272 y block

[rayza1]

Guys, can anyone give me a ball park figure on what i should pay for a marinised 272 ford. Has low comp on a couple of pots but otherwise is running well. Has a 4 barrel holley and a bit of chrome, is direct drive.

[Alan]

Ray,
If your going to use it in a decent resto, then you are most likely going to have to go right through it anyway and do it right so if it's not a bargain then its not worth it, especially if it doesn't have all the things you want (clutch).

Alan.

[Chivs]

Hey Ray, thanks for the couple of replies in the story so far! I agree with Alan, you don't want to put a iffy motor in, so you are going to pull it apart etc etc!

I haven't got to it yet but the marinised Chev for Tomboy was fully rebuilt, he was asking 4,500 but got him down to $3000.
Still not a bargain though, I needed a carby, distributor, fly wheel, bell housing, water pump, heat exchanger and other extra bits, including gear box.

By the way you are talking its going to be a couple of years to restore the boat, and in that time I bet a decent motor will come your way.

Cheers mate.

[Whitey]

Just been there and done that. I wouldn't go anymore that $1000. Mine is a 272, 20thou over and luckily I found a matching set of cast rings and rehoned and replaced, bottom end was fine. Heads redone (seats and valves rebuilt) for $250. Goes like a champion now!

Best option if you get it is to rebore to 292 as parts are far more accessable and cheaper (go figure). Rebuild kits are about $1200 (search John's Rod and Custom) here in Aust plus labour??? If you go to the states buy it there, much cheaper. Marinised manifolds come up on ebay now and then so keep watching, but tawco clutches are scarce. Don't even ring them as when I did they said they haven't even seen one in 15 years. I rebuilt mine as she was eaten through. Best chance is places like here. Starters are scarce as well.

I found a bloke named Allan Boughen (Customline Motors) 0419700534 in the Sunshine Coast Qld who is a legend and has plenty of motors, spares etc and is very fare and reasonable and an absolute wealth of knowledge as he still races them in cars.

Like I said just done it all so ask anymore Q's if you like. Good luck and i love the Y as it sounds great!
Cheers
Geoff

[rayza1]

Thanks Geoff, finished up getting one for a bit over $400, i was told it's a runner but i'm going to pull it down before i use it. No marine stuff but does have a 500 holley. You were saying they bore out to 292, how much meat does that leave in the block? I'm looking at the US for rings and bearings etc. because of the strong dollar makes the stuff cheap to import. Will chew your ear off with questions before i'm finished this rebuild. Cheers Ray

[Whitey]

Ray,
Welcome to the world of “Y’s”. I love the idea of skiing behind a mid 60’s boat with a 1955 motor in it, classic! Here’s a few tips I learned along the way, please disregard if you know your way round motors.

$400 is a great buy if she’s ok. They are pretty hardy if they have been looked after. The main problem with Y blocks is getting oil up to the rockers as there is a dog leg in the head to block join that may get blocked up if it’s crappy chunky oil. I was lucky with mine as the oil was old but clean and she pumps both sides with no problem. If you can start her on a mount do so, oil up the rockers first and keep the covers off and watch. The side of 5-8 will be stronger in flow to the 1-4 side but just make sure they’re flowing. Don’t rev her too much as you might get a sticky valve and drop a pushrod. Did that as well!!

There is heaps of meat in the block as they can go out to 60thou over 292 with usually no problems. After that it changes to 312 pistons and they need to be checked!! Just make sure you don’t mix types of cam bearings as some have a deeper centre groove and some have cross grooves to help in oil flow.

Join Y-blocks forever forum http://www.y-blocksforever.com/forums/default.aspx and ask away. They are a great mob of blokes with a wealth of knowledge and I learnt a lot from them even with my stupid q’s. Also have a look at John MUMMERT’s site http://www.ford-y-block.com/ who is a legend in Y world and has just made alloy heads for them. Also look at the Egge Machining Company http://www.egge.com/ who can supply any bit or complete resto set you need. I rang them a few times and they were great.

Johns Rod and Custom http://kustoms.com.au/osc/index.php?cPath=22 here in Aust has some new parts and gives you a idea of whether the postage from the states is worth it. Never used them but just kept the link for reference.

Definitely call Allan Boughen (Customline Motors) 0419700534 in the Sunshine Coast Qld. I found him from ebay and he is a great bloke, very fair priced and a wealth of knowledge. I have got gaskets, a couple of pushrods, intake manifold and other odds and ends from him with no worries as he has got a couple of sheds and a shipping container of y block stuff. I think he may have had a set of marinised exhaust manifolds lying around from memory as well.

Also get yourself a Ford Customline manual if you can, definitely need one and mine is worth it’s weight in gold. Just keep checking ebay with multiple searches like Ford Y block, Ford 272, Ford 292 and Ford Customline as I missed a few goodies until I realised this.

I put a new holley 570 street avenger (same as the old holley 465) on mine and she runs great!! Good luck mate and drop me a line at home on gjwhite@exemail.com.au as I don’t get here very often anymore if you need and answers.
Cheers
Geoff

[blown292]

If you bore it to 292 I have a set of standard rings here that I got sent form the US instead of 312 ones

This site is good as well
http://www.ford-y-block.com/techincal.htm

[rayza1]

Thanks guys, my head is spinning from info overload, probably looking at this as a winter project (shed has pot belly stove) so may go a bit quiet on it for a while. Still trying to sort out wooden worries carbie woes, she's very flat bottomed and i swear every time i go over another boats wake she slaps the water so hard that something happens to the carbies and the thing floods with fuel. Bloody stromburgs. Cheers Ray

[Stu]

Hi Ray,

well I havent been online for about a year or so now, so hello again!.

When I rebuilt my 272 it cost me all together a bit over $1200. However I sourced new Pistons and rings (+.040 thou) and Bearings (mains, conrods and so on) from a company in Melbourne (I'll have to get out the reciepts for contact details). Bored the pots matching to the pistons for $20 per Cylinder, and $40 to deck the block. A bloke in the Auburn area (NSW) did it then, he does all the sprint car engines as I recall, Dave might know who I'm referring to. The heads both decked, several new valves and valve guides for around $400.

When I had the block stripped down I borrowed an ultrasonic measuring instrument from work to measure the cylinder walls, as the water jacket looked pretty rough. Most of the measurements I made were in the vacinity of 3.5 to 4.5mm. I dont know what the original thicknes was but I havent had any problems so far.

I purchased the gasket set from Cusso Bill for a few $$ and made the gaskets for the dog clutch myself. I dont have any idea what workshops ask for doing rebuilds these days, but I had the luxury of all the tools in my fathers workshop at my expense so I know what was done and how and saved there.

So far the engine has held out 9 seasons no problems, runs at max 3800 rpm under load and pulls around 42 mph. I have a Holley 650 cfm 4 barrel bolted on there, but I realy dont think that the whole potential of this carby is being used, as the secondaries dont even half open at full generated vacuum. But the motor is not worked and runs mostly at around 2600-3000rpm.

Well enough talking for now, I'll try and get my hands on the contact details.

till then happy tinkering

Stu

[bootlegger]

Hi stu. Looking at the time of post I'm figuring you are still in germany. What else is new?