Neoprene Rear Seal Installation for the Y (and others)

  Y-Blocks would appear to have garnered a reputation for marking their territory when sitting still and so one of the most often asked questions is how to stop those pesky oil leaks at the rear of the engine.  Because most of these are in the area of the rear main oil seal, I’ll go through the steps I take to insure that the back end of the engine is buttoned up securely during the rebuild thereby minimizing any oil leaks from this area.  Because I use the rubber or neoprene rear main seals exclusively in those Y buildups that I do, I’ll only go into detail on using these seals and not the ‘rope’ style of seal.  While neoprene seals are available from several gasket manufacturers for the 272/292 engines, only Best Gasket offers a made to fit neoprene rear seal for the larger mained 312 engine. Continue reading “Neoprene Rear Seal Installation for the Y (and others)”

Altering Rocker Arm Ratio By Varying The Length Of The Pushrods

A unique feature with the shaft mounted rocker arms such as those found on the Y-Block (as well as the FE, MEL,  and LYB) Ford engines is that the solid lifter or lash adjusting versions can be measurably variable in the rocker arm ratio depending upon where the lash adjusting screw is positioned within its range of travel. Continue reading “Altering Rocker Arm Ratio By Varying The Length Of The Pushrods”