Hey guys I have a 64' Ford F-100 has a tired 292 v8 in it. It's a father /son project, it will be his in a year when he gets his license. The motor runs good, very loud rockers, 10 pounds oil at idle 40 when driving, no smoke, still has power. I am concerned this motor will fail when he takes it on the freeway on a long drive, the lifters really are loud over 55 miles per hour. The motor shop wants like $4500 to re-bulid it, too much for us Po' folk. So I was thinking of buying a used Ford truck or car $1000.00 to $2000.00 with a good motor and swapping it out. I would like a motor that fits on the currant motor mounts and will bolt up to the 4 speed manuel trans, but not sure what motor would work? 302? 351? 390? I can't find any inexpensive 292 anywhere on the net. Any of your advice would be much appreciated!
Grease for peace
Steve

 

292 is about your only choice.

* Y blocks have adjustable solid lifters.

 

Google the overhead aftermarket rocker oiling system. The oil passage through the
heads is very small and gets plugged. Than you have little or no oil to the rockers.
I ran a T off the oil sending unit and another T after that. Than put a hole in each
rocker cover and put the hose from the sender on the outflow pipe of each rocker.
I had to put in a line restriction because at this point they got to much oil. And with
worn valve guide seals she smoked a lot. But slowing the flow down some worked well.
I put several thousand miles on that engine after that without any more mods.
There used to be an after market kit for this. I made my own. Was simple really.

 

Adjust the valves before you do anything. You will also know if she is getting oil to the rocker arms when you do the adjustment. The tread below is one of many one adjusting the valves. These are tough motors. I have one that smoked so bad and we put our used tractor oil in it. I drove it on the Interstate 250 miles to Atlanta, picked 1,000 puonds of stuff and drove home. Pretty sure I had it floored both ways. Drove it several years after that then gave it back to my brother-in-law.

Check the valvel lash and that it is getting oil to the top of the engine. oil pressure and no smoke is a good start.


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...alve-lash.html

 

Thanks guys for the responses. I am going to try to adjust the rockers today, both sides are getting oil, except the passenger side does not get as much as the drivers side. Is their a way I could clean out the oil tubes on the passenger side with a wire or something? The hose kit idea for the valve cover is great!
Thanks Steve

 

If you don't over rev or heat the motor, the chances of it failing are slim to none.

 

They can be cleaned, however it's a bit risky if the engine is very sludged up. How clean is the inside of the engine now? Pull the valley cover off, that will only cost you an intake gasket and a valley gasket and see how clean it is. If it isn't too clogged with sludge you can use one of the engine flushes to clean it up. If it has a ton of sludge , it gets riskey because you can break loose hunks of sludge and clog the intake screen on the oil pump.

 

Search this forum as well as the Y block forum on this site for tips on cleaning the engine sludge. I would physically get everything on the head while you have the covers off, including the stuff on the underside of the covers. Next, (which I still need to do) would be drop the oil pan and clean it to the metal. If these are bad you may want to pull the valley pan and clean it to.

The modern high detergent oils clean fairly well on there own. Diesel oils clean even better. Some swear a quart of auto tranny fluid is the best cleaner. Oil and transmission fluid should work slow enough to dissolve the sludge without clogging things up. Change it every time it gets black.

Also, these solid lifter motors need Zinc to last. Valoline ZR1 is what I use, Delo400 (not LE) would be my choice for a cleaning oil. Search the forum for oils. There is as many opinions on oil as there is on what makes a woman pretty. Just do not use the modern low emission blends for car engines as they are very low Zinc. Grab a straight 30 weight if you have to get a quart at the quicky mart, most 30 weights still have Zinc.

 

Thanks guys for the tips! I love this forum, it really helps me and my son. I pulled the valve covers as you guys suggested, and they are clean, no sludge or junk to be seen, they are black and a little gummy but no sludge on the covers or anywhere in the rockers at all. I have a friend coming over today to help me adjust the rockers, he insists that we do it while it is running, so I'll find out today if it works or not. I noticed that the only motor mounts on this 292 are one in the front under the crank pulley and the two connected to the transmission near the back. I think I could put a little 289 or 302 in there if need be by welding up a front bracket, however I am not sure if one of those motors would bolt up to the stock 4-speed trans on it? Too much fun man!!! Having a great time working the bugs out of this truck, my boy is learning some great stuff!

 

I know a lot of people scoff at adjusting the rockers while the engine is running, but I really enjoy doing it that way.

You get the benefit of listening to the engine as you adjust and in your case, you'll see first hand how well the engine is oiling the rockers.

It makes a bit of a mess, but it's just oil and if you clean it up right away, it's no big deal at all.

I had a friend bring over a slant six car one time that was running rough. He wasn't really mechanically inclined. I pulled the rocker cover and worked from front to back while it was running. It got better and better as I went along and by the time I got to the last rocker, it was purring like a little slant motor should.

 

Before condemning the 292, at least see if it will tune up!! Aargh!

The problem with hot adjustment is the way the exh. manifolds sweep upwards in a Y block, it's easier to get singed. It's a good idea to check the oiling and that none of the pushrods are bent.

Unless you have somebody to show how it's done by ear it doesn't seem practical for a first-timer to learn while running but I bet it works best if you do. Good and warmed up maybe after a highway run, OR, use the method that Walt Nuckels described works pretty good and no other tools required. A little bit loose is better than too tight.

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Ok...yesterday I adjusted the rockers, now she sounds great! No more chatter! I tightened the loose ones while it was off, so they just had a little movement, then hand cranked the motor until the other valves popped up and did the same. Then I started it, and listened to each section of the rockers with a long handled screw driver to my ear, then adjusted it a little more. I made sure all the push rods were still turning and then that was it! Easier than i thought it was, I might have a couple of them too tight, going to do it once more again today, because the engine now sounds like it has a slight miss in it now, but I was wondering if this might work it self out once they get a little loose again? Anyhow, a world of difference man! Thanks to all for your advice.
Steve

 

Too tight is not good for oiling or valve cooling. I tighten down till you can not twist the push rod with oily fingers (0 lash) then loosened 16 minutes, i.e 1/4 turn plus one minute. 15 minutes if you have high lift rockers which is unlikely. I pretend there is a clock dial on my hand. Quick and accurate.

Mine takes a few miles to settle in after an adjustment. Not sure why but it does.

 

Ideally you want to have at least a rough plan when you do this to save time. What I mean by that, some (most?) engine tuning practices have to be done in a certain order.

Once you adjust valves it's a good idea to check/set float level, reset the initial timing, and the idle mixture on he carb. A vacuum gage works slick here, because you get the big picture on your tuning in 30 seconds. Valve timing and the ignition timing and ring wear will show up as the total vacuum inches at idle. On a healthy 292 with a stock cam it will spread say from 17 to 19, steady without too much advance. If you've never adjusted valves before, and the vacuum were to drop after, you'd want to reconsider the adjustment.

THEN you can make a better decision on whether there really is a miss in the idle? If the valve lash was off considerable then the other parts of the tuning will be affected quite a bit.

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Other than potentially the loud valves, it sounds like you have no problems. You can do a compression test and/or leakdown test to verify. 10psi at idle and 40 at cruise is just fine for the street. It may have a few miles but it's probably not really rebuild time.

$4500 is a rip off for the average rebuild of a 292. In the neighborhood of $2500 is more realistic. Check with other shops. Now, if you were also talking about more power and therefore more involved work, then $4500 may not be bad.

Since it does seem to generally run good, enjoy it! Take time to learn about it and acquire some good factory parts and put together a better 292 that will eat most small blocks for lunch and get better mileage doing it - it's not hard to do with a 292.

Other thoughts, since it is for your son (even if it was for you) and he will be on the freeway, you have more pressing matters, brakes, steering, and suspension. Those need to be tip-top before anything with the engine or driveline is done.