272 engine on large trucks until 1980 with these running on alcohol.  These 272 alcohol engines are rare though as they are high compression and as alcohol fuel became priced closer to gasoline in the mid eighties, the engines were swapped out for either gasoline or diesel engines of other makes. 

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 the 375 cubic inch combination in the 2009 & 2010 Engine Masters Challenge competitions.

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.