Y-BlocksForever Forum / Y-BlocksForever! Forums 2006 / This n That

Gas Mileage

NewPunkRKR — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:53:46 GMT

Not a Y question but still a Ford. I just bought a '79 Bronco (351M w/ C6) for hauling things and bad weather days. My understanding is that it is going to be a gas HOG (8-10mpg). I get about 18-20 with my 312 and fordo/fmx in my 4dr 500. Is the Y just that more efficient. Is there any ways to improve the 351? My guess is the fairlane is about twice the size of the bronco. I haven't checked the rear diff on the bronco, but I think they came with 3.50 gears. I still need to tune the carb because it idles really rough but I don't think that will make much difference on the road. Anyone using a C6, is there an overdrive? Any suggestions appreciated!

- John

Rebuilt 312 drop-in on Ebay

oldcarmark — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:23:43 GMT

Have a look at item #200448284882.Its a rebuilt 312 drop-in.$6995.00 and looks good.However there is NO WARRANTY.Price seems a little bit high but maybe not.Also claims the rocker arms are "rebushed".I didn't think bushings were available to do that?What do you think McTim?

My VS57 Parts are coming together, a few photos...

Daniel Jessup — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:22:58 GMT

Well, I finally got a chance to start working on a few parts for my VS57 build. Here are a few photos. I picked up the the Paxton VS57 air cleaner from Frank Lydell in Michigan. He happened to have a chrome air cleaner with an NOS Paxton supplied air filter. It still had Nov. 1956 stamped on it. It is in good shape. As you can see, so is the air cleaner. It cleaned up very well after some polishing. I had a devil of a time getting the lid on correctly and buttoning it down. The holes lined up perfectly, but the top of the cylinder itself was a little out of round. I had to make use of the workmate and "squeeze" the cylinder at the right spot to make it an almost perfect circle, and the lid went down snug along with the keepers I had picked up at the ACE hardware (they now have a chrome hardware bin with a good selection - wonder if its chinese made). One of the things I am wondering about is just exactly how these things attached to the engine or to the engine compartment. There are two holes, lengthwise, that have weld nuts to attach a bracket of some type I suppose?

This other pictures is of the two-piece bonnet (which I don't remember seeing on Jim Moody's website, but I am sure that he has a photo of it somewhere) that fits on the teapot very well. I guess that it's in two pieces so that you can leave your boost lines alone (there are holes for the boost lines on the bottom piece) when you take off the bonnet when you need to work on the carb. I do need to close up some extra holes that somebody just had to add years ago I guess. But it has been freshly blasted and looks pretty good. It does have some battle scars but it is very functional. I will have to get some good neoprene to refit the pressure release gasket that fits where those four holes are located on top. I have the original washer and hardware, but the rubber looks pretty rough.

And here is the coup de gras - the venerable teapot! Unfortunately :P Charlie Burns had a few very good cores so I had to bite at the chance to get this build up on the test stand looking and appearing close to what an original VS57 build would look like if someone were to install a paxton mcculloch on their 55 or 56 Ford passenger car. One of the cores had a very nice base and the throttle shaft and bushings were almost new. That will save me some time....and dough!! A few friends recommended to me that I have a carb shop do all of the work and just bolt it on. Well, seems my oldest daughter just came back from the orthodontist for her first "braces" visit. Not whining, but $8300 total over 2 and a half years is quite a bit for braces and teeth straightening! :w00t: My daughter's worth it though, and a whole lot more I'd say. Suffice to say, I don't have all the extras in the budget to get the carb done by a professional (may be changing my tune when it comes time to fire it up) so I'll just have to do it myself. What's more fun than a barrel of monkeys? You guessed it, Holley's teapot! It's straight out of Alice in Wonderland!

The fuel bowl portion will be heavily modified with drilling out a few passageways for more flow, and drilling out the jets too. I plan to follow the VS57 passenger car manual on this one, trying to replicate "Harry Homeowners" attempt to install one of these beauties if he had the chance way back when. It was difficult to find the right drill bit sizes. No place in town had any. Eventually ordered them online....and they arrived yesterday. Another difficulty was in removing those pesky nozzles in the fuel bowl. ARGHHHHHHH...but they finally came out with little to no damage. :cool: For all those that believe I am insane or just plain crazy :crazy: == guilty as charged. Yeh, yeh, yeh, I know. I attempted this 4 barrel teapot thing this past summer and on a scale of 1 to 10 I would have given myself a negative 2! :D But this is a new day and I have taken apart EVERYTHING I could get my hands on and have CLEANED out everything I could. Now, I don't like spending a small fortune on gasket kits, parts, elbow grease, etc to mess around with these "hot to trot" teapots, but I learn new things each time I give it a go. Can't wait to get this show on the road. I would like to have it ready for the Ford show at Carlisle in June this year.

New info and pictures to come as time with the teapot and the VS57 marches on...

Thanks Bing!

mctim64 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:13:21 GMT

Thanks Bing! You've got Style! :D and now, thanks to you, I do too! ;)

Spliseal

Outlaw56 — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:12:41 GMT

I was reading in my recent issue of classic truck magazine and came across an article on a product called "Spliseal". You can do a search and come up with this site o the web, and you can get a good product demo video on U-Tube by doing a search for "Spliseal". I was wondering if anyone had any experience using this to seal wire connections after crimping them together. The article in classic truck magazine spoke highly of it and the demo looked pretty cool.

Karol at Bonneville

Hoosier Hurricane — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:27:47 GMT

I was leafing through some old Hot Rod Magazines today, and in the Nov. 1963 issue I saw a Bonneville picture of a '63 Falcon driven by none other than Karol Miller. It said he shook up the troops with a qualifying run of 159+. They said the same thing about him when he ran his '56 back in the day. Set the '63 record at 149.997. He sure liked flirting with 150 mph.

"timing" is everything...!

texasmark1 — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:02:27 GMT

taking the kids for a nice afternoon drive around town Saturday; even took the video camera and shot some footage while driving...

oh, did I mention that the fuel gauge was not at the top of the list of stuff to get working?

well, it has now moved up several notches...! Yep, almost back in the driveway when it died that "... you've just run out of gas" way! Fortunately, we were coming up on a gas station, which we had just enough speed to coast in to!! My daughter said something like "... I wondered why the car got quiet all of a sudden...".

Silly me... I handed the vid camera off to my son and it got switched off... wouldn't the last few seconds have been gold to get on film?!!

Of course my 14 yr old son promptly posted the whole trip details on his facebook!!

I hate technology!!

any similar stories out there...?

Mark

Picked up a stray today!!

bloodyknucklehill — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:45:10 GMT

Look what just happened to jump into the back of my pick-up today;)

Got that Y out of a 56 F-600 and then the guys gives me 260 windsor block, heads, and a couple intake manifolds "Just get em' outta my way and you can have em'" It was a good day.. I was glad my girlfriend said it was ok to buy this :P

Now I've seen it all....

Daniel Jessup — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:25:07 GMT

Are you kidding me? Check out the starting price

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-1955-1956-1957-FORD-TBIRD-carb-bowl-supercharger_W0QQitemZ310204310395QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item48399e237b

58 acquisition

Y block Billy — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:03:54 GMT

Lets try this again.

Not working, as soon as I hit insert image my explorer is closing down. whats going on?

March Meet at Famoso

MarkMontereyBay — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:22:39 GMT

Drove down to Delano yesterday. Heading to Famoso Raceway in a few minutes to see what is up. Sunshine this morning and hopefully not rain tomorrow. Hunting for the Y Block stuff.

http://www.famosoraceway.com/

Mark

DANGER

yehaabill — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:52:21 GMT

Y-guys An old friend of mine got sick all of a sudden, and had to be rushed

to the E.R.! Earlier in the day he had been doing a lot of welding(he's a fabricator)

and had been using brake cleaner/carb cleaner/contact cleaner/ to clean the

metal before and during the welding process. We think the combination

of heat and those chemicals he inhaled caused his sickness. It didn't

happen at work, but several hours later. He's now in a coma and things

don't look good.....

Charlie/Tim please post this on any other sites(Hamb/Ford Muscle etc.)

I don't go to those sites very often but I think this is important and it needs

to get "out there".

We're not 100% this is the cause, but we think it is.....

Bill

A friend googled these chemicals and and found some variations

were in some of the W.W. II "gases" used in the war....

Scrub mechanic????

Barry L — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:47:17 GMT

A friend of mine was asked to tear apart this motor and find the noise.....I couldn't believe the thrust bearing would even fit on the front main!!!!!! Barry L

this is hilarious

bloodyknucklehill — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:06:42 GMT

You guys have got to check this site out.. I only made it halfway through the pictures and my stomach hurt from laughing..

http://www.youdrivewhat.com/

Enjoy..

Y-Block History

lovefordgalaxie — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:38:39 GMT

Guys, I got myself into some trouble now. There is a book about the Ford Galaxie being written (the second one) here in my country, and I was asked to write about the American Galaxie, and the origins and history of the Ford Y-Block engine, that equipped the Brazilian Galaxie from 1967 to 1975. Our engines were 272s and 292s based on the '56 US motors (had cannister oil filters).
What I'm looking for is some help about the US history of the Y-Block.
Can anybody appoint a site, or a trusty source (will be mentioned) for this material?
I don't want to do anything wrong, or releasing inaccurate information, specially being such a fan of the old Y.
Any help will be appreciated guys.

scrub rants

nathan soukup — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:14:07 GMT

I was greeted by my new neighbor the other day,he informed me that ford Y-BLOCKS are known to spin cam bearings.I said"wow really",He informed me that the center cam bearings always spin thats why they dont get any oil to the top end.I said wow what should I do?He said you should consider taking it out(the Y-BLOCK) and put something better in.I said thats funny I havnt had that problem with any Y-block ever.He got pissed.I started it up and revved it up to drown out his bitching.He then told me about his ultra rare 396 shevelle that was so bitchin.I said does it run?He said no.Why did it spin a cam bearing,He said yes!Why is it that scrub lovers always seem to have a "ultra rare car"I seems they are all rare and ultra valuable,but Ive seen them all.I have my own saying for sbc (simple bull crap)or (simple bull chit)Oh gosh I could go on and on.There was this kid a while back that had this ugly 82 el srubmino.He informed me that he had his buddy building him a 383 scrub and it would have 600 horse.Like that was going to scare me into buying into this bull.He blew that thing up after talking crap for almost a year racing my sons nearly stock 5.0 mustang.I could go on and on,I had too much coffee this morning and watching the "power block " on tv has got me on a rant!

52nd March Meet live on Bangshift.com

MarkMontereyBay — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:16:46 GMT

If the weather cooperates here is the link:

http://www.bangshift.com/blog/BangShift.com-to-Provide-Free-Live-Streaming-Broadcast-of-the-52nd-Bakersfield-March-Meet.html

Ever use this type of fuel pressure regulator....

Daniel Jessup — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:49:39 GMT

I am looking for the style of fuel pressure regulator that increases rate by a drop in engine vacuum. I am considering using an electric fuel pump full time for the VS57 build, leaving the regulator to adust the pressure/volume of fuel delivery when the carb needs it because the blower has kicked in. Any thoughts on where to find of these...and is anybody out there running one? Someone told me a while back that a company called "Cagle" used to manufacture these.

Infringment on Jerry C's favorite nickname???

Barry L — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:45:57 GMT

Sorry, but when I found this on our vacation, I just had to post this pic. I'm saving this soap sample for the next time I'm in Minnitonka . Barry L

Overdrive sales advice...

Noob — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:23:13 GMT

I replaced the T-85 3-speed w/R11 O.D. tranny in my `57 with a T-5 and will be selling it... it was in fine working shape, I just wanted five speed.

While I have all the "accessories" (relay, handle, kick-down, harness and shifter), should I sell it as a package or as individual pieces? I'm looking more to moving it than maximizing dollars... which would be quicker, a complete system or replacement parts?

What other Ford vehicles would this T-85/R11 combo have come in?

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Cheers... Brian

Things are changing on Y block parts and the Big Parts Suppliers...

Daniel Jessup — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:21:19 GMT

Most of us probably get catalogs from companies like Speedway Motors. I order some odds and ends from them occasionally - nothing Y block only, but some of the hardware and speed parts. Over the past few years, there Y block inventory has grown. And today, I got my new catalog (#292 to be exact) - check out page 251. It has one whole page of nothing but Y block only parts. It has a few glitches like an upside down fuel pump photo, some erroneous information about Y block years, etc. But I think all this means that times are changing. The Y block is becoming more and more accepted -- you know the big parts suppliers (i.e. Edelbrock and their announcement about remaking a 3 deuce manifold) would't be advertising all of these parts if they couldnt' sell in volume and make money. All of this is good to see though. :P

Take a look at this!

mctim64 — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:09:53 GMT

Found this on the HAMB, check it out. ;)

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=450332

Y-Block Firing order!

kidcourier — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:30:54 GMT

Just received my April issue of Hot Rod Mag.,has an article on Fords new 5.0 Modular motor that's replacing the 4.6,wouldn't be a big deal but Ford saw fit to use the Y-Block firing order on their new 5.0 that's rated at 412HP/385 Torque.Wonder what this babys going to sound like,a super healthy 312? Kid

It is almost 1:30 AM and...

46yblock — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:28:28 GMT

the Technical forum shows 101 guests plus 5 members viewing :w00t: . There must be an error!

Cool "High Tech" Toys.

charliemccraney — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:35:55 GMT

Tony just got one of the G-Tech performance meters. It uses G-force to calculate things like 0-60, cornering G's, acceleration G's, braking G's, 1/4 mile e.t. and speed, and horsepower and torque. Somehow it can detect the RPM through the cigarette lighter and the weight of the vehicle and a few other parameters are entered manually. We played around with it in his VW GTI a bit yesterday and the horsepower and torque looks very accurate. We'll try to get to Atlanta drag way to see how accurate the 1/4mile results compare. If it really works, it will be a valuable tool for any hot rodder.

I got some software and a cable for my laptop so I can monitor and record in real time what is going on with my '88 Firebird. It will be useful in 2 ways. For one, I need to diagnose a high idle. Second, it will give me the opportunity to learn about fuel injection and computer controlled timing on such a vehicle that is working before I do it with the truck. The usb interface cable and "good will donation" for the software only cost $90 bucks - far less than an equally capable scan tool.

There is all kinds of neat stuff out there.

Yblock Hilborn Injection on Ebay

MarkMontereyBay — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:31:03 GMT

Any high rollers ready take after this one? Any predictions on high the price will go?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vintage-Hilborn-Y-Block-Ford-Fuel-Injection_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2eaaecad3dQQitemZ200436133181QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

O T to unibodyguy

Barry L — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:36:56 GMT

Michael, thanks for the short visit at your work,it's always good to meet forum members. When we left the Boot Barn ,this 57 two door went by ,eastbound, sounded healthy,but was missing the "Y" rumble....not sure what was in it. Thanks for the felt scraps. Barry L

Grinding stones

DANIEL TINDER — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:09:23 GMT

Questions for those with extensive tool experience: Please bear with me.

Made the mistake of mixing high speed stones with ordinary ones. Does anyone know a sure way to identify which is which?
Also, I have a stone that is damaged/grooved from grinding on a very sharp/hard steel edge. Can it be reshaped (and then used safely) by grinding on a file? Can't easily find the perfect size & shapes for chamber work, so this would be helpful (if indeed feasible).
If die grinder speed can be limited to a safe level for non-HS stones, I'm a bit unclear on the advantages of then grinding at a higher speed (aside from time)?

Thanks in advance.

Acronyms

Ted — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:06:50 GMT

What Bill started in the ‘use of bad language’ post brings to mind the list of acronyms that was started on the old forum. I’ll start with this initialism which is one of my favorites.

Can

Hear

Every

Valve

Rattle

Over

Large

Engine

Troubles

new Ford 5.0 has the Y firing order

BFOOTER03 — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:24:11 GMT

Not sure if I am behind the game or not but I was reading my latest Hotrod mag and saw that the "new" 5.0 ford engines have the "Y" block firing order. Guess the engineers rediscovered the sweet sound of the Y.

Sacramento Autorama

MarkMontereyBay — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:14:23 GMT

Looks like rain here but I am heading up to Sacramento for the Autorama tomorrow. I will try to get some Y block photos to post.

Mark Hebard

Rebuilding 94's Berrymans Chem-dip

MarkMontereyBay — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:07:28 GMT

I am organizing to rebuild some Holley/Ford 94's. Is Berryman's Chem dip still a "real" carb cleaner? I want to get down to the original coating on the carbs. Anybody using Caswell Chromate kits to refinish carb parts?

Mark Hebard

Y-block in a bike?

mr4speedford — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:45:54 GMT

Always enjoy seeing the y-block in new applications!

Short Y-Block Video

mctim64 — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:16:28 GMT

Found this on YouTube, thought I'd share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dopPYnXZnhI

NASCAR

Doug T — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:46:31 GMT

Well it was nice to see a fair number of Fords running up front and that the restrictor plate is a little less restrictive. I actually thought it was a pretty good race. But you would think that the France's would have the track in better shape for the premier and opening race of the season.

What ever happened to LFM magazine?

RB — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:05:08 GMT

Here it is from the source, as posted on the FE forum.

He went on to say that if you have issues remaining on your subscrition that he would credit you for the online version if you drop him an email.

[quote]RE: Legendary Ford from Editor Jeff Ford
February 10 2010 at 5:08 PM Jeff Ford (Login LegendaryF0rd)
Members

I think it is time for me to have one big post that deals with LFM as it stands now.

Why are we internet only?

Our print bill was $15,000 an issue. Our ad revenue starting at the end of 2008 was $10,000-$12,000 in issuewhich works on the assumption that the advertisers are all paying their billsrenewals and new subs were making up the difference and BARELY making salary. Starting February 2009 some of the advertisers got spotty with payments. Note the upside down nature of the cash flow on the ad side. It got worse.

Dont get me started on the newsstand peopleall Ill say is that we never made a dime off of the newsstand copies; they made good money though.

We made a mistake and printed the Mustang 45th book. It sold not at all. I still have 25 boxes in my garage with 25 mags per box. Colin and Di have more (Im thinking of using them for firewood) but we had to try; and it failed. We should have done a mailing for LFM with that money. Wed counted on the revenue from the Mustang book to boost revenue and instead it tanked us. The revenue never happened. The ads in it didnt even cover the cost of printing the thing. We should have stopped then but the decision was made to keep going. Surely the advertisers would paysome of them never did. Thus, we were saddled with an extra print bill on top of the one we already had every other month. If I could point to a single thing that cost us the deal, it was the magazinesomething that two years before would have been a winner.

Then the economy stopped and renewals dried up. Where we were getting several a day we were down to one or two. Oh and the print bills were still there.

When there is no money, we cant do mailings to our customers for renewals or any other thing we might need to inform them about. Mail cost money.

Phone calls to 10,000 plus reader cost time and moneysomething we didnt have with only three people. Just an example folks: Im doing layout, writing, photographing and some planning. And thats just me. Di and Colin are not any less busy.

Nor are we big enough to go to a bank and ask for money. We have nothing that they want. I dang sure aint going to put my house up in this economynot that it would be worth anything right now anyway. So, unlike large corporations we have no assets to put into it, our only asset is our knowledge and time. Worthless to an investment banker.

So we went online. It was the next best thing to not having a magazine at all. We have worked without pay for six months. We have taken freelance work to make ends meetand in some cases the ends arent meeting at all. That is why the publication dates arent current with the actual dates. We have to make money some how.

We decided to risk giving away our work (via downloadable .pdf files that you can print) in order to make it portable. Why? Because we like reading in the crapper too. It was the next best thing we could do to printing.

Does this suck? Well yeah, I mean if YOU think it sucks, come over here and see it from my chair.

Do we want to go back to a print magazine? Sure! But right now we cant and wont.

Do we need your support in this time of crisis? Yeah. Heck if you go to the site Ill set up a subscription that charges your card $1.41 a month so your risk is small.

If you are a current subscriber and dont want the online experience, I honestly dont know what you tell you. Were broke. There is no money to be gotten from the three of us.

Will the magazine be around in any form at all. If we get some support, yes.

Now I have work to do to get the next issue stories up...

If you are a current subscriber, contact me at the e-mail below and I'll get you rolling with the on-line book.

Jeff Ford
Editor
jford@legendaryfordmgazine.com [/quote]

FRAME NUMBERS ON 55 56 FAIRLANE

aussiebill — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:12:32 GMT

Guys, question was asked today if there were frame identification numbers on 55 56 fairlane and customline models in us. I thought no but wanted to be correct with my answer to inquirey, thanks, regards bill.

working trucks

pintoplumber — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:18:21 GMT

Tim, some time ago you mentioned that your's is a working truck. Here's some pictures of mine working.
One is the Ephrata fair parade, I pull a church float. The others are once a year or so I pull the camper with it.Usually when we go to a car show.

It's not entirely used for drag racing

[IMG]http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm298/pintoplumber/truck001-1-1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm298/pintoplumber/truck004-1-1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm298/pintoplumber/truck006-1.jpg[/IMG]

it's snowing again - pictures

pintoplumber — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:51:46 GMT

When I built my garage in 1990, I put radiant heat in the floor heated by a boiler. I also thought it would be neat to have heat in the sidewalks to melt snow. So I did the sidewalks and the driveways also. I don't have a big enough boiler to melt everything at once, but when you have a 20" snow just having the sidewalks melt is a big help.
[IMG]http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm298/pintoplumber/beaversprings09062-1.jpg[/IMG]
That was this morning as are the next two.
[IMG]http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm298/pintoplumber/beaversprings09063-1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm298/pintoplumber/beaversprings09064-1.jpg[/IMG]

Is this a record

Y block Billy — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:00:43 GMT

I just went to the forum home page and saw that there were 26 guest and 14 members viewing for a total of 40 and its late, we should all be in bed. What is with this Y disease that keeps us viewing so long.

I don't think I have seen this many at once but Jim or Ted, do you have any Ideas as to the record? is there a way for you to keep track?