Wondering if someone can answer some questions i have. Im giving my y block a mild tear down to paint and tidy it up for this season before fully rebuilding it next year.

I have a 292, during my little strip and rebuild im fitting a new distributor. I wanted to put the engine to TDC before i stripped it down any further. However i could find absolutely no marks of any kind on the front pulley.



Is this common? I rotated the engine multiple times looking for marks on the pulley but found nothing. In the end i used other methods.

At present, No 1 piston is at the top of its stroke, both valves are closed and the rotor on the distributor is pointing towards the number 1 lead. Am i right that this should be TDC?


My next issue relates to gaskets, i pulled the intake off and noticed towards the middle of the intake, the gasket wasn't the same shape as the intake, the intake is rectangle but the gasket just had a round hole in it.



Is this normal? I thought at first it was some sort of carbon build up but it doesn't appear so.

Also, could anyone hazzard a guess on general engine condition from pictures supplied? It doesn't seem too crapped up i don't think?? Haven't pulled the valley cover yet however.





Thanks.

Jamie

That engine looks typical of an old one that ran on old oil like Quaker Sludge LOL, typical of all old non detergent oils and possible running to cold. It really doesn't tell you anything about the engine but I would guess its pretty worn. You'll need to do things like compression check etc.
That gasket is the type that partially blocks off the exhaust port for the cross over into the manifold. Pretty common..

at least remove rockers and dismantle them, remove core plugs frome rocker shafts,clean and repair as needed.pull valey cover and clean up. change oil and filter, inst a new therm and hope for the best. if it runs well after change oil and filter. use any comen oil and filter.

The timing marks will be on the ring behind the pulley.  They can be hard to see or impossible if covered with grime.



Lawrenceville, GA

Thats the current plan. The engine ran and sounded great before strip down which is why im in no rush to fully rebuild it.  Seeing the crap inside though worries me a little. Amazing how well engines can run even when not in optimal condition. Will post back with more pics as i continue and the valley cover comes off etc.

Did you run the engine with the valve covers off before the tear down to see if the rockers are oiling? A big problem is the dog leg oil passages in the heads get blocked with crud built up and looking at yours that could be a problem..

I didn't unfortunately. Because it always ran and sounded sweet i took it that it was all fine. I expected it to be a little cleaner inside the covers than it is. There appears to be fresh oil in the covers though so i think it may be fine.  I'll clean them all out and hope for the best at the moment. 

ther is some good info on the site on rebuilding the rockers,and eliminating the bleed tubes.you will need new rocker shafts which when dismantled ther will be gauling, as with bleed tubes rockers get litle to no oil. good time to install new valve stem seals.not dificult with the compresor for the springs with out removeing heads. sounds like you are on the right track. most comen oils have lots of adetives that will wotk,tho 1 needs to change often to clean out the obveous lack of serviceing in the past.  
good luck

I'm not sure it's the best use of your time, taking the engine down twice.. however, it's obviously fairly badly sludged. As mentioned, running it cold is one likelyhood (needs a hotter thermostat) & or the other is that your crankcase venting isn't working. Clean the oil filler cap screen well for a start, as it's the only factory crankcase air intake. Then ensure that the lower road draft tube is clear. It's on the drivers side of the block in some cases, & contains a screen, or at the rear of  the block coming down from the Valley cover.  If the rockers on both sides are getting oil o.k., it might be just as well to leave the rebuild of them to your later full redo. As mentioned, the shafts will need replacement & even some rockers could be badly worn. If you spend money & time rebuilding them now..when you go to do the full overhaul, they may be partly sludged up again.. Something to consider..      


Paul