Thanks Ted,  I appreciate the information. even though I played with these  Y-Blocks when I was a teenager, I really never knew a lot about them, and am now trying to improve my knowledge of them.----Jim

Jim.  From a performance perspective, those heads are simply in the middle of the list making many of the bigger valved heads more desirable.  From a restoration standpoint or where someone is trying to make a 182HP 272, then they would be worth more than simply core pricing.  From a performance standpoint, these would still be a better cylinder head than any of the heads made for the Y after 1960.
 
I did recently dyno an original 1955 182HP 272 that had some miles on it.  It still managed 177HP with the Teapot carb and L-O-M distributor with the old spark plugs, wires, and tune up in place.  With a rebuild which included a 0.030” oversize bore, an Isky E4 cam ground on 112°, and some mods to the inside of the Teapot intake manifold, this engine was up to 207HP.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted, I have a set of those ECG-C heads are they "desirable" ? or valuable ?   I am  just curious.   Thanks----Jim 

The early 1955 182HP heads had casting numbers ECL-B and ECG-A for the later units.  These part number will be found in the valve train area of the heads.  There was a head cracking problem on the early heads which was corrected by bringing out the ECG-A head.  At the tailend of the 1955 model run, the 182HP heads had a casting number ECG-C which was located on the exhaust side of the heads.  By measuring the two center outside pads, the 182HP heads will have a factory measurement of 0.964-0.966” whereas the Thunderbird 292 heads with the same casting numbers will have a pad measurement of 0.999-1.001”.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted, could you tell me how to Identify the '55  272  182 HP  "special" heads?   thank you,-----Jim

Thanks Ted, now I know how much I can mill, very good to know.

The rule of thumb is 0.014” off the intake gasket surface for each 0.010” milled from the heads and/or deck.  The caveat to switching to composite head gaskets is you can mill 0.025” from the heads and/or deck which gets the intake back to its original height.  And then there is typically 0.025” additional that can be milled from the decks and/or heads before the intake fit itself becomes a problem.  That means if switching from a steel shim head gasket to composite, you can mill a total of 0.050” from the decks and heads before becoming concerned about the intake manifold fit.  After that point, then start milling 0.014” from the intake side of the head for each additional 0.010” taken from the heads and/or deck.  I do prefer milling the intake side of the head rather than the intake manifold itself simply due to trying to keep the intake manifold where it’s not specific to a particular engine combination.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Hi Ted,
Yea', I've done some digging also and was told that you can mill off .060 no problem but ... if you go much over .030 then there is a problem with the intake manifold holes being in line with the head openings.  I can see where that could be a problem but ...  I also think if that alignment is a little too far out of whack then you could cut away some cast iron on both manifold and head to at least breath OK, might have to cut a little of the gasket away to match this, I doubt it would hurt anything.  The main thing is to come up with more HP because my car is using a 3:54 rear end with overdrive and that gears us up a fair amount.   I could have opted for a 312 but ....  this would raise cain with my gas mileage, the 239 can't be beat in that respect, our last long trip gave up over 20 mpg and this is a big full size fordor Crestline with a C-kit on the back as well.  The car is completely original and 6v, a nice 8 tube radio as well.
We're planning a LONG trip out west this summer, with luck we'll have this baby running like a song. 
Thanks a lot, we'll stay posted,
Warren, in MN

While not Y-block specific, many of Ford's iron heads were cast with a nominal .350" thick fire deck, especially on those engines that were higher compression from the factory.  They did this to keep the combustion chambers from collapsing under compression, and many racers over time found that most iron heads could sustain street compression with the fire deck at .250" or more.  Once a head was cut more than .100", they would collapse and crack with 12:1 or higher compression.  I have found this in my porting over the years when the heads had been milled too much.  If you can get a micrometer in a clean spot, measure the deck thickness, and that will give you an idea just how much has been milled, or can be milled.  The problem you may run in to is that rust from years of neglect or non anti-freeze usage may have eroded the water passages and the thickness may be much less than when new.   Joe-JDC

JDC

This has been my experience.

I also have a 1954 with a 239, all EBU with a 13 tooth distributor gear. I rebuilt the engine with the steel shim head gaskets, but there was seepage between the block and the heads (at that time, the machine shop said that head and block flatness was within specification and did not require milling or decking).

I replaced the head gaskets with BEST composition head gaskets. My thought was to compensate for the gasket's thickness and maybe add a little compression. I had the heads milled .040. Intake bolted perfectly and all is well for 2 plus years

Pat in Arizona.