Ford 292 Head - Milling to Raise Compression?


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By ewil - 10 Years Ago
Hello!

I'm new here, i live in Brazil and recently i have bought an Ford Galaxie LTD 71', that is equipped with an 292 engine.
I disassembled the heads and i'm doing some work on it as it has some problem with valves.

I've read some content about what head do i have, but the code found inside the valve cover, does not match with any code on ford Y block head sheet found on internet... so i don't know things like what's the original height (or chamber volume). As i've mensured, my chamber has 73cc. All i know about it, is the code "1E6" and more in the right another code "DOTU-6090-G"... I know that 6090 means head, and maybe the DOTU is the code of my head, but there's no information about it!

My question is: As the down side (block) looks good, i will not take it out for now, but as the heads are out and already done some work on it, i'm thinking about mill it a little to raise a little of compression ratio... As it's hard to find pieces of this engine and all about it is very expansive here, i'm not planning anything nasty, i will maintain the engine original, just a little raise of compression to get a better response and less combustible consumption.

So must i mill it? if yes, how much? I'm afraid to mill it so much to reach some water or oil gallery... nor reach the minimum height of head as it can not take any cleanup mill at future... Someone has an idea of his original height?

Thanks alot!!!
By Pete 55Tbird - 10 Years Ago
ewil

Hello and welcome. I do not know if the later South American cylinder heads are the same but the US/Canadian cylinder heads have four pads that are rectangle blocks and each was exactly one inch thick  1.000 inch. If you have these you can measure to see if they have been milled before. Pete
By stuey - 10 Years Ago
Hi there

http://bzerob2.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/ford-part-numbers/

using the above   1970 Truck  cylinder head from special vehicle operation

stuey

UK 
By NoShortcuts - 10 Years Ago
Welcome to the site, ewil.

Stuey's info looks helpful.  My understanding is that some later editions of the Brazilian y-block cylinder heads are a TOTALLY different casting from what we in the U.S. are familiar with.

There's a big racing event in Columbus, Ohio this weekend (8/28 - 8/31 [?]) and some of our Forum members who may know more about what you have are likely there for the festivities.

Sooo... you may not hear much for a few days.  Smile 
By CK - 10 Years Ago
http://www.ford-y-block.com/cylinderheadchart.htm

Try this link for casting id. Etc.

Yet continuing on from the 1" machine pad ref. you shouldn't take anymore than .050" from it. And you could try a metal gasket as these are 5cc compared to 10cc of a fibre gasket.
By lovefordgalaxie - 10 Years Ago
Hi Ewil, 
I'm also from Brazil. Our cylinder heads are the equivalent to the U.S. heads of 1956, what the guys here call small valve heads. The heads are the same on our 272 and 292 engines, and there is just one casting, that gives 7,8:1 compression. Keeping the stock valves, you can take up to 1,3mm from the heads to raise compression, if the heads were not milled before (saw that done without any problems).
I took 1 millimeter from my heads, and bored my engine 0.040 over, and the result was very good. Also have a Isky E-4 cam and a "B" four barrel intake, topped by a Autolite 4100 carburetor.
If you really want to get serious, I would suggest a pair of Mummert heads, and a Mummert intake, plus a nice cam and a four barrel carburetor.
Anyway, the first step is to get rid of that hideous DFV carburetor.
By ewil - 10 Years Ago
Hello guys! Thanks alot for all the precious information given here!

The heads are on repair, so i will check for these possible measuring pads this week!
Stuey link looks also good and very interesting, this engine was also used by small trucks like F100 here, this site is on my favorites now BigGrin

I was also looking again the head sheet in the 56's, and looks like the 272/292 have something next the 73cc, this makes me think that my heads received just an cleanup mill until now...

lovefordgalaxie, do you know how much cc does your heads have, or the height after milling it? Looks like you reached the CR to something like 9:1?
Going serious like you said it's just a dream for me, but in the reallity i just want to raise some CR to adapt the engine for our reality (poor combustion quallity as you know!), and yes, i will take the DFV carburator out but it's to take a place to an TBI with Megasquirt!

Thanks alot guys!!
By Hoosier Hurricane - 10 Years Ago
Ewill:

If you mill a substantial amount off the head, like .060 inches, you should mill 1.4 times that amount off the intake surface of the head so the manifold will fit.  With an .060 mill that would be .084 off the intake surface.
By ewil - 10 Years Ago
Hoosier Hurricane (9/1/2014)
Ewill:

If you mill a substantial amount off the head, like .060 inches, you should mill 1.4 times that amount off the intake surface of the head so the manifold will fit.  With an .060 mill that would be .084 off the intake surface.



Hello Hoosier Hurricane!

Do you think that is a good idea to mill something from the head? i ever think about if maybe the best is keep as it is, and wait till the time i remove the block out and then i can mill from the block cause will be more substantial to CR and will have better Squish also... OR buy a pistons with dome... in both cases i will keep my head chamber and possible do some cleanup mill if needed (keep it untouched for safety)...

I'm only doing all the job needed to have the head healtly, the block looks ok, its the cause i won't remove it for now to, then comes the question if must or not mill a little to raise the CR!

Thanks! Smile
By Hoosier Hurricane - 10 Years Ago
There is nothing wrong with milling for more compression.  You are right, milling the block gets you more compression and better quench.  If you take a lot off the block, you still need to mill something to restore intake fit.  Probably better to mill the intake side of the heads and make the heads unique to that block.  If you mill the intake manifold, then want to change it for something else, the new one would need milled also.  If you have milled from the heads, any intake will still fit.
By ewil - 10 Years Ago
Hoosier Hurricane (9/1/2014)
There is nothing wrong with milling for more compression.  You are right, milling the block gets you more compression and better quench.  If you take a lot off the block, you still need to mill something to restore intake fit.  Probably better to mill the intake side of the heads and make the heads unique to that block.  If you mill the intake manifold, then want to change it for something else, the new one would need milled also.  If you have milled from the heads, any intake will still fit.


Hmmm very very good observation about mill the admission from the head! I will do this!

And what about rod push? Already heard about use some shorter... does it need some work or can i tune it by the screw?

Thanks alot!!
By Ted - 10 Years Ago

Here’s the link to the article that was published in the Y-Block Magazine that covered how to measure the cylinder heads to know how many thousandts would need to be cut off in order to reduce the combustion chamber volume 1 cc.

http://www.eatonbalancing.com/blog/2013/01/30/cylinder-head-milling-for-a-1cc-reduction/ 

While there is some latitude in the pushrod adjuster to compensate for milling of the heads and/or deck, only during the engine assembly itself can you determine if a shorter pushrod is indeed required.