My '58 F-100 has been a very large yard ornament for the better part of 4 years now but the end is in sight. I recently bought a 292 longblock from S & S Engines in Spokane, Washington and put it into the truck. Last weekend I started the rebuilt engine for the first time and things went well. The only little problems were a little oil drip apparently from the oil pump to engine gasket and the clutch needs adjusted.

S & S built this Y-Block with a 264 degree cam and 95# valve springs. They 3-angle cut the valves and the intakes are the large 1.95s (I think that is the right number.) I put on a Blue Thunder intake manifold, Edelbrock 500 cfm carb and Mummert ram horn exhaust manifolds, as well as a clutch kit, a new radiator and alternator swap. I kept the three-on-the-tree for now but plan on swapping to an AOD later.

So, the body looks rough but everything from the firewall forward is new. I'm probably going to get the Y-Block emblem found on the T-Bird and slap those on the front fender as a point of pride. Other planned upgrades will be power steering, power front disc brakes and A/C.

Thanks to all of you who enjoy Y-Blocks for all your information.
Dave

 

I'll be very curious to know how that turns out. I recently bought a 'rebuild' 292. It had high ratio rockers on one head and low ratio rockers on the other head. I found several other assembly errors as I took it apart.

Needless to say I'll be doing my own y-block assembly. I don't really fault the engine rebuilder of my engine for the quality of the work, I just think y-blocks need an experienced y-block mechanic for the assembly work.

 

Paul,

Here is a link to a webpage describing the engine I purchased.

http://www.rebuilt-auto-engines.com/...08107143336.6b

The initial start up was uneventful except for my rookie distributor mistakes. I still need to adjust the new clutch kit and hydralic clutch pedal so the truck hasn't been driven yet.

So far I'd give S&S engines a big thumbs up. All of our communications, both telephone and e-mail went very well. They sure seemed to understand the subtleties of the Y-Block.
Dave

 

Hey, How are you liking those Rams Horns?

I have a set from John Mummert and I even had them ceramic coated (flat black) They do look pretty
nice.

I didn't do the Blue Thunder but I did get a 4bbl manifold and I've got a Holley 4160 ready to go on it.

I'm also going to use a Pertronix distributor in it.

I had mine rebuilt by a local machine shop by a gray haired old guy. He seemed pretty knowledgeable about the Y. I also had him balance the rotating mass and he ported the intake ports.

Cheers,

Rick

 

Rick,

I like the Rams Horns alot. The single collector might not be the greatest for maximizing flow through the engine but they solve so many other problems. Besides, if I wanted HP per cubic inch I'd have gone to a different motor. The local muffler shop routed the pipe from the collector down the block like a blockhugger. This elimintated interference with the steering gear and keeps the pipes above the tranny crossmember. I coated my Rams Horms with the Duplicolor 1100 degree aluminum paint.

Like I said, I haven't driven it yet dur to clutch adjustment, but it sounds great in the garage.
Dave

 

My rebuilt Y-block had a little oil dripping from the oil pump area. I thought I put the new one on just like the old one, even used all the bolts in the sandwich bag from the old motor disassembly. But this pesky drip wouldn't go away so I looked closer and found a third oil pump mounting bolt hole in the lower web of the block. So I put a new bolt down into the oil pump from above and the drip is gone!

The previous onwer must have gotten luck and mounted the old pump with just two bolts. Ah, the continuing joy of the Y-Block.

I now have small coolant drips landing on the driveway on each side of the motor under the engine/bell housing joint. Anybody have any ideas? Could it be coming from the intake manifold?

Dave

 

The intake is a good place to start. In particular, there's a hole on the back of the driver's side cylinder head that needs a bolt, and that bolt needs to have thread sealer in it. The bolt is used to hold a spark plug wire loom in stock engines. The stock bolt is rather short.

 

Make sure that everything is sealed up with gasket seal stuff. One time coolant started leaking between the intake manifold and the thermostat housing. Took it apart, resealed it all around, and it was perfect after.

Sometimes it's the little things when it comes to drips and leaks.

 

Well, the water pump failed right after my most recent post. That doesn't really explain how the water got all the way back to the bell housing. When the new water pump is installed I'll check the intake manifold. The bolt hole in the rear driver side was fitted with a plug by my engine rebuilder.

Next issue; I ordered a water pump based upon the year of my truck - 1958, not the year of the block - 1960. It turns out the bolt pattern for the 1958 was much smaller than that for the 1960. Does anybody have the story behind the different sizes? Is my timing cover from something else, like an HD motor perhaps? I ask because my front engine mount and crossmember has the large single bolt not the smaller two-pad arragement.

 

Interesting. I'll have to dig through my stuff to see if there's a difference. Try posting this question on the y-blocks forever forum, in the technical section. I'll bet Ted would have an answer.

Y-blocks forever

BTW, it sounds like your motor mounts are for a F100 with the single large bolt. The two-pad arrangement is what I've seen on F250's.