Disassembly and Salvage of a Y Block Ford V8 Engine Core
- Daniel Jessup
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
You may be tempted to scrap the engine, but consider what all can be saved!
"Hello, my name is Dan and I am addicted to engine parts..."
That may sound like the introduction to a Car Parts Anonymous meeting, but I have to admit it is partially true. For some reason, the hobby provides a means of relaxation when disassembling and evaluating engines, sub-assemblies, and most anything bolted to an old car. Lately it has been the carburetor scene that has filled up my time in the garage - especially those pesky Holley 4000's.
I have really lost track in counting how many Y Block Ford V8's I have completely disassembled over the years, but the count has to be very high. In my opinion, they are all worth the effort of trying to save them - as much as possible. However there are times when damage, neglect, or downright abuse will render a core useless.
Or will it?
For those that are following the 342 c.i. Y Block stroker build here on the website and the YouTube channel, you are aware that I will be taking the 292 c.i. engine out of my 1955 Ford Fairlane and transfer it to my engine run stand. This will be a suitable project for testing intakes, carburetors, and aftermarket assemblies that bolt to our beloved Y. The block I delivered to Tim McMaster was just that - a block. I do have some rotating parts like the crankshaft, flywheel, etc, but for the most part, I need quite a few pieces of other hardware - timing cover, bolts, brackets, and all the rest. Where better to acquire all of those items than from a core engine?
These days, the best place online to find such deals are on Facebook Marketplace. Even here in the Antelope Valley and LA County, California, where it seems that time passed us by many years ago, you can find a plethora of listings of old car parts and engines on Marketplace.
While scrolling through some high-priced offerings for the Y Block on Marketplace some time ago, I came across a few listings that seemed reasonable. One listing was in the Santa Clarita area, about an hour's drive from me, and the price was only $150 for what looked to be an excellent core 272 c.i. that had been diassembled by the owner.
Photos of the 272 c.i. engine in Santa Clarita made it look very promising.
I arranged for a late night stop to throw everything in the back of my mini-van and was very happy to discover that I had landed on a "Y marks the spot" kind of treasure. Most everything was in excellent shape and already disassembled. The cranshaft and block were quite clean and the cylinders showed very little to no wear.
The parts from the Santa Clarita Y Block were very clean.
This was pretty easy - all the parts were quite clean, everything diassembled and tidy, and the whole deal was just effortless on my part. I stowed away the ECG-C heads, the EC crankshaft, the EBU rods, and the ECG block, waiting until the next time I would take a trip to Tim McMaster in Hanford, California, to deliver those H beam connecting rods and get going again on my 342 c.i. stroker build.
Around the same time I discovered the core engine in Santa Clarita, another block in Upland came across my feed. Upland is roughly two and a half hours away from me. This block was a short block, meaning no cylinder heads attached, and was again only $150. The rotating assembly of the ECG block was free, and this looked to be a truck engine at one time from the timing cover and the oil pan. There were also some loose parts with this one that made it a good deal for me.
All kinds of goodies came with the Y Block core located in Upland!
While communicating with the owner of the Y Block in Upland, another Y Blocker who was a friend of the owner contacted me to offer his long block. He said it was a 292 (turned out to be a third ECG block), and the offer was so good I did not feel like I could turn it down. If you watch the first video in the series below you will discover that both blocks were delivered to my house in the same truck.
Arrangements were made - I sent a deposit of half down, the remainder on delivery, to the owner and we were all on the same page. The seller of the long block was good friends with the owner of the Upland Y Block so it all worked out just fine. I did think to myself though - what am I going to do with THREE Y Block cores now?
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The second Y Block near Upland was a little more complete but locked up.
The condition of the blocks, three in a row, went from wonderful to awful very quickly. Fooling around with engine cores can be like a box of chocolates - you never know what you are going to get. And when you open one up you can be very surprised! For the short block core, there were no surprises, diassembly went rather well and all the parts were in decent shape. I was surprised to see that like the first ECG block, the main bearings and the connecting rod bearings showed little wear. Those two blocks' crankshaft journals had no ridges anywhere, and they both looked like they could be reconditioned with little fanfare. Even the oil pans were in good shape with no dents and no damage.
On to the long block core that needed to be completely disassembled. What a whopper! One item worth noting for any of us that get into this kind of thing - you have no idea what previous owners have done to their Y Block over the years. I have NEVER disassembled a Y Block in the past 30 years that did not have a combination of parts from different years. I have seen so many mismatched heads, bolts in the wrong places, mismatched intake/heads, problems with gaskets, and enough silicone to fill a Permatex factory. It can be quite the head scratcher as to what people were thinking back in the day.
The third ECG block was cast at the Dearborn foundry, making it a block originally for truck use. However, we had ECZ-C heads, a 1960 two barrel carburetor intake manifold, and a few other oddities. Before we get into the results of this teardown, let me give a few tips...
Secure your block. - saftey is job one. Stay away from chinesium engine stands.
Drain all fluids. Evaluate all fluids - they will tell you a story.
Keep from using an impact. If you tear down by wrench and ratchet you can easily discover problems with stripped threads, bolts, hardware, etc.
Clean and Organize all hardware. I am probalby OCD on this one, but it goes without saying that there are many parts peculiar to the Y Block that NO ONE is reproducing. Consider camshaft washers, intake studs, intake clam shell washers, etc. Keep track of it.
Examine each part and sub-assembly as you remove them. Again, the engine will tell you a lot about its history - especially the wear on bearings, the wear on rocker arm tips, etc. This core actually had an excellent phenolic spacer that I ended up saving for the future, it had no damage and was easy to clean up. The spacer also had a PCV port.
Use some heat. Distributors can be the worst, but heat will always help the situation!
If considering a rebuild of the engine, consider the cost.
It appeared that the block was used to anchor a yacht off Laguna Beach!
Concerning number 7 above, when I posted the videos to the Y Block Facebook group and the YouTube channel, the armchair warriors came out in force to tell me that I needed to save the block. While that would have been admirable, none of them were willing to send me the money to pay for SLEEVING 7 of the 8 CYLINDERS! Imagine that. This block was not just seized up in the cylinders but it also had heavy corrosion in the water jackets. There was very little cylinder wall thickness left. There was just no sense in saving this one - I already had the other two 272's that Tim could take and bore to standard 292 size. Sleeving this last 272 was just not worth it.
However, I was able to save the crankshaft, and my was it ever in good shape.
The crankshaft on the final 272 was in very good shape and able to be removed.
I fought with the stuck pistons for a few days - white vinegar, etc. Everyone has their own elixir. One well-meaning fellow wanted me to submerse the whole block in a vat of molasses. I know that would work... but not happening here in the neighborhood. Nor do I have an engine hoist at this time. Plus, with how thin the cylinder walls were, why go through the hassle?
I decided to try to remove the crankshaft. How the rods were in such a good position for all rod caps to not only be accessed but also removed, I have no idea. I was able to remove one of the piston/rod assemblies, but still, I thought it was a major accomplishment to be able to save the crankshaft. I could tell it was in good shape because the bearings in the main caps I removed all looked to be in very good condition. It appeared that a previous owner had the bottom end gone through at some point in the life of the old Y.
I never did mic any of the rotating assembly parts. Knowing that I was going to just carry it all up to Hanford Auto Supply and give it to Tim for his assessment kept me from doing much more than quickly analyzing whether to save each item I disassembled.
For those following the 342 c.i. stroker engine build, I do believe I am now at a point where I have all the extra hardware I need to completely outfit the engine without robbing my 292 that is currently in the 1955 Ford Fairlane. And... I was able to sell a few of the parts from the cores so that I could essentially get my money back from the purchases.
I did make three videos about the teardown of the frozen 272 ECG block. Enjoy.
The Hot Rod Reverend
aka Daniel Jessup