i am having trouble deciding what to do....
1. rebuild my 292 with better quality performance parts
2. get something bigger that would fit the same Trans...if possible..

my 292 runs great but i want more from her.. i just upgraded the intake to a 4bbl and a new carb.... and now i want more power.

 

Rams horns (or headers) running dual exhaust will help. A cam change, and higher compression will probably get you where you want to be. I'd stick with the Y block for a couple reasons.

The truck engines were considerably detuned by the end of the run, 64 was the last year for Y block in US, it's true. They are low compression engines, not performance oriented.

The problem with the early 60s slicks though is they are completely different than later trucks and don't as easily lend themselves to engine swaps. It's doable of course but requires some fabrication and such. Not a bolt on deal by any means. Nothing sounds better than a well tuned Y block in my opinion.

Have you recurved the stock distributor, btw? That will really wake up any motor. Cheap, too.

 

Nothing else will fit the same transmission. So an engine swap means a transmission swap, too.

'64 is about the worst year for a Y-Block and it is not the engine that Y-Block performance should be judged by.

Y-Blocks are producing over 500hp naturally aspirated now. Might even see more impressive numbers with Jon Kaase building one for engine masters this year and Ted Eaton showing up for a 3rd time with a Y at Engine Masters.

How much power are you after?
Up to about 300hp is easy. 300 to 450 is not too much more difficult. Around 500 is probably about the borderline between streetable and race only, so anything more than that for the street is probably best to achieve with boost or, yes, a bigger engine family.

And the Y produces lots of torque for it's size. It is hard to match that with a similar displacement, and in some cases larger displacement engine from another family.

 

i do have headers on it but they are not Rams horns..
i think up to 300 hp would be nice since a stock 292 is about 200ish assuming...
so it appears that i should stick with my 292and add better parts and upgrade the distributer?

 

I would be surprised at 300 hp out of a 292 unless you go to some of the Blue Thunder upgrades and modified fuel delivery. Even the dual 4bbl 312's were only rated at about 270 hp and the supercharged 312's were about 290 hp...that's my recollection, others may correct the numbers. Anyway, those numbers were probably exaggerated by FOMOCO at the time. Now, I do agree with Charlie that Eaton could probably help you achieve the higher numbers, but you're talking about a full-on race build and the cost that goes with it.

 

Let me speak from a lot off experience here fresh of a 292 engine swap. I ended up putting a 400 in it for due to the fact that i had two available and the t18 transmission matches the original t98 housing almost exactly.

Here is what i had to change as NOTHING will bolt directly in:

1. New motor and trans mounts (also will likely require moving the brake lines).

2. Heavily modified clutch linkage (ball studs for the clutch arm are no longer available so if yours are bad you'll have to fab new ones)

3. Completely new exhaust system, your head pipes can end up in weird spots with the way the old engine was mounted if you arnt careful

4. Rewire from the original generator to a Alternator system.

5. Rewire of the resisted ignition 12v power lead (if you go to a more modern ignition like HEI)

6. Shorten the drive shaft to the rear axle or T-case if 4x4.

My thoughts after the process:
Rebuilding the 292 would have been extremely easier in all ways and if you are just driving around town I'd probably do that or just leave it as is. Find some normal manifolds and run dual exhaust though, those original 292 ones crack all the time. The power and parts availability of the new engine is easily noticeable in my case but being a f250 and 4x4 we may be after different end goals.

Basically if you cannot fabricate or do not have access (a lot of it) to someone who can, then it isnt really possible. 292s were semi heavy, most newer v8s, even a larger displacement will weigh less.

 

i do have a new intake from mummerts....
i am not trying to race at all so going 400+hp is just tooo much...

so i guess i will stick with stock and upgrade a new/used 292..... new distributer... and what other type of upgrades do i need to get to 300ish

 

Well, yeah, you do have to upgrade the intake and modify fuel delivery. You're only going to get so far with a factory manifold and carb on any engine. That's not at all a Y-Block only thing.
That said, the factory iron manifold is capable of 250-300hp with some pretty basic modifications you can do at home, so an aftermarket manifold is not a necessity at that level.

The E-code were rated at 270hp and 285hp and the F-code, 300hp. An acquaintance of mine built an F-code clone as close as possible to factory specs, even reproducing parts where necessary, and it produced nearly 380hp on the dyno.
I don't know of anyone who has done the same with an E-code to see how it stacks up against Ford's claim.

Another acquaintance has recently built a 292 using Mummert parts and it produced 290hp on the dyno with stock '57 dual exhaust manifolds. There is nothing particularly special about it, typical overbore, stock stroke, unported G heads, stock 1.54:1 rocker arms, Mummert intake, domed pistons, bigger cam. It's an engine the average Joe can put together in his garage. He's using headers in his car and the 570 Holley used for the dyno pull and currently on the car is really too small for that engine. So with the headers and the option of a bigger carb, it easily has over 300hp potential.

My engine is essentially a modified E-code. I don't have hp numbers, but I do have 1/4 mile performance figures. My best 1/4 mile so far is 15.26 @ 91mph. That was about this time last year. I know that's not particularly quick, but considering that I have no traction to launch, only street tires and an open diff at this point, and the gearing is all wrong, that is pretty good. I do have traction bars but all they really do right now is eliminate hopping. The lack of traction and gearing is reflected in the 60', my best is 2.428. 1/8 is 9.87 @ 72.88 mph. I've done some more fine tuning in the past year and am shooting for 14s this year. I'm also running a 570. I have a 670 I will try but that will be after I evaluate the changes I've already made...

...And that brings me to another point, if you're going to modify an engine, you need to learn how to tune it. You can leave lots of power on the table with a poor tune. Of course, this is applicable to every engine.

I know of one engine that Ted built for street use and used pump gas that was stroked to 352ci and produced 502hp on the dyno. For some reason, the owner let me drive it, a black T-Bird. I really have no business behind 500hp at this point. I'm not afraid to admit that. It has a surprisingly smooth idle and was fun to drive. It was more than I'd like for the street because you couldn't mosey on out off idle, you just had to go until it reached about 2000rpm Then you could drive it "normally" and it was quite nice from there. And, in fact, the owner has tamed it with a slightly smaller cam, so he seems to have had the same feeling.
So, I don't know what you refer to as the higher numbers, but a 300-450hp Y done right should be real nice for the street and does not have to be full-on race. Expensive? Certainly, more power = more money, on any engine.

By the way, The Y-block shootout is Labor Day weekend, just over a week away at National Trail Raceway near Columbus, OH. I'll be there, most likely with my truck, and the cars I've spoke about should be as well, so if anyone thinks anything I've said is BS, you can come see me put my money where my mouth is, so to speak.
If you want inspiration about building a Y, that is the event to attend. We need more trucks to show up and participate.

 

Scroll down to passenger car engine info.

 

My best suggestion is to call Mummert, tell him what you want out of it and take his suggestions.

You already have the Mummert intake and some headers and those are a great start.

Basically, you need a bigger cam and more compresion. If you'd be ok with closer to 250hp, your current heads will probably be ok but to get closer to 300, you need '57-'59 big valve castings, ecz-g or 5752-113.
Anything more than that probably isn't necessary, but certainly will help.

 

Actually, the first thing you should do before building a Y is to determine what you have. A Y-Block powered vehicle is over 50 years old now and could have had anything done and any number of parts swapped. So first, go to Johns tech section of his site, ford-y-block.com and look at the head and block id sections. Once you know what you have, you can formulate a plan to reach your goal - There's no sense in buying big valve heads if you already have them.

 

my current stock 292 runs great except when u stomp on the gas it coffs because carb is not adjusted 100% correctly... too much gas.. not enough gas.. too much air...not enough air.... shoot i dont know....

but my plan is to get another block from an Old farm truck thats has not run in some time... get it to a machine shop and have them DOWORK.. as i dont have the knowledge or tools..... another option i was thikinhg was getting a crate motor and replacing some parts for more power..

 

Unless you have a local shop which is good with old stuff (basically anything before OBD ports, perhaps even before computers, period) and actually knows how to diagnose and tune them, I strongly recommend you just bite the bullet, acquire tools, and learn how to work on your own stuff. This goes for the Y-block, small blocks, big blocks, anything, if a computer cannot be plugged in, learn to do it for yourself. You may be fortunate and have a local shop that is good with that stuff, but they are few and far between.

Re the crate motor, you mean a remanufactured Y-Block? I do not recommend that for any kind of performance build. The remanufacturers don't know a thing about the engines and you can get all kinds of mismatched parts. You'll probably also end up spending more than you would upgrading it than if you simply have all of the work done by a local shop because the reman engine will be far from ideal for your goal - you're probably better off getting your current engine properly tuned.

Taking that farm truck motor to be built is the best bet since you will know what is in it and you can keep the truck on the road.

 

Should be an easy fix. Y blocks and engines from this era are about as simple as it gets. Get a vacuum gauge on it and you can get it tuned up.

 

I was just catching up on this whole thread here and this suggestion peaked my interest. Is this something a backyard mechanic (like myself) can handle? Or does it need to be modified by a shop with special tools? Has anyone written a tech article about it here on the FTE site?