The YouTube channel had over 28,000 views in December alone!
@HotRodReverend
I have been amazed as of late to see how well the Hot Rod Reverend channel has taken off. My most recent video on the "Seven Deadly Sins of the Y Block Ford V8" has already tripped 9,000 views and we are not yet at the two week upload window. For the channel overall, the comments, likes, and subscriptions have dramatically increased as well and as of this writing I am at 1,600+ subscribers. I believe a "thank you" is in order to all of you that frequent this website and my blog. HotRodReverend.com averages over 2,000 visits a month. Since its inception I never wanted to finance the site with the ads that many of us see on other sites. I do have an expense of several hundred dollars a year to have the domain, the website account, etc, but I try to cover all of that with selling parts or my digital downloads for the manuals. With YouTube I am kind of stuck - no one can really get away from the ads. All that works to my favor however, for now that the channel is monetized I do receive a little bit each month via Google AdSense. I am putting this back into the website of course. So, every view counts - if you have not already done so, visit the channel, subscribe, and share the videos. Your effort will keep everything going.
Seven Deadly Sins of Your Y Block Build
Search YouTube all you want but you will find that content for the Ford Y Block V8 is very scant. Thankfully, my friend Tim McMaster, the Y Block Guy, has had a YouTube channel for quite some time and has some very helpful videos. John Mummert, known for his work in making aftermarket parts such as the legendary aluminum heads and intakes, also has a channel cranking out videos that gives tech tips on building 292's and 312's. It is amazing to me that Tim only has 2700 subscribers and Mummert has not even clicked over 2000 yet. While all of this may seem to be a moot point and some of our readers may wonder what the big deal would be, the fact remains that businesses and companies who manufacturer and sell parts for our cars and trucks watch such things. As much as the Y Block can be in the main stream, be it on a website, in print, or on social media, all of it combines to keep the industry moving. Keeping the interest up will continue to put parts on the shelves. I could go into the very recent dilemma about camshaft blanks and some of the problems with manufacturing right now, but let me stay on point with the title of this section.
So what are the Seven Deadly Sins for the Y Block V8? Let me briefly list them in no apparent priority but in the order they are shown in the video:
Mismatched Head Bolts. Early on, there were only two lengths of head bolts, one for the bottom row and one for the top row. In 1957, Ford lengthened the two outer head bolts on the top row. Do not mix these up - you will bottom out and not get enough clamping force.
Head Gasket Misalignment. This is best seen in the video, but you need to ensure that the stamped word "Front" is at the front of each head. Sounds simple, but it will look a little different becuase there will be a 90 degree corner near the intake ON BOTH HEADS.
New Cam/Old Lifters. If you install a new camshaft, then you must install new lifters or at least have your lifters resurfaced. Mechanical flat tappet cams are "mated" at the very beginning of engine life as each lobe mates with each respective lifter face.
Timing Gears Misoriented. The timing gears on a Y Block are unique. The cam gear must be installed with the timing dot at the 3 o'clock position and the crank gear installed with 12 timing chain pins between the dots on the cam and crank gears.
Rear Main Seal Installed Incorrectly. The lip of the two piece seal must face towards the inetrior of the block.
Mismatched carburetor/distributor. I have covered this in another blog post that included the history of Y Block distributors. Pre-1957 distributors did not have mechanical advance and were matched to the carburetors that sent the correct vacuum signal.
Misaligned Intake Ports. This can be easily caused by using early heads with later intakes and vice/versa. There were three separate sizes of intake ports. The 1954 versions were extremely small. If you install a "B" intake or even a 1957+ two barrel intake you are guaranteed to have vacuum leaks.
There are certainly other "sins" that are easily committed when building or maintaining a Y Block Ford V8 but I thought these were the most common. Much of the issue concerns mechanics unfamiliar with the engine series or new owners of 50's Ford and Mercury cars and trucks that take things for granted. Overtorqueing the main caps, removing the original downdraft tube without providing for PCV, using long bolts at the rear of the head that hit a push rod, and so much more could be added.
The next video will be "Three Heavenly Upgrades for a Righteous Y Block V8" - you will have to wait until next time to know my top three. (And no, it's not a particular brand or weight of oil lol.)
Although it looked clean, the Holley 4000 needed some TLC to get back on the road.
Holley 4000 Trouble
I get calls and emails from across the country these days concerning the Holley 4000 four barrel carburetor, otherwise known as the teapot, haystack, or towering inferno by many in a bygone era. I have rebuilt, adjusted, tinkered, and handled quite a few of these oddball carbs over the years. My only claim to any fame would be that the 1956 Fords in the moving "Loving" had Holley 4000's rebuilt by yours truly. The owner of the cars, Wayne Francis, had contacted me way back when I lived in West Virginia to rebuild his ECZ variants and I was glad to do it. There is only a scene or two in that movie when a hood is popped open but you really cannot see too much. The 56 Fords were powered by their Y Blocks and my teapot rebuilds all throughout the scenes that were shot for production though.
Since my move to California, I have technically not been able to set up shop since I am in a lease on a house here in Lancaster until my wife and I find a place we want to purchase. The interest rates have been to high anyway since we moved out west. Another reason for not being able to take on all-out rebuilds would have to do with the limited time I get in the garage these days. Hopefully that can improve in 2025. However, I have been able to tinker a bit and get a few things done here and there.
All 1956 Ford Thunderbirds were shipped from the factory with a Holley 4000.
The irony in the way my new friend and I met each other has to do with the website blog. He was searching for some help online, ran across my website, and then discovered that not only did I live in the same city but he had just started attending again the church where I serve (Lancaster Baptist Church). After he reached out, I paid him a visit to see his cars and to get a good look at his carburetor before bringing it back to my small garage and giving it the once over.
In addition to a very nice 1959 Galaxie and a 1956 Thunderbird, he also showed me three project cars - two 1958 Ford Skyliners and a 1958 Edsel Roundup two door station wagon! Of course, we hit it off pretty quickly talking cars, projects, Ford history, etc. I felt right at home at his place.
The Y Block would start and run, but the Holley 4000 had a few leaks and some problems.
The video below shows the finer points of the brief test run at my friend's garage, and it also details the work on the bench I did to the carburetor to bring it back to OEM standards or better. Both secondary tubes were leaking at the O-rings and the plug that covers the needle/seat assembly was also leaking. This meant that fuel was dripping down both of the secondary bores and finding a consistent idle was just not attainable, not to mention the fire hazard the condition was creating. It was hard to tell whether or not the fuel was just dripping down from the plug and past the secondary tubes, but with a number of items out of adjustment or needing attention anything was possible for fuel to be drawing through the secondary tubes at idle.
Any carburetor over the years will need some attention from time to time.
Once I got the carburetor back to the garage I began a tear down and made some notes. Thankfully, I have a pretty good supply of used and new parts for the Holley 4000 so finding things like missing screws, worn out idle mixture screws, and even needing to replace the secondary tubes were not a problem.
The carburetor had been rebuilt a time or two - the witness marks on the throttle body and the fuel bowl lid for staking the washers for the secondary tubes told me that much was true. All in all however, the carburetor was in otherwise good shape. Some light cleaning, adjusting, and Hot Rod Reverend know-how were all that was needed. Most of the issue over the years with the fuel leaks for the Holley 4000 concerns O-rings. There are four O-rings for the secondary tubes - two in the throttle body and two in the lid to the fuel bowl. Also, there are two O-rings for the fitting that connects the throttle body to the fuel bowl. This is the main feed passage way. If the washers and O-rings that seal the secondary tubes are not set properly there will be problems. If the O-rings dry out or if the bores, fittings, or tubes cut the O-rings during installation there will be a leak, obviously. The fuel bowl can also leak badly if the float is not set correctly or the needle/seat have issues with debris keeping the combination from sealing well and stopping the flow of fuel. Since the lid is open to the atmosphere things can get dicey very quickly.
I tried to keep the first video as brief as possible, but for those of you that like the DIY tips and want to bone up on your Holley 4000 knowledge - go for it!
In a future blog post I will give an update on my friend's Thunderbird and getting the Holley 4000 back into service. There will be a second video in the next blog post.
New Logo and Merchandise on the Way
I am experimenting with some branding as the website and YouTube channel grow.
In the coming months, there will be some Hot Rod Reverend gear available in the store. I have had a good number of you ask for apparel, stickers, and general gear that promote the website and the YouTube channel. We are working on this and hope to have some new inventory in the website store soon. The blog will keep you updated as we start the new year.
Thank you for your support,
The Hot Rod Reverend
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