I'm in the process of rebuilding my 272 from my 57 F100. The thrust bearing put a nice groove into the crankshaft. The engine is worn but no major problems. I bought from John Mummert the basic overhaul kit for the 292 plus a cam, springs and push rods. I'm getting the crank fixed, valves done and getting the block bored to 292.

Am I missing anything important and what should I watch out for when putting it all back together.

I have a 3 speed on the column and took it apart it's shot. Need help with new case and gears haven't had any luck finding parts. Would like to keep original style or go to a floor shifter

 

I ran into problems with the timing set being way off. I eventually went with a RollMaster timing chain. I'm so glad that I check on that because it was way off.

Be sure to install the main caps correctly. In particular, make sure the thrust clearance is enough and perform the procedure for pushing the crank forward, then backward to get the thrust bearing and its cap located in the block before you tighten the bolts.

I just ruined a block because my torque wrench was out of calibration. That was an expensive lesson. If you got your parts from Mummert, then you probably got the good pistons with the extra piston height. You want close to a zero deck to get the heads to work well. BTW, what heads to you have?

How are the rocker shafts? Are your rocker shafts the 1.54 type? Should be. There's lots of details to a Y-block. Are you using the stock cam?

I bought a rifle/shotgun cleaning kit so that I would have the little brass wire brushes to use for cleaning the oil passages. I used a die grinder to round off some of the sharp corners in the oil passages to help with oil flow

Installing the front cover is a trick. In order to get the front seal to align with the crankshaft I took the engine off the engine stand and set it on the floor with the front of the engine up. Then I carefully installed the timing cover making sure that the seal was centered on the crank. I used blocks of wood under the block to get the clearance for the crank's hub. BTW, check the surfaces of the timing cover surfaces on the block. Some of mine were corroded and were possible sources of leaks.

I did some work with a die grinder and sandpaper rolls to smooth certain parts of the timing cover to help with water flow/reduce cavitation.

Take the oil pump pickup tube apart and clean it carefully. Even after hot-tanking, mine has sludge in it. Consider buying a new screen for the pickup.

One of my oil pump hex drive shafts was twisted. If you bought a high volume pump, you'll want a beefier oil pump drive shaft.

Use GM EOS, or STP oil treatment, or WalMart Tech lube with ZDDP to lube your cam when you install it.

Don't try to port the cylinder heads, but do back-cut the intake valves and do round the outer edges of the exhaust valves to improve low-lift flow.

Good luck.

 

Watch the installation of the head gaskets. When installed properly there will be a little tab sticking out on the top front corner.

Watch the head bolts as they are not all the same length.

Read up on the timing chain install as its not like a normal install.

Need to check what your total lift will be with the new cam. Over .450" lift there may be valve seal to guide contact, I had my guide posts machined down .100"

I have 57-60 3speed transmissions I'll sell $100.00

Let me know,
Bigwin56f100 @ yahoo . com (put email all together)

 

Why not? Just curious.

 

Y-block heads have excellent flow as-is. Flow numbers up to .400" of lift are better than stock Windsor heads. Stock cams for the Y-block have a maximum lift of .400", so the cams are a perfect match for the flow of the heads.

The only thing I would do is to smooth off the edges made by the valve seat cutter, and then round off the outer edge of the exhaust valve and the inner edge of the intake valve to help with low-lift flow.

 

The heads can be ported, but only by an expert in Y-blocks. The gains are in the high rpm numbers, and not really an advantage for most y-block owners/drivers. If they are ported by someone not familiar with their design, low end perfomance can really suffer. Bottom line is for most of us, porting is not cost effective.