http://i1373.photobucket.com/albums/...psd6msrzc9.jpg

I was originally planning on just pulling the carb and rebuilding it then attempting to start her this weekend by hooking a tank up straight to the carb....got curious after i got it off so I popped off the driver side cover and here's what I see...I do have more pics in my photobucket....

 

Yes, seen worse and seen better. Nice to see another 56f250

 

Glad to hear you've seen worse!....how do you recommend I clean it up? Pull it out or do you think I should spray/scrub with everything still intact?

 

 

Thanks panelman...posted this up from my phone so the pic was being stubborn! Any suggestions on what cleaner i should use without having to take everything off all the way to the shaft??

 

That looks like one that had the "birdies under the valve cover" (no oil) and then put away dry.
I would tear the engine down and examine thoroughly, see what shape it is in. Looks like later rockers than a '56.

 

You need to clean all that out at a minimum. Pull the rocker assembly, clean out the head completely, make sure the oil passages in the rocker assembly are clear, oil everything up, and put the rocker assembly back on. Repeat on other head. Pull intake and valley pan and clean there too. Pull pan to make sure it isn't equally crudded up.

 

Thanks for confirming it guys....I was hoping for a simpler "run some heavy oil and seafoam through her and she'll be fine" but knew that wouldn't be the case!....so much for just trying to crank her up this weekend =)

 

If it were me I would wire brush the crud off the rockers, clean out the areas around the valves as good as possible, use some solvent and flush it down the oil returns, and then clean out the oil pan. Assuming that the motor is still free, freshen up the ignition parts as needed, put in some fresh gas and then it's time to light it off.
I say this because the rocker shaft still looks good and there is probably still oil trapped under the rockers and valves...not nearly as bad as it could be. Any gunk in the cylinders will blow out in short order. What do you have to lose? If it fires up and runs without smoking out the neighbors, great....if it doesn't then what have you lost? I have seen people at car meets take engines like this and hold a raffle to see who can guess how long it will run with no oil...many times the ticket holders go home before the engine finally blows.

 

I have to wonder what the lifter valley, cylinders, and crankcase look like. Do you have a borescope? Y-blocks' oiling problems were (AFAIK) ultimately caused by plugged oil passages, so a complete vatting and inspection might be prudent. Depends how much life you want to get out of the engine, and of course, what your budget is.

 

I'm not sure what you're asking....... Will it run? probably, will it make a 1,000 mile trip? Probably not,

I can guarantee that even with some sea foam or solvent the rockers will be starved for oil.

The rocker shaft assemblies need removed and totally disassembled. The hollow tubes will be FULL of crud! Even then the head passage may be plugged requiring the removal of the heads to repair/clean

Once everything is spic and span clean these engines with todays oils will never have the same problems they had back then.