Hey all, I'm looking to build a nice street car.. I want to keep ford in my ford so I was thinking of trying to find a y-block. I could go the 351w route, but that's too normal for me. I want unique.. So my question is who made/makes intakes and headers? Factory head can be woke up....

 

That depends on what your needs/wants are. As far as headers, Sanderson, Jerry Christenson, & Red's Headers all make sets. Jerry's are custom built & expensive but good.

Early aftermarket intakes are fairly common but of varying quality; the best tripower seems to be the Edelbrock 357, & E-brock also had a two four barrel manifold, which is really too much for most Y's; you will have to do a lot of work to get sufficient booster signal. There are also factory Ford dual 4bbls (rare, pricey, & use the old Holley teapots).

The best overall units are either the late Ford four barrel intakes with the Holley pattern, or the Blue Thunder aluminum version which is basically the Ford unit, improved; it runs about $350. The Ford manifolds are fairly common. The Offy tripower is still available but fits early heads, & has poor mixture distribution (IMHO).

Cams & valvetrain pieces are offered by a number of companies, as well as ignitions, water pumps, dress-up, etc.

Factory heads can be made to work well with the Y. Since the max size is about 350 ci, give or take, & it takes a ton of work & cash to achieve that, factory heads can work. Much more common & cheaper would be combinations based on a simple overbore 272, 292, and, to a lesser extent, the 312. The 312s often have cracked blocks or cranks, so be cautious about buying. 292s are very common, but determine whether or not it is a HD truck 292, or a pass car 292, as the piston/rod lengths differ, & using a HD rod with a passenger piston will leave the piston way too low. Low compression is an issue for all Y's, but hypereutectic pistons are available with increased compression height to help this. Do your setup correctly & the C heads will work fine for the street & are common. The Z heads & 113s are expensive, usually, and fairly rare.

An excellent source of parts & general info is http://www.ford-y-block.com/index.html This is owned by John Mummert, who has done a great deal to keep these engines popular. Red's Headers can also supply parts. Basic stuff is still readily available from NAPA.

Hope it helps, Mike

 

Actually yes is does.. I found red's website earlier and bookmarked it.. I'm wanting to build a mild y-block for either a model a or t.... Not sure yet. It seems like everyone is either stuffin 289/302s in em, or a SBC.... I want different...

 

If you want a nice 3 deuce setup check out http://www.vintagespeed.com/ Pricey but real nice eye candy. Also www.rodncustom.com has some y-block parts.

My Y-block has 2110 carbs from Vintage Speed on a Weiand manifold with aircleaner cover and progressive linkage from rodncustom and headers from Red's. It is in my avatar and my gallery. Plan to add a Mallory Unilite dist that is mechanical advance only so vacuum port is not needed. Also got some nice rocker arms and shafts from Red's. He rebuilds them better than new with bronze bushings on a hard chrome steel shaft. Get the 1.54 ratio stock rockers or you can go with 1.6 rollers for a lot more money at www.ford-y-block.com.
I had my cam reground at Red's and he sends them out to Schneider Racing Cams for about $99.

I had a set of the -113 heads rebuilt locally with new springs from www.ford-Y-block.com. Lucked into a pair that were on a complete engine and trans I found local for $120. If you can find a truck engine from 1962 to 1964 you will get the last 292 block casting Ford used and it will be setup to use a PCV valve.

I saw a Y-block in a roadster in one of the car mags a while back. It was on the front cover. Offy makes finned aluminum valve covers and there are always some cheapy chrome covers on eBay.

Also check out www.y-blocksforever.com

 

You can also take off a few y-block pounds with a mini hi-torque starter from www.autoelec.com, and put on an aluminum flywheel.

 

I like to hear about building Y-blocks. They're definitely different.

This question comes up so often, we should make a FAQ about it.

You can't easily get more than about 320 cubic inches from a Y, so the stock heads will work fine. I'd get the -113 heads. I see them sell on ebay for less than $200. If you get the ECZ-G heads, get the 'posted' variety. Be patient and a good set of heads will come to you. Me, I've been buying ECZ-C heads for my projects; a truck and a 55 Vicky. If I ever find a good 312 crank, I'll use ECZ-A heads for that engine.

Get a good, late 50's 292 block. I'd get either the ECZ-A 292 or the EDB-E. If you want to get extreme with the bore, I can tell you how to do a visual check for straight cylinders so that you can bore it out to 3.86 or better (from 3.75).

Mummert sells a stroker kit to make a 324/332/338. When you consider the price of rebuilding the stock crank and rods, and buying new pistons, the incremental cost to get the extra inches seems like a decent deal.

Get the high ratio rockers.

The rest of the build is pretty easy to figure out. Pertronix II in a new distributor, stock ECZ-B cast iron intake and Holley or Autolite carb, or the 3x2 from Edelbrock. I have a Offy 3x2 but I'm likely to repair it and sell it to get the Edelbrock small port 3x2 intake. I also have the older ECZ-A intake and a matching Carter Carburetor. That will end up on the truck with the matching ECZ-C or ECZ-A small port heads.

I got a cam from a place called Camcrafter in Maryland. It has a wider LSA than the stock cam. I'll use that cam with a FMX automatic. I'll use a stock cam in the truck with a manual transmission.

Be certain that you get the engine 'zero-decked' no matter what you decide to do. Mummert will sell you the pistons with the extra deck height to make that happen.

And degree the cam or get it degreed. I checked my cam with stock timing chains and neither one was even close. I ended up buying a RollMaster timing chain from Mummert so that I could get the cam set right. You can get the RollMaster on ebay for cheaper.

 

Thanks guys... I still haven't decided what to do just yet. I'm trying to get rid of my '01 windstart (just bought it and am now regretting it..) The first order of business is to get the SBC in the garage into something. I found a nice early 80s buick wagon with a 3.8 in it, that is begging for some more get up and go.. I might buy it, pep it up, and then go for the late 50s early 60s truck out here on one of the back roads.