A Visit with the Y Block Guy and Hanford Auto Supply/Machine Shop

Around the world there are three men who are best known for their work in building reliable, high-performance, Y Block Ford V8 engines. Their expertise is legendary. Their knowledge as machinists, engine builders, and performance enthusiasts goes well above and beyond the average mechanic. These three men are Ted Eaton, John Mummert, and Tim McMaster, otherwise known as The Y Block Guy. There are other men who are very knowledgeable and do a terrific job at building Y Block V8's in stock, street performance, and race forms, but there is little doubt that the these three men are the most well known.

In 2023, I had the privilege of meeting Ted Eaton at his shop in Lorena, Texas, and spent an entire afternoon looking at his current engine builds, Y Block inventory, and tools of the trade. That visit is archived in this article. I have raced against Ted in the quarter mile in bracket racing as well; and I count him a dear friend. Through the last several years in my engine building and wrenching in the garage I have also tapped John Mummert for advice. In addition, I have purchased parts from John such as his unmatched aluminum intake manifold, a high performance camshaft (for my 312 build), and other parts. I am still trying to talk him out of his long tube headers that Jerry Jardeen fabricated over a decade ago. I do not know if that will ever happen. Living out here in California, I do hope to visit his shop in El Cajon sometime in the future.

Over the years, Tim McMaster was another "Y Block Buddy" I made through phone calls, emails, and messages. We have swapped parts several times. If you have been following the blog for a few years then you are also aware that Tim has my rotating assembly at his shop in Hanford for balancing. (More on that 312 build in a later blog post!)

Tim relaxes for a few moments at Bonneville in his record setting Y Block powered roadster.

Tim McMaster is known for holding the record for the fastest Y Block ever at 196 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He told me that the car has been over 200 mph but not clocked officially at that speed. The last time he was out at Bonneville when the car spun out because of hitting debris on the track, in the middle of the spin he was clocked at 195 mph. There is no doubt the car has hit over 200 mph. The Y Block Guy will hit the salt flats once again this August during a return to Bonneville.

The reason for the visit to Hanford Auto Supply and Machine was twofold. One, to get with Tim on the C2AE block and my build up of a high performance, streetable Y Block and Two, to get a brief tour of the shop and take some video. Late in the fall of 2024 I had made a quick stop at his shop just for fun but knew that he was out of town at the time. The schedules just did not line up. I happened to be traveling through town on a church ministry trip and thought I would stop by.

An earlier visit to the shop late in the fall of 2024 just did not include an alignment of schedules.

Thankfully, the Monday afternoon just after Easter afforded me some time to travel north a few hours from Lancaster, California up to Hanford. I made sure to put the C2AE block in the back of the van just to have Tim take a look at it, expecting that we would also give some advice on the rotating assembly I had sent a couple years back (yes, it has been that long!) and go over a gameplan to get things going during the summer months.

The C2AE block was carried up to Hanford Auto Supply & Machine for an assessment.

When I arrived at the shop, Tim was hard at work but came out quickly for a greeting and a shop tour. There are many photos and videos on Tim's personal social media pages and especially the one for Hanford Auto Supply on Facebook, but my favorite pictures have got to be the customers' engines on display near the entrance to the sales floor. Obviously, there are a number of Y Block Ford and Mercury V8's in the queue, but Tim works on all makes an models. There is an SBC in line on the sales floor, a Willys block back in the room where he does most of the head work, Flatheads, FE series blocks and parts, and many more makes of various engines.

The engines awaiting delivery to customers are always on display on the sales floor.

Tim has been working at the shop for about 40 years. This is the place where as an apprentice he learned machine work, beginning with balancing crankshafts. The building has a wonderful historical significance as well - the original building was built in 1907, mostly made up of bricks salvaged from the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1905. Over the years, it was added onto a few times and the remnants of certain aspects remain (such as a paint booth, GM dealership offices, auto parts sales floor, etc). Several years back or more, Tim purchased the shop and is now the owner/operator of an establishment that carries a very good reputation in machine work. That reputation is not only locally known and celebrated, but the notoriety extends to all parts of the United States and around the world. The Y Block Guy's commitment to integrity and detail certainly show in the satisfied customers and personal accomplishments. I was humbled to spend time with a man that is dedicated to his craft.

These days, the business functions primarily as a machine shop. The Y Block Guy has some excellent equipment - all kinds of quality mills, lathes, and grinders. From beginning to end, any machine shop implement one would need to build an engine from the oil pan to the carb is all there; and the equipment is well maintained and serviced as well.

In addition to being an Offenhauser dealer, Tim has many parts on display on the sales floor.

Yep, the Y Block Guy knows crankshafts!

A bare Y Block setup on the machine to align hone the mains...

Space in the shop is also dedicated to Tim's collection of cars from Model A's, to a front engine dragster, the unibody F100 race truck, to his most recent acquisition of a 1964 Ford Galaxie.

I will have to say that a highlight of the tour was hearing Tim fire up the Y Block in the Front Engine Dragster. There is some footage of that in the video at the end of this post - I hope you enjoy it.

The C2AE block was left in the capable hands of Tim McMaster, the Y Block Guy.

The visit ended with a suggestion from Tim to build the C2AE block out to 342 c.i. "Everyone has a recipe to build a Y Block, and I think this one is pretty good." He went over a few specs - increase the stroke on the 312 crank by going with a 2.00 rod measure, grind down the mains to 292 size, use custom pistons from Racetech, and H-beam rods from Mummert. (Separate articles will cover this build and give full specs as we move along.) Still under the influence of the exhaust fumes from the dragster's Y Block and feeling the reverb from the sound of those pipes I said, "That sounds great!"

Tim went over some things he feels we need to do to the block - align hone the mains, deck the block, and ensure that we are good on all four corners. He mentioned that although Y Blocks are certainly strong on the bottom end every block tends to warp over the years. Of course, the cylinders will need to be bored to 3.875 (right now they are at 3.830) for those custom pistons with metric rings, but it does appear that we are forging ahead with a game plan that will give more horses and more torque overall.

I do plan to make at least a couple of visits back to Hanford Auto Supply this summer as we go through the build, take ample pictures and shoot quite a bit of video, and document the build series for us here on the website and the YouTube channel. For now, allow me to leave you with a link to a video that has already received thousands of views on my channel. I am sure you will enjoy the tour of the shop and the time well spent with The Y Block Guy!

The Hot Rod Reverend

aka Daniel Jessup