Worst Engines of All Time: Ford Y Block V8 

My dad was a mechanic in the 30's to the 60's. He had his own shop, so when I was 10 or so I started going over and helping him. (Child labor.) Just about every engine that came in had oil problems, because of the lack of oil changes, non-detergent oils, and lack of oil filters. My dad tried to convince people to change their oil more often, but few listened to him. (Remember the Fram ads that had "Pay me now or pay me later."?) One of my jobs was disassembling rocker arm assemblies, cleaning them and laying them out for my dad to put back together and put back on the car. Some times the entire rocker arm cover would be full of sludge. I would have to use a putty knives to get most of it off just to get to the bolts. He worked on a lot of Chevys (because there were a lot of Chevys), and they were as bad as the Fords. By the way, I change my oil and filters at 3,000 mile, because I was so traumatized by the image of those rocker arms.

We have two 1959 F-600 wheat trucks with 292's. We still haul wheat every year with them. We've owned these trucks for about thirty years now. I'm not a big fan of Y blocks, but they have been durable engines for us. Excellent maintenance, and not over revving, this is why I think that we have had such good luck. These 292's love being lugged around the farm hauling wheat, but once you get on the highway, everything is out the window. Ford, was asking a lot by putting these small engines in these trucks, but they do surprisingly well paired with super low axle gearing. Life was slower and happier back then, even the trucks.

I have been a Ford guy for over 60 years. Calling the Y-Block the worst engine of all time is an exaggeration. They had their problems, but they weren't that bad. As far as bad oil is concerned, that wasn't a Y-Block only issue. Sure the rear seals leaked and the rocker shafts wore out. I disassembled many a Chevy small block that had 3 inches of sludge in the lifter valley. Some early Chevy V8s didn't even have oil filters. My first hot rod experience was with Y-Block engines. In the mid sixties, they were cheap and plentiful. A Y-Block engine with a manual transmission would fry the tires to the ground. Back then, you could buy a decent car for $200. In the today's times, the Y-block seems prehistoric. Back then they were pretty cool.

Interesting. Back in the day I had a 312 Y-block, bored .060" over with high compression pistons, an Isky cam, flamethrower ignition, 4 barrel carb and headers - it propelled my '57 stick shift Ford quite nicely, and with no oiling problems at all. Careful assembly and the proper oil is all it took.

Those Y blocks IMO get an undeserved bad rep. A very long time ago I drove small commercial trucks that were 30 years old at that time. They were powered by 292cid Y blocks. Those trucks gave daily commercial service for decades with enough miles on them to roll the odometers into infinity. They delivered adaquate power reliably for a very long time. They were serviced by a knowledgeable old school mechanic, but their longevity, and endurance were IMO remarkable.

I grew up around Y-Blocks, these motors were bullet proof, and much stouter than Chevrolet's small block at the time. Just change the oil like you're supposed to. The 57 Ford 312 was one of the fastest cars on the road, dominating NASCAR that year. I have a 56 F100 with a built 292, with all the modern upgrades, it rolls along with today's traffic with no problem.

My step father had a 1949 Ford 1 ton dually wrecker. He replaced the flathead with a 292. That engine was a towing monster. I also rode in a school bus every day which had a 292.

I rebuilt a 312, in 1966. I had heard about the problems with top side oiling and made sure that the machine shop that did some of the assembly also knew the secrets of the y block. I had no problem with top side oiling and the engine lasted a long time. Thanks for the memories.

In with the crowd on this one. Good oil was the secret. A Y block with a PCV valve would thrive in today's world. They weren't a powerhouse, but they were comfortable torquey little fellas that if you did your part would last a very long time.

According to my dad, these motors weren't *that* bad. They needed maintenance and fresh oil on time, but they were never designed for racing without modifications. He had 3 1957 Fords that he enjoyed and used for years

I owned a 56 Ford Customline with a 272 and a 3 speed manual on the column. Bought it used in 1965 from an elderly couple with 25000 miles. My dad’s personal mechanic had it parked at his place with a fire sale sign in the windshield. The mechanic told us he had taken care of it since new and it was an excellent car. I bought it, changed the oil and filter every 3000 miles and never had a problem one with it. Once in a while being a teenager I would take on a Mustang 289 2bbl and never lost. I cared a lot about the car and didn't race it very often. I knew it wasn't a hot rod but it could hold it's own with comparable cars including the 283 Chevys. I always used Valvoline oil and wish I still had it. It was in great condition, idled as quite as a sewing machine and ran perfectly when I sold it. I have a great respect for the Y block. I also worked for a company that had a 25 foot bobtail and a dump with 292s in them and never in the shop either.

The y-block is one of the most underrated engines ever. The shortest conrods are more than 6.2 inches long. They high swirl combustion chambers. The deep skirt design added strength. Everyone a side oiler. All had air gap inlet manifold. Had shafts mounted rocker arms Supercharged ones gave up to 360hp. They are great motors. Arguably one of the best small cube v8s Ford made.

I had countless numbers of 292 and 312 motors in my '57 Ford hardtops and only threw a rod in one, a 312. It was the manual transmissions which wouldn't hold up to weekend drag racing. Low gear on the cluster would always break but installing a heavier trans with wider gears from a '56 Merc solved that problem. Also installing a 9" 4:11 geared rear end with leaf springs from a six cylinder '57 wagon with manual overdrive helped with the motors potential. Quite a few motors I bought already had the overhead oiler kit on them and lots were also full of thick sludge from using non detergent oil and running too cold from an owner removing the thermostat. They made the most beautiful exhaust rap by running straight pipe with 18" Thrush straight thru resonators up front instead of mufflers. Man, I miss those Y-blocks!

I have personal experience with the ford Y block. They were decent engines as long as you changed the oil regularly. I still have one in an old F350. It was never fast but for a truck of that era it always punched well above it's weight and it withstood years of abuse at the hands of a teenage driver who grew up on a steady diet of Smokey and the Bandit and Dukes of Hazard reruns. That's a tall order for any engine of that era.

I ran a 292 in a '58 Ranchero, and I'll admit it leaked from the rear main, and burned its share of oil too, but was probably abused before I bought it. Honestly, it ran strong and didn't get bad gas mileage. Like a man said below, I wouldn't call it amongst the 'worst'.

Adam, I'm surprised that you seem to be unaware that the Y-block remained in production until ~ 1990 for the South American market. It was chosen for its durability.

My father bought a used 1959 Ford with the 292. He drove it several years with no engine issues. He sold it and got a used 1964 Ford(with the 289 I think) when it started having automatic transmission issues. We lived in a rural area, so there was no stop and go traffic. My mother was mad as she liked the 59. One the other hand, my grandfather had a 53 ford with the flathead. It was quiet as described. The low power did not matter as his top speed was 45 mph. It went 170,000 miles before a ring busted. He just got a re-built flathead which lasted till he passed away. (He was the same with his televisions, he replaced the picture tube 3 times in his early 1950s TV instead of buying a new one)

The sound of the 57 Ford With straight pipes is glorious.

Some people will NEVER learn the lesson of oil change intervals and using the RIGHT oil. Most people treat cars as appliances and do not do the maintenance needed.

When I was a kid we had several cars with Y blocks, none of them were bad motors, they all ran well and had long lives...or at least as long as other engines of the era and were superseded by the newer small block, the 260 and 289, not because the Y block was horrible, but because Ford learned a lot and had incorporated those lessons into the new motor.

My dad had a 1961 Ford with the 292, three Speed Overdrive and 3.89 rear end and we never had any problems with it. Dad paid $2250 for it and we picked it up April 20th 1961 and traded in his 1955 Plymouth Plaza 2 door sedan. Dad religiously changed the Oil and I got the car in 1968 for graduation. I sold the car in 1969 with 100,000 miles on it when I went into the Navy. Sometimes I still wish I had it, although I really miss my 1964 Galaxie 500 XL Convertible with the 390.

My dad owned a '53 Ford pickup with the last flathead V8. Had drove that truck for almost 20 years. He once told me he was glad to have a '53. The '54 model was noisy since it was an overhead valve design. I was not aware that it had oiling problems on the top end.

I had a 62 Galaxy that had a 292 that ran better than any engine that I ever had. It was the quietest engine I ever heard and I could pretty much start it anytime just by turning the key. I used to have the window down and reach in and turn the key and many people around said they never seen an engine run so good that didn’t have fuel injection.

My dad loved the 292. He stated that their main problem was a lack of lubrication to the rocker arms. But their was a popular workaround that involved running another oil line from the oil sending unit through the valve cover to the rocker arm.

There is a competition for old engines that are hot rodded, they dyno them and there is a Y block builder that either wins or is near the top every year. The engine has a lot of potential.

I have a 57 Thunderbird with the 312 and it was rebuilt by a Ford expert and runs so perfectly and sounds so good with it's unique exhaust note

In 1976, I bought a '56 Ford pickup, with a 292, for $100 from a junk yard. I changed oil and filter, adjusted the valves, installed new valve cover gaskets, tuned it up, and rebuilt the carb. I then drove the truck to work ( 40 miles a day), for over 2 years, ( It never used oil, or let me down). I then sold it to my brother, who used it for another couple more years, then he sold it to a guy that hauled junk. That guy drove it another year before it finally gave up. It had developed an oil leak, and he ran it out of oil. Originally, the guy at the junk yard thought it had a rod out of it, but the solid lifters just needed adjusted. So, I think the "Y" block was fine for it's intended purpose.

Ford always had excellent styling, fantastic interiors, and excellent market planning (who doesn't love the first gen thunderbird), but sometimes they dropped the ball with the mechanical parts and it's a shame. Still, I'd take living with a Y-Block over most modern engine designs that you can't work on.

My family had a camper bus made from an old school bus. 312 ford Y block. At over 100k it would still do over 70 mph with us and all of our boats and gear. Take care of it and it will run a long,long time!

I've got an old Hastings rings basic engine rebuild guideline manual and it lists how to perform all the oiling system fixes for these.

I had both a 292 and a 312 that I cammed and ran headers and 3 deuces on. It was very torquey and could be driven 80+mph all day. I set the valves at regular intervals and made sure that the oiling holes in the rockers aligned with the head. I loved the engines....not a lot of hp but plenty of torque. I always used good oil in them and changed at specified intervals. I always had wanted one with a Paxton on it but they were rare as chicken lips. Both were in 1957 Fords. One went nearly 300,000 miles and the other had a good 200,000+ on it. They used a bit of oil but not enough to have to add between oil changes. I would not classify these engines as "worst' engines at all.

I had two 292s in trucks and really liked the engine. They were durable for us. We rebuilt both engines when we first got the trucks and never had any problems. They were a little tricky to get the cam gears timed correctly when you're putting them together. We would find a exhaust manifold for the left side that dumped out the back and did away with the front crossover pipe.

The Y-block continued on in South America until at least the mid 80's. Sometime in the 70's Ford came out with what they called the phase 2 Y-block which changed the head, intake and exhaust configuration. I run the early version all the time and never have a problem with them.

The oiling kit reminds me of a similar kit that was sold to remedy a problem in the early 80's Honda V4 powered motorcycles. It was found that the oil supply was insufficient in one of the heads (IIRC it was the rear one) when the motorcycle was idling. Although some thought the real problem might have been the cam material was too soft, the result was the same- worn cams. Whatever the case was, the oiling kit would fix it by adding a direct supply to the cam area. EDIT: One other thing, on the quietness of certain engines- there was a mindset in the early decades of automobiles that "quiet = quality" so much effort was spent to make cars, esp luxury cars, to run quietly (even though the concepts are not actually related)

I owned a 1957 Ford Ranchero with the 292 "Thunderbird" V8 engine. Heard stories about lack of oil to the top end so I started it with the valve covers removed. What a mess. OIL EVERYWHERE! A great running engine. With overdrive and the factory 3.89 diff, 20+ MPG at 60 MPH. A friend had a 1954 3/4 ton pickup with the original 239. That was a very reliable engine. The Navy used a mobile generator powered by the Y Block, called the NC-5. No engine problems that I was aware of but they had a bad habit of jumping into gear and racing across the flightline.

The amount of messages beginning with ''My dad had a....'' is amazing, ahh the nostalgia. : )

Anyone remember the Frantz Oil Cleaner? I had a car that had one installed. You would change a roll of toilet paper that filtered the oil. You still had to do oil and filter changes, but at longer intervals.

I have a 1963 f600 . I used it about a year with the 292 i was very impressed with it . It has a dump bed i hauled alot of 6/8 ton loads of gravel with it . It was very impressive for a small engine once it got rolling it wanted to go turning more rpms than i wanted . It had a rear main oil leak when i pulled the main it needed bearings so i found a wrecked 64 with a rebuilt 330. I was told i would be disapointed in the 330 after using the 292. It has about the same power but it dosent want to go like the Yblock did the 292 in a truck needed a governor. I never thought much about the ford Y blocks i always had chevy trucks. I have never heard any thing bad about the Y block from anyone that had and used one. Yes they are very dated today and not much of a build able hotrod engine but in a truck or daily driver there ok. In my mined after running one over 5000 miles hauling heavy loads the Y block will always be one of the best things i ever owned that came form Ford.

These engines are from a simpler time with no smog devices & catalytic converters!!! They were easy to work on too!! Thanks for sharing another interesting porch chat!!! 👍👍

i loved my 292Yblock. I am a solid Chevrolet man, but the sound of a Y block on glass packs just off idle.....Sweet! I agree that the oil requirements were the big challenge with them. If you kept good oil in them and not let them leak, they were great!

Great video Adam! My Dad had that engine in his 61 Ford sedan, I was pretty young but I just remember him very unhappy with that engine. Prior to that he had a 51 Mercury which he absolute loved, I think you described exactly why he was so disappointed after having a flat head in the 51. The 61 Ford ultimately caused him to change his loyalty to Chrysler when he traded it for the 65 Fury III. After that experience, he only bought Chrysler products for the rest of his life.

My dad had a auto repair shop in the 40s thru the 70s. He did a lot of conversions on the the Y block to get oil to the rockers. I remember it had copper tubing being plumed right into the valve covers. I had a few flatheads back in the day..great sounding engine but it had some inherent issues, overheating, burning valves, vapor locking and breathing issues...a bit asthmatic to say the least.

my dad has a 1964 ford fl00 that an uncle bought brand new and its still in the family. It’s mostly dent free but doesn’t look the best visually but it’s all the same original red color but it has a four-speed manual and the 292 y block and man it runs amazingly! has great sounding exhaust, headers and I’m gonna guess like maybe 2 1/2 inch exhaust that goes to two cherry bombs and then turns out right in front of both rear tires sounds so good no H pipe or X pipe or anything. We’ve had that thing loaded down countless times and sometimes much beyond its capacity, you could just tell by how it was sitting so low in the back when loaded down and that engine handled it and still handles it like a champ, Dump runs, hauling wood etc.

Where I grew up it seemed like most of the farm trucks had Y block engines in them and a common modification was to take advantage of the cross over exhaust and run the exhaust pipes out through the hood for use in the wheat fields during harvest time to help to not catch the field on fire while working with the threashers.

My grandpa had a 1956 Ford with a 272. It was a straight 6 3speed column shift, a dealership had replaced the i6 with a v8 before he bought it. When he got it, he put overhead oilers on it. Supposedly it was a wonderful car

The Y block was used in Brazil until around 1977.

My dad had a '55 Fairlane with a 272 Y-block, bought it new, no problems, drove it to the junkyard in '66 due to severe structural rust. He replaced it with a '62 Wagon with a 292 Y-block and with 4 teenage drivers it wasn't babied, no troubles and was sold with well over 100K in '71. A lot of family members owned Y-block '54 -'62 Fords and Mercs that ran fine. The only common issue was failing water pumps at around 40K miles. No problem changing them. Otherwise, they seemed to be very reliable motors. The flatheads had their issues too. I had a '51Merc, '50 and a '51 Ford that had vapor lock and would overheat in hot weather. 265 and 283 Chevy V8's back then leaked oil and some of the gasket material was crap. Mr.Gasket made a fortune with replacement kits.

I've got a lot of experience with y blocks and your take is pretty accurate although I wouldn't call them the worst. If they had today's oils back then they would enjoy a much bigger following now. I've had many over the years and rebuilt correctly they don't suffer any issues with today's oils. Their biggest problem today is their weight and limited displacement potential for the hot rod guys that want a bunch of power. But they were a very solid strong block that wears well with the 292 and 272 being the best for a build having the smaller mains and therefore more meat in the block. Ford Argentina used the Y Block with some locally designed, more typical port heads up into the mid 80s if I remember correctly and were a lot more popular in south America. Thanks for the video.

They are a bullet proof engine. The original "side oiler". The problem with engines back then was sorry oil. When a y-block comes into my machine shop I make sure the #3 cam journal oil groove is deep enough. Back in the day as the camshaft wore into the babbitt bearing material it closed off the shallow oil groove. Plus I block off the oil drain tubes on the rocker shafts to pressurize the rocker arms. Keep quality high zinc oil in these engines and they'll for ever. Two other guru's of these great engines is Tim McMaster owner of Hanford Machine Shop in CA and Ted Eaton of Eaton Balancing in TX. They race these engines........

I owned and drove several Fords with the Y block engine 2 1956's and 2 1957's also a 1962 Ford SW, The Fifty sixes had the Thunderbird 312 ci and the 1957;s had a 292 and a 312 bird, all 4 barrel carbs except the SW .never any major upper engine problems. except they smoked on the vent tube because they did not have a PCV valve...I changed the Oil very often and used a upper Lube for the Valve Train as extra protection, because they were Cast Iron, I ran one 57 low on oil and drove 12 miles home, it got hot but did not lock up...old school but very fun to drive, and with glass packs they sounded great....cheers

The Y, if you choose this mission contact John Mummert and Royce Brechler. Mummert casts aluminum heads and intakes. He can also fix you up with a supercharger intake and with the rear distributor, a. 184 series even fits. Mummert can also get stroker kits and cross bolt mains. The first engine I built was my Dads Y block. The 2x4,ECG cam, heads and intake on a bored and stroked 320 ci. 2x4 intake. BTW the MEL and 385 were bros. The 368 Turnpike Cruiser and FE were bros. The 289 replaced the Y block.

My grandfather gave me my first car a 1955 Ford Customline 2 door. It had the BIG 292 V8 that ran on 6 cylinders most of the time. Grandpop didn't think his "new car" had an oil filter so he never changed it??? God, I loved that man 😀 The first time I removed the oil filter I think it weighed 15 pounds LOL. Being a budding gear head I rebuilt the motor and it ran great, with lots & lots of torque.

Hello Adam I’ve been watching your videos for a while now and you have a fantastic collection of super clean nice original low mileage cars and I particularly like your ford and mercury collection as I’m an avid ford fan well done sir! I have been exposed to the y block at a very young age as my father had bought a tu tone green 55 crown Vic in 1978 in butte Montana with a replacement 292 out of a 59 or 60 ford and all the years he drove it he never once had an issue and it always ran superb. He wanted to rebuild the whole car in 2000 and always wanted a 312 engine and that’s what he’s going to install into it and nothing wrong with the 292 at all. I own a few 59 fords and in the one it came with a 292 it was an oil burner but always started Right up and ran without issues and about 8 years ago I replaced it with a rebuilt 272 a friend was selling out of his 57 ford and all I did was add a holley 600 4 barrel pertronix ignition and I faithfully change oil in it and I’ve never had an issue. No I don’t drive it everyday and only drive it in summer but it performs flawlessly and gives me almost 19 mpg and is an automatic.the 3 major strikes against the y block was the misaligned cam bearings starving the upper portion of the engine for oil the tiny wee oil hole in the cylinder heads that once they clogged up starved the upper portion for Oil the rear main oil seals Would leak on the earlier ones and lastly lack of oil changes coupled with poor oil of the times along with if you drove on lots of gravel roads really shortened the life of them as that oil hole in the head would plug up even quicker. Other than that they are a good engine that gives decent performance and will last quite a long time if looked after properly. Yes it was quite the transition from the flathead and guys were likely shocked at this new fang dangled v8 but ford needed to put some power into there cars and get with the times as overhead valve v 8s were beginning to be the norm. Thanks for your video and I too would not consider a y block a worst engine as they for the most part got largely misunderstood.

I have a 57 Monarch with a 312 Y block and had the car since 86 and it's been a reliable engine never let me down all those years, the previous owner had the engine rebuilt with 30 over pistons at around 75,000 miles and have just over 90,000 miles on the car now.

I had a 1961 Ford Falcon with the 144 cid straight six that my grandfather originally purchased. It had the same issue with upper engine lubrication. My grandfather used non-detergent oil for the 10 years he owned it and the oil passage to the rocker arms was completely blocked. The crankcase was also full of sludge from the non-detergent motor oil. I remember my Dad putting some kerosene in the crankcase and running the engine up to temperature, then draining the oil. It came out in lumps. But to Ford's credit that little motor never left me stranded.

My great uncle had a sedan with the 292 . It had 120K on it with just tune ups ,oil changes two water pumps and a valve job.

Nice info thanks.. I think despite these oiling issues they were still incredible workhorse motors that powered America in many forms for many years, many with minimal maintenance or care. They soldiered on until they died literally. Kinda like the late 2 valve Triton motors in school buses and work trucks around the country..

Well after Ford introduced the 352 in 1958, they radically detuned the 292 and it was also Ford's last year for the 312 (used in some Mercurys). I had 6 312s in my life--three 1956 T-Birds and three 1957 T-Birds. They were fantastic engines. When restoring this 6 cars, I rebuilt each engine. I also had one of those radically detuned 292s in a 1960 Mercury, and it sucked. Yes, they had oiling problems because of two things: 1. People just refuse to maintain their cars, always have, always will. And since these engines had solid lifters, people typically used non-detergent oils. Bad idea. If you changed the oil and filter every 2000 miles and used a high grade detergent oil, you will probably never have trouble with upper oiling problems. Just about every year I made the 4500 mile round trip from Tucson to the Twin cites area via Denver with my T-Birds.

Built a y block 312 few years back, converted the rocker shaft assembly to full pressure setup. Lots of parts from Mummert's - was really happy with how it turned out.

I had a project pick up as a teen in high school. 59 F100. Had a 292 in it that snapped the cam and sent it through one of the Pistons. Interesting to learn about the cam oiling I had no idea and certainly didn't at the time. High School shop class I pulled the motor and got a donor 239 and had it bored for 272 and reuse the 292 heads.

In my youth I had a 62 F-100 with a 292 in it. It had its issues just like any engine in those days , that all engines had. No PVC system so engines slugged up big time, no matter the manufacture as people got used to using detergent oils and changing oil and filters together at the same time. The Y-block engine was pretty much indestructible but the big issue with them was the intake port design which was offset 90 degrees , top n bottom compared to the small block Chevy and Chrysler that where side by side. Who in the hell came up with that stupid intake port design and thought it was good is beyond me. If the YBlock had a side by side intake port design it would have made a lot more horsepower. Another issue was the Y-Blocks that I’ve worked on is after a long time the distributor in the back was notorious for sticking solid to the block, we’d have to get a big pipe wrench on them to get them unstuck. Other then these issues it was a good engine and would take a hell of a beating and keep on ticking.

I never thought much of the Y Bock engines, due to what I witnessed back when the cars were 10 to 20 yrs old. They leaked oil, burned oil, had burned valves, etc. The Chevy 283, in comparison were fantastic used cars when I was in High School. That was the beginning of the 1957 Chevy becoming the icon that it is today. So, I never cared for the Y Blocks, but then 4 years ago, I bought a 1957 Ford Skyliner with the 312 Y Block. While I drive it very little, and I assume that the engine has been rebuilt, it starts amazingly fast, runs very smooth, has good power, and I absolutely love the sound of the exhaust. I have heard different theories as to why it sounds sort of like a Harley Davidson motorcycle, including the exhaust manifolds paring of the exhaust, and or the firing order, and others. I am not sure what the reason or reasons are? But with the Flamethrower mufflers (not loud - just a nice note), the exhaust sounds so cool under moderate acceleration. Do you have any thoughts on the exhaust sound? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dRovukgDiU0.html

My dad said a problem with the Y blocks is that they had solid lifters. He told how wonderful the FE engines were in 58 with hydraulic lifters. It eliminated all the valve clatter.

Got an original Y-block in my 59 F100. It did spin a bearing and block oil on one side. Broke one exhaust pushrod and bent one intake. Sent exhaust through the carburetor and lit the air filter on fire. We rebuilt the engine and heads, bored it out, bigger cam, safe valve seats for ethanol, mummert 4 barrel intake, msd electronic ignition and long tube headers and reground crank. 550 4 barrel Edelbrock. It sounds and drives really nice.

To be fair, Ford came very close to ditching their V8 altogether, a last minute decision spared it. Imagine the disaster that would have ensued if they had been stupid enough to actually not have a V8 only to be completely slaughtered by Chevrolet in 1955. Maybe a bad V8 was better than no V8. Even as a child, I hated the sound of the Y-block and its whiny starter. I loved the FE block, when tuned it was a really sweet engine.

My Dad was born in '29 and had first hand experience with them. He told me about having to install side oilers. He hated these engines, but had almost always driven Fords up to this point. He said he owned a couple with 292's and one 312. He told me he avoided the Y block because of his bad experiences with them. From talking with him, I gathered that a lot of people had the same opinion of them.

Loving this channel, you do a great service talking about the heydays and malaise days of all the great American automakers. I really enjoy hearing you talk about these engines, cars, etc.

I owned a 64 pickup w/292. Ran great. Hauled a lot of firewood and pulled a loaded trailer often. Sweet old truck that I enjoyed. I seen many with the rocker oiling kits but mine didn’t need it. I ran 10w40 valvoline. It did leak but not “terrible”.

GM came out with their small block at the same time. The venerable small block served as the yardstick against which all other engines were compared for such a long time. The GM smallblock greatly overshadowed the Y block. However, as others have said here, detergent motor oils were a new thing in 1954. If you used the best oils available at the time, the Y block was decently reliable compared to other engines you could have owned in 1954. I think people initially approached the Y block the same way they did the flathead it replaced, which would run on just about any flammable liquid laced full of dirt and twigs, and also just about any oil suitable for the ambient temperature. Sort of how we got used to conventional oil in engines from the 70s and 80s and had to switch to synthetic in the 90s and 2000s as many cars went to overhead cams, variable valve timing, auto lash adjusters, etc.

The forgotten Ford motor they didn't get much love but they did redeem themselves with the FE which won everything in motor racing.

I've got a 32 Ford street rod, real steel not a kit car. It has a 57 Thunderbird driveline which is a 312 Y Block. Your video hit good as now I know what to look for. It was my dad's car and he is gone so I'm learning as much about it as I can thru vintage service manuals and your video. I noticed with valve covers off it's no real wet in there so I'll check the oiling system. It does run great though.

The "Y" blocks were great engines. The Fords benefited from having a 3-speed automatic transmission, although until 1956 or the 1958 Cruise-O-Matic, they normally started in 2nd gear. With the Lo position, it allowed the fords to move off the line quicker than a Chevrolet with a PowerGlide. OK, the "Y" blocks were very reliable and long-lasting engines. Their life and reliability depended on a large part to regular maintenance. We resurrected a 1960 Ford Sunliner a few years ago. It pretty much had sat at a vacation home, rarely driven, for the last 50 years when we got it. The top-end was slugged up and we had to pull the heads and do a valve job. We used to see lot's of much newer slugged up engines, and it wasn't from not using detergent oils. Nearly everytime, we found that they had used Penzoil and changed it at factory intervals. It was the ash in the oil. Not so much a problem with Quaker State and NEVER a problem with Castrol, Valvoline or other Western oils. Well, after the valve job, the engine ran like new(the car didn't have that many miles on it). At the same time, I pulled and resealed the Cruise-O-Matic transmission. As these used metallic clutches, they were in great shape, so I re-used them. The lined bands were replaced, as well as all the gaskets and seals. After that job, I took on a 1956 Ford T-bird, with a 312 V8 and Ford-O-Matic. After disassembling the engine, everything looks good, but the customer wanted it rebuilt. Everything was within tolerances so the engine was cleaned up and new rings and bearings were installed. The heads got hardened valve seats for the unleaded fuel. Again all the transmission internals were in great shape, so all it got was new bands, seals and gaskets. The similar Lincoln and Mercury Turnpike Cruiser 368 V8 was also a good engine. The only reason it was replaced was because of it had run it's course, plus the cubic inch and horsepower race was full blown. The "Y" blocks came to an end and the 292 was probably used last in the Ford F-100 pick-up. Many are still on the road due to the interest in early-60's Ford pick-ups. Ford needed a physically smaller engine to fit into the smaller cars at the dawn of the new compacts. Chevy already had the smallblock and Chrysler came up with the new LA engines, Ford followed suit. The new 260 Ford V8 showed-up in Fords compact cars first. It was also the first engine used in the Cobras and Sunbeam Tigers. Because it could hold it's own, it replaced the old 292 "Y" blocks. In 1965, it grew to 289 c.i. and then went into most Ford and Mercury's as their base V8 engine, including full-sized cars and pick-ups. The next generation brought the legendary 302 V8. I believe that Ford still manufactures them, but they were replaced by Ford's modular OHC engines. No. The "Y" block was a legendary and excellent engine. It was only hampered by physical dimensions and dated technology. Oh, the "flathead" Ford V8's can easily be modified to give reliable 210-250 horsepower. There is nothing like the exhaust note of a "flathead". Be sure to congratulate a person who has a vintage Ford with atleast a genuine Ford powertrain!

I disagree... the Y block has been extremely fun to work on and repair, as long as you kept oil changes on time, and used Halvoline over some shitty quaker state.

Thanks for the tip. I am having my 272 V8 rebuilt in my 57 F250 so will talk to the builder about this.

I have had quite a few Ford machines in my day. I was always amazed how many different families of engines Ford had. They all had their idiosyncrasy’s. It’s like they were trying to “re-invent the wheel” with all of them. Especially the FE series which I had the most experience with. They never seemed to get the details right. For example the oil ports from the oil pump were gently sloped and the holes in the block were straight holes that were not even close to matching the ports. Then, the rocker shafts and the head returns would flood without proper drain back. In their infinite wisdom they decided to route the oil to the cam first instead of the mains. The trick is to put a large Holley jet in each head oil journal to slow down the flow.

You are blowing smoke again,the oiling problem came from misalignment of the oil hole to it's mate in the head. I took the heads off and oblonged the oil passage hole and problem solved.

My dad had a 1955 mercury with a 292. He bought it new and in a short time became very noisy. Turned out that it had the cam bearing problem you mentioned. They replaced the engine and it had well over 100.000 miles on it when he sold it. Other than a lot of blow by, it still ran like new.

My Dad was a construction equipment mechanic and had the opportunity to buy a 1954 F-100 ford pickup with the 239 V-8 and a trashed ford-a-Matic transmission from his employer for $100.00. The pickup had been sitting out in the yard for a few years and those old-time mechanics were beyond petrified of anything with an automatic transmission. A few of those old boys found a transmission in one of the sheds that would bolt up and Dad bought the non-synchromesh tranny for real cheap and installed it. Sold the pickup to my oldest brother for $100.00 -- My oldest brother spray painted it outside on a nearly windless day (Turned out surprisingly well.) After a few years, my next older brother bought it for $100.00 and drove it for a year or so. A few years later I bought it for $100.00 and learned to drive that transmission with no synchromesh. I left the pickup in my Dad's driveway when I joined the Marines in 1966 and he sold it for $50.00 lol. We never had any problems with the engine, but we always kept up on the proper oil changes. Driving a pickup with a non-syncromesh transmission is let's say.. A challenge.

The 317 Y block came out in 1952 and topped out with the 368 Turnpike Cruiser. I was a kid replacing the Y block with a 368. It came with 3 2V cars, and we changed the intake and in a 57 Ford 2 dr HT. It was FLMs first OHV, and were used in trucks for the N series until 1964 I believe. You could shave the heads and they had surprisingly good ports. The oddness of the Y block is unexplainable. The 368 when worked on it was wow!

Those minor issues aren't really enough to make it bad, plenty of good engines have had design flaws and after they were fixed were great. Like the Ford FE which is known for tending to bend pushrods

That was good. Thanks to RU-vid and if anybody remembers the movie "It's a mad mad mad mad world", the engine on the chain hoist that Jonathan Winters smashed through the garage door of that service station he destroyed was a Y block.

The problem is you were not there in the 1950's. The Y-block was the first low cost overhead valve V8 that could be purchased on an average budget. Viewed with today's technology it might look bad. In the 1950's compared with other engines, it was a fantastic engine. I had a 57 with a 312. There wasn't hardly anything in stock form that didn't watch my tail lights.

Great vid! Dad and I built a 312 for a hardtop retractable. If I remember correctly it had a McColoch (sure i spelled that wrong!) Supercharger. The guy drove 2k mi to get NOS. Funny how Chevy and Ford were the " only ones on the planet " when Chrysler brands had hemis from 1952 up along with polysphere motors that flattened any of these for reliability and power all thru the 1950's and are still burning nitro today with 1950's Chrysler iron blocks, heads, and cranks! The oldest continuously running rails are two called "Sibling Rivalry" that use injected nitro 1950's DESOTO hemis! They said about every 2 years if they're bored they tear them down in the winter to check things out. Mopar had no heavy industrial or truck engine line so those motors had to get your lobster boat home and make your crane dig for thousands of hours. Same for big blocks!

Still running a 272 in a '55 Country Sedan. Stock 2bbl paired up with 3speed + od. Always used good oil, never a problem. Only problem is the steering box, the adjustment is maxed and I haven't been able to find renewed or better shape manual steering box

Ford survived the late 50’s because of the aesthetic appeal of their cars, not their build quality or design excellence. The introduction of the FE engine also helped drag Ford into the 60’s in one piece.

in my moms 56 ford town car was a 292 cid y block. we drove that car well into the mid 70''s with no major breakdowns. it was a automatic also with no problems.

A mentor of mine used to street race (and track?) a 292 Y in a '62 Galaxie. He never said anything about the mill, but he said he went through many standard transmissions. He was a pretty serious racer. In '74 he found a '70 Cougar Eliminator he still has I think. Started w/the orig. Cleavland then later went to a monstrous 460 w/Chrysler 440 rods. It lifts the front off the ground by about a foot. Enough about me...GREAT video!

Another great history video. My experience with the Y-Block engine was when I was running and detailing cars on a small car lot in the 'late '60s. We had a couple, maybe three of these engines come in various Fords that had the oiling problem. At the time and the condition of each of the cars, nothing was done and they were sold as is. Sure interesting to look at a cylinder head that had no oil on it. It is beyond me why Ford dumped the 332 FE motor that was only out for '58 & '59. That would have been a much better engine that the 292 they kept until 1964. More torque and power and quiet. They could have even kept the Y-Block 312 instead of the 292. I drove some 292's and 312's. The 312 was far superior in every way. Or even the Lincoln 317 to have a smaller V8 heading into the '60s. The 292 was a powerless gas hog. I drove a 352-2bbl '62 Ford Galaxie and that was far better than the Y-Block and more economical in the real world that I drove in. Ford had many mistakes that kept them in the number 2 position and this IMO was one of them. Who would want a 1961 Mercury Monterey with a 292, not me.

I had a 292 back in the day. My dad was a Ford guy. In those days engine rings only lasted about 80,000 miles. Getting 100,000 was considered a feat. Rebuilding engines was common. During this time I remember Ford's reputation for reliability was poor. Not only did the 292 engine need overhead oilers, but the shaft from the distributor that drove the oil pump had a tendency to break. My 292 thru a rod. I was so impressed with ford, I didn't have another for 50 years.

I have a 1964 Ford f250 with the Y-Block and it is one of the best engines that I have driven. I bought the truck from my Dad in 1980 when I graduated from High School and I am still driving this truck. I have updated the 2 bbl. to a 4 bbl. I have headers and went with the 373 ratio differential. I have a simple electronic ignition. I have bought parts off LMC. It is a great engine and a well built truck.

Many years ago I was at a Drag strip in North Carolina (I can't remember the name right now) and there was this black 55 T Bird blowing peoples doors off and pulling the left front wheel when it left the line . It had a supercharged Y block in it . That thing sounded so different that the other cars I was very impressed with that machine . Some one really knew their shit about those Y blocks .

And the have those lovely mushroom lifters...

Adam, I think you are firing out the videos this weekend just to keep yourself warm. 😉

My Dad and I both had 1955 Mercury's with the 292 Y block engines. Mine ended up with a bad cylinder that passed oil and his had a bad cam. He bought his new. Mine was two years old. We always kept the oil clean and changed. I didn't buy Fords for many years after that, but Dad was an old died in the wool Ford fan and went on to suffer more headaches with other Ford's. I believe it was more a matter of quality control than that of design. Some had good luck with them.

The first thing mentioned regarding oiling problems in this ‘worst’ Ford engine is owner negligence i.e. using non-detergent oil. Next was badly-installed bearings in rebuilt samples. Sounds like the engine itself was a good design, save for the crossover exhaust pipe.

Seems Ford has a LOT of trouble with keeping their engines properly oiled... This motor, the early FE's, that 3-valve Triton motor in the 2004-08 F-Series trucks... How does Ford keep making that mistake?

You have to go thru about 5 flatheads to find 1that doesn't have a cracked block somewhere. That's 1 of the 2 or 3 big reasons why the hotrodding community kicked it to the curb for the SBC.

Old guy here who played with a lot of Y-Blocks back in the day. Biggest drawback was the stacked port arrangement and weight. The heads just did not flow as well as the SBC. Oiling was only a problem if your engine builder screwed up and did not clock the bearings correctly ... Up through 292, they had forged cranks and could handle big power increases like blowers. But all the good parts came from the marine industry. Crusader and Interceptor had aluminum timing covers, better intakes, and good cams. Isky made the best valve train parts. You are partially wrong about lasting a long time. The tooling was shipped to Ford South America (Brasil) and the engine was continually developed up to vertical port heads, etc. Now days all the best parts for Y blocks come from South America via the aftermarket as so many of these engines are still running (and racing) down there.

Great info! I have 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 with 292. Lubrication issue. No oil going to left side of engine. Thanks for help!

thanks for the history lesson