Ford Y block engine family, 239, 256, 272, 292, 312 

A man I'll never be/BOSTON

56 T-Bird, 54 Customline. I grew up on Y Blocks and have driven or owned every one of your choices. Just like the modern Chrysler Hemi and some SBC's, all Y blocks needed to be serviced regularly and liked some oils better than others ... Note: All USA 292's had forged steel cranks and would spin to over 5K, which was pretty decent back then. The stacked ports limited breathing, but there were solutions. They could be ported to run well enough. Note the 56 Nascar versions. And they stood up to blowers pretty well. A blown 312 w G2 heads will set you back in your seat 😁

I had 2 292 until recently , lot’s of torque at very low RPM . Nice engines

I recently bought a '61 Fairlane 500 with the 292 Y Block so this was a great video for me. It's my first classic car and I'm learning as I go so this filled in some blanks about my engine. Thanks!

The Y block shares a lot of similarities with most of the first generation of American OHV V-8s. Two of which is the deep skirt block and massive weight. But it has its quirks. The stacked intake ports. Weird oiling system. The deep skirt really does not add that much weight and does allow for cross bolt mains. Heavy castings do. Given the Lincoln version shared the same bore center as the FE I have to wonder if Ford reused most of the tooling for the FE.

Owned two of these engines. One in a 1954 Ford, an a 1956. Extremely reliable engine.

OK. The 312 Y-block came out in 1956. It was most common in Mercury's and T-bird's. And, yes, I know this to be true as I have rebuilt those engines in 1956 Ford's. It could also be ordered for the other '56 Ford cars and had "Thunderbird Special" on the valve covers just as in the previous year, the 292 in regular Ford's. In 1957, the T-birds DID have the 312 supercharged engine which are referred to as F-Birds. These were also equipped with 3-speed manuals with an overdrive unit. Then, also on the '57-Birds, there was a T-bird which had 2 4-barrel carbs, know as the E-Bird. There were 4 engines available in '57 T-Birds, the base 292 and 3-312's. Yup. I've seen the '57 F-birds with a 312 too in person person, one was at the now-defunct Imperial Palace Car Collection in Las Vegas. One of the things that I didn't like about the several Y-blocks I've worked on was their ignition distributors didn't have mechanical advances and relied solely on a vacuum advance, so under acceleration they had no advance. The only cars which would benefit from this would have been the supercharged F-birds to control pinging. The 292's in trucks were the darndest looking things. They only had single exhaust and instead of putting a "Y" pipe downstream, they put a crossover pipe across the front of the engine, right in the way of working on the engine. Hopefully it was cooled down, because it was a logical place to put a hand working under the hood!

The first year for the 312 is in 1956. I had a 1956 Ford wagon with the "Thunderbird 312, Fordomatic trans, dual exhaust and LSD. It had a very unusual center float Holley 4 barrel carb.

I love the exhaust note of 292 trucks! My father drove a 58 F350 with 292. Against dealer's advice they tried to upgrade it to 312 and it blew up and had to get another 292.

my vote is for the 292 - almost 300 lb.ft. of torque for 1955!

57 T Bird, for sure. Nice job explaining this material!

From 54-57 all Mercury's came with 4bbl carburetors. In the 60s, a kid with no money for fancy parts could find a 10 year old Mercury for the same or less than a 2bbl Ford, Chevy or Plymouth and have the bragging rights of a 4bbl.

Why back when we had a 1949 Dually wrecker. We pulled the flathead out and dropped a 292 in it. It pulled a non running Semi tractor up a 5% grade about 3 miles to a garage.

Had A 292 in a f100 4×4 highboy, 1964.⅔ with i think dealer dual exhaust side pipes , a cross over exhaust delete, " that goofy manifold crossover right in front" and a Carter 4barrel , 3/4 ton springs on dana 44s with 4" lift, long bed, forest green. Best truck ever. Traded it for a sailboat ⛵️ 😆. Bought it out of a barn for 700 bucks. Drove it for 15 years, its show truck in Houston now,

For WYR, I'm going to go with the '57 Thunderbird. It just happens to be my favorite for that first generation. Thank you for doing the Y-block. I've always been a Ford guy.

Montclair. But like them all.

The Y-Block had oiling problems. The rocker arms could be oil-starved. There was an after-market kit that routed oil from the external oil pump directly to the rocker arms. The FE engines were excellent.

i have a '57 ford fairlane 500, 292 3 speed car. that little v8 is a runner...

A nother good one thank ya 👍👍👍👍👍

1957 Thunderbird…. My grandfather had one, sold before they became valuable. I’ll add 1955 Canadian Ford Meteor

I would want the 1957 t-bird with the 292 and manual tranny. I had a 292 in my 1965 f-100 but the t-18 stock tranny did not have the long snout of the t-98 so the clutch disc springs would fly out. The 292 was pulled out of a wrecked 1957 t-bird. I rebuilt it and put in a steel crank. The t-98 tranny was made for the 292 but the t-18 tranny was not. That truck was a hodge podge of parts!

Awesome video thank you for doing the Y block

57 Tbird 54 Customline I've always liked the looks and styling of that 54. One of my high school rides was a 59 Ford. It had the Y block 292 it was a good strong engine but not without its issues. Namely oil return issues. While not a speed demon. It had plenty of power and lots of torque. None of the Y blocks have the sweetheart love that the Chevy small block gets. But the Y block was a decent engine. Mine ran like a top I never had not one issue with it except for keeping the oil returns cleaned out that was it.

😂 My granny had a Crest line with a 312 my father and uncle put in it ☺️❤️. I had 57 thunder chicken hub caps on a 1969 Falcon 😜 what a beater 😂 Enjoy your day 👋👋✌️

Error - The 312 was introduced in 1956, not 57, Plenty of 56 fords had a 312.

A great family of engines, but everybody talks about and covets the Chevy V-8, the go to engine for hot rodders, a testimony to Ed Cole, for designing that engine.

I had a Y block in my first car. 57 ford country squire wagon. I think those hp ratings are a little low. But they did have top engine oiling problems. As far as which car, I would have to settle for the merc. I tried to drive a 56 t- bird once. I’m 6’1” and couldn’t fit under the steering wheel.

1957 Thunderbird for sure, the best looking sport at ever!

I love the 55 merc

A great video and one that really hits home for me as I know quite a bit about those Ford and Mercury engines having had a '55 Mercury Monterey Coupe for many years. I was always amazed by the fact that a big 292 Merc engine could fit inside a small sized Thunderbird which had a wheel base of only 102 inches. But somehow it did! As for WYR. In the first choice I would happily take all three, but if I had to choose only one I suppose that the '56 T-Bird was the best of the three years and especially with its optional replaceable roof with the porthole. In the second choice, that is really a tough one as I really like the '55 Montclair in Artic White over Gulf Stream Blue, so if I were allowed to select my own colors I think that I would pick that model, but if not then I would go with the '57 Thunderbird. The '54 Ford Customline is a nice one too but I would have to pass on it given the opportunity to choose a small bird. 😊

As the owner of a 57' Bird, It remains my pick. It has a great sound when running.🙂 And a comment on the 312 Y-Block. Ours has been rebuilt 5 times now ( 😡) and it's always the same problem: Front cam lobes worn off from poor oil flow. The engine needs to rev, as the only oil getting to the cam is from spray off the crank. Seriously considering a mod I've seen on another you-tube channel, where an oil distribution pipe is drilled into the valley just above the cam. Too bad Ford didn't solve this way back when.

I see you really did your homework on this one.

Edsel got the 292 for the 1959 Ranger only. And 1960 In both Ranger and Villager

Thank you as always! WYR: 1957 Thunderbird (F code supercharged) for both. Even without the supercharger, the 57 with the longer trunk seems better proportioned and is more usable. ~ Chuck

This is quite possibly the best lesson I have ever had ..I have been working on all five shapes in E minor ...So now G major...Right!...Sixth note is relative minor... Sometimes someone needs to walk you through the MAZE of lessons out there and just show you... Thank you, thank you, thank you ..

Great video. The mention for the 292 production in south america is for my country. Argentina here that engine equiped the ford fairlane and the f 100 pick up. Also Ford argentina in the seventies had made improvements in the engine. Mostly in the redisign of the heads and a local engine was born. The name was ford 292 fase 2. So here we have ford 292 fase 1 y ford 292 fase 2.

It’s an easy choice: ‘57 T-bird since that’s what I already own. If you ever get one of these first generation thunderbirds, get one with a manual. That old 3 speed mated to my 312 makes the car an absolute joy to drive.

56 T-Bird and Merc Montclair - no clue on the song, great video for all of us in the Blue Oval Camp...

Ford had to detune the 292 to justify customers would buy the 332, or 352.

I have never read or heard the reason for the stacked intake ports. It's like they wanted to incorporate one of the flaws of the flathead into the new engine. Also, a fellow employee at the Texaco station I worked at in 1965 bought a nice 1956 Ford Custom 2 door sedan, 272, three on the tree. We added dual exhaust with a Walker kit. The cross over was removed & a block off plate was installed on the right manifold. The left pipe mounted to the front of the left manifold & curved over it & down behind. A pair of Walker Continental glass packs were added. Dual tail pipes over the axle & past the bumper with chrome tips finished it off. Sounded a lot faster than it was!

Very well done and informative. One of the more enjoyable you tube videos.

Hi Jay. You covered the Y block pretty well. There was another contributor to oiling problems in that the cam bearing in question would sometimes turn. The only other thing to complain about on these motors was that single exhaust cars joined the exhausts with a crossover pipe over the top and front of the motor, which definitely is not good for engine bay heat. I wonder whether the deep skirt design was a factor in not having room to join the exhausts underneath? Cheers.

The 54 Ford and the 55 Mercury.

Didn't mention the crossover exhaust used on the y-block.

Been wait for this video. Rebuilding a 1956 mercury 312 to go into my 1929 model a pickup

All of these 54 - 57 Fords and Mercurys were great-looking cars. The 58 Fairlane 500 was spoiled by its side trim. From certain angles, it made the car look like it had been in a wreck and improperly fixed. The Custom 300's side trim was much better, as it mimicked the pressed-in details of the 58 - 60 Thunderbird, and didn't conflict with the body lines.

I have a 56 fairlane with the 292 and another 292 as a spare that came from a 64 pickup , it I will sell .

Y block with that dumb crossover pipe on the exhaust. Supposedly to clear the steering box. But r/h drive cars had it as well,, with the steering box enveloped! The intake was a 'what were they thinking moment' and evidently top end oiling was an issue as well. I owned one once, someone gave it to me, it ended up going to scrap.

54 Customline. Need the ground clearance where I live.

Ford envisioned these engines as being driven gently, with full power being used for occasional short bursts while passing. The valvetrain oiling was barely up to that but no more, and it wasn't long before excessive rocker wear and seizure happened when driven hard. Kits could be bought to fix this, with copper tubing routed through a hole you drilled into the top of the valve covers or you could DIY that. Most of the early engines were modified like this. You had to use detergent motor oil and change it frequently as the old oils had a high wax content and would clog up the oil returns. Without due care you could start having problems in as little as 20K miles which is abysmal as far as engine designs go. Some installations had the exhaust cross-over in front of the engine up front which caused more than a few people to get burned working on these engines. It couldn't match the SB Chevy in any regard, especially when hot-rodded, even with the rare and expensive Paxton supercharger, but it was good enough for the average driver who likely had a 6-cylinbder instead anyway. Later versions fixed these problems and the 292 was a very torquey engine that was popular in trucks, especially overseas where I'm told it was used into 1971. WYR I'm a sucker for the older 'Birds styling :)

I have a 292 in a 63 f600. It's not fast but has plenty of power and runs like new!

En Argentina este motor se fabrico desde 1961, hasta 1987!!

Ford had a long run with Y block style engines. The FE series was also a Y block style engine. I don't remember the last year for the FE . . . . 1976 maybe? When I was a kid we had 1960 Ford car with a 223, a 1961 Ford car with a 390, and a 1962 ford car with a 292. Anyway, these were all good running reliable engines. My father worked at the Ford garage in 1970 -74They were giving these cars away, just to get them off the lot,. . . . or so I was told. and yap, yap, yap! 😂

Just so you know, the 312 was introduced in 1956. All Mercury’s that year came with a 312. Also it was optional in the t-birds. 1960 was the last production year for the 312.

Hi Jay! A COOL Ford engine episode! It blows my mind they made the Y block in South America until 1980!! These were very interesting engines, but the FE was much better, and the Windsor, while not as super powerful were always very reliable, at least in my experience. WYR#1 Ya killed me with non super charged for the 1957! Guess I would rather have the 1955 T-Bird. #2 Still going to pick the 1957 T-Bird supercharged or not. I like they did away with the continental kit and the fins are pretty cool! Plus it was the last year for the 2 seat Bird for MANY years!

These were good heavy car movers as long as detergent oil was used or overhead oiler conversions fixed the dirty ones. It was short lived and overshadowed by the fe series which i think was fords most universal series engine ever made .

'57 T-Bird... no contest. It's one of very few Ford cars that was actually good looking instead of god awful ugly. LOL Once again, I never would have guessed that song. I don't care for Boston... way too soft.

Hey Jay are you planning on doing an episode on the Ford Cleveland?

I would love to see a video on Chevy's big block engines i.e., the 396-454 c.i.

'57 T'Bird all the way! Best looking of all little birds

56 with 292 be my choice

I'd pick the T-Birds, '55 and '57😎 video

For WYR: 55 thunderbird and the 54 Ford

WYR. I am a TBird guy and owned many. So you know my answer

In both cases, the '57 Thunderbird!

312 was around since 1956

As I count Lincoln as a Ford it was first yblock in 1953. I and a lot of my friends still run yblocks, durable and tough with good torque curve. Factory power claims are engineering calcs only.

I like all three t birds but I'd have to choose the 57

have a 1957 THUNDERBIRD 292 3 SPEED STICK SHIFT wouldn t trade it for any thing

I liked the 292 and 312.They sounded so good. Like music.With todays standards they were terrible engines. I always owned 283's because they were fun to work on.

312 was introduced in 1956

I have a 1959 running 272 for sale.

Never had a 1955 Thunderbird. I had 3 1956 T-Birds and 3 1957 T-Birds. If I were to ever have one again, it would be a 1957. Scenario 2. Again, the 1957 T-Bird. Also I prefer the 3 speed manual with electric O/D transmission.

Aw man I missed everything . Oh well better late than never .

The '57 and then the T-Bird.

1955 Thunderbird 1955 Meteor Montcalm (Yes, I know it's not on your list. But, it should be.)

55 T'bird and Mercury

"...not counting..." Wow, what a contradictory statement 1:10-1:20

56 bird and 57 bird

What about the 352.

55

T Bird

Not much interest for these engines. I had a running 1959 292 nobody was interested in it. Took it in for scrap metal.

54custom

' 55

The Ford Y block - A heavy, long-stroke, low-RPM, stacked-port, main-leaking, rocker-squeaking piece of low-horsepower junk.

What

Pure unadulterated JUNK …

Fix the vidio