Category: Y-Block

Degreeing in the camshaft – Part I – Finding TDC

Part of the blueprinting process during any engine buildup will include degreeing in the camshaft. This operation is performed to insure the camshaft is phased or installed at the desired position in relation to the piston sitting at TDC. While degreeing in the camshaft during its installation may seem to be an activity reserved just for the race engines, the fact remains that it’s just as important on the daily driver applications as it is for high performance engines.

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Degreeing in the camshaft – Part II – Phasing the camshaft

Part I of this article went into detail as how to find exact TDC. With that now behind us, the actual process of checking the camshaft and how it is currently phased within the engine can begin. For this, a 1.000” travel dial indicator will be required that can measure the up and down motion of the lifters. While the number one cylinder is customarily the cylinder of choice in which to check the camshaft, any cylinder can be used to degree in the camshaft once TDC has been found for that cylinder. In fact, later in this operation another cylinder will be checked in which to both verify the results obtained off of the first cylinder check and also insure that the camshaft is at least consistent in values on two different cylinders. For now, the number one cylinder will be used as a reference.

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Degreeing In the camshaft – Part III – It’s twelve pins between the marks for the Ford Y

Most camshaft timing sets for the Ford Y family of engines (239/256/272/292/312) requires that there be twelve pins between the timing marks on the sprockets and for those marks to be on the oil filter side of the engine when doing the initial chain installation. The exception here is that this only applies to Y engines that actually use a timing chain and does not apply to right hand or reverse rotation marine engines that use a gear to gear setup. While the Y is not the only engine to use the pin or link count between gear marks to time the camshaft, most V8 engine families simply align the timing marks on the cam gear and crank gear with the centerline of the engine. Due to the infrequency of engine manufacturers using the pin or link count for camshaft timing, it does leave the door open for mishaps by those not familiar with this.

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Hopping Up The 272

Although there were a multitude of Ford 272 Y-Block engines used in both cars and trucks, they are pretty much disregarded as the basis for a high performance build and for that matter, as a replacement engine when a 292 or 312 is available instead.  While building a high performance 272 Y has been on the ‘like to do’ list for awhile, it has been a hard sell when the larger Y engines simply make those higher power numbers much easier to come by.  That all changed recently when a customer wanted to use the original 272 block from their 1956 Ford pickup as the basis for a new engine in that same truck. In this instance, they wanted modern performance upgrades applied to it including a pair of Mummert aluminum heads.

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Unported Iron Heads Can Still Make Over A HP To The Cubic Inch

By using just the right combination of parts, exceeding that magic 1HP to cubic inch ratio is indeed possible while still doing it with a pair of unported iron Ford Y-Block heads. The key here is in using a modern piston ring design and maximizing the compression ratio while still being able to have an engine that will run on available pump gasoline.  Not to be left out are the intake, carburetor, camshaft, and cylinder head choices which are also just as important.

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Stock Ford Y build or modified? Here are two different approaches.

I was recently given the opportunity to rebuild a pair of Ford 292 Y-Block engines with each going into 1963 F100 pickups.  While both engines started life out as 1963 two barrel pickup engines, one was a restoration project while the other was to be a mildly hopped up version.  The engine for the restoration pickup was to be built as close to stock as possible while the other engine was to use the normal performance upgrades such as four barrel intake and carburetor, larger valved heads, and a better than stock camshaft.

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Oil Viscosity and Its Effect On Engine Power

It’s pretty well known that engine oil with a higher rated viscosity tends to rob power from the flywheel end of the engine. It’s this mentality that has the new car manufacturers using lighter weight engine oils in which to increase the fuel efficiency of their engines as well as pick up some additional power.

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Hi-Volume Oil Pump For the Y

Although I normally wouldn’t advocate a high volume oil pump for a run of the mill Y block (1954-1964 Ford 239, 256. 272, 292, 312), I did run into a situation where the use of one would at least be a temporary fix until a new engine could be built to replace the current one.  Continue reading “Hi-Volume Oil Pump For the Y”

Y-Block Ford – Dual Quad Testing on Aluminum Heads – Part II

With the iron 113 heads on the dyno mule, the Edelbrock #257 2X4 intake that had been ported by Joe Craine did exceed those numbers generated by the stock Mummert intake and single four barrel carb combination.  Now it was time to install the aluminum heads on the 312+ dyno mule and see how those same dual quad manifolds would fare. Continue reading “Y-Block Ford – Dual Quad Testing on Aluminum Heads – Part II”