Hi all,

I've taken the first step to replace the 272 in my Parklane. Jerry Christenson was willing to part with a standard bore 292 - here he is after we loaded the block on the trailer on a winter-like day last Friday:



Boy am I glad Jerry is willing to advise me! I cold called him a couple of years ago when several people suggested that he is the local guru on y-blocks. He tore down the engine and had it atop an oil pan he modified so it sits nice and flat.

I've been accumulating some parts for a while:



On the left are mismatched heads, a 113 and an unposted G. On the right under plastic is a set of rebuilt G heads. Jerry wasn't too impressed with the rebuilt ones, so he is going to find a head to match one of the two on the left and port the set for me. R&R Performance in Spring Lake Park, MN will do the head work for me.

The crank is from a 312 that I found for $50 (!) that I will use in the rebuild. Jerry and I are talking about stroking the engine - would be nice to stroke it in a fashion where I can use standard connecting rods.

I brought the block to Les of Lester Prairie Engines in Lester Prairie, MN, about an hour west of my home in Minneapolis. I wonder if the town was named after Les?





Les has been in the business for 49 years. The adjacent business is Berry Cam which is run by his brother in law. The two of them married sisters - their father started the businesses. I will post some pics of the two shops in my next post.

MplsMike
'56 Parklane
Minneapolis, MN

Hi Mike,
I am a Minnesota Y member also, (as well as SBF and FE). I also am in the early stages of a Y block build for my 56 customline gasser. I will be following your post with interest. Though I am a long ways from needing it,I wonder if any of the builders you mention have a torque plate for honing 292 cylinder bores.
thanks for posting,
Dean Markuson (DEANs427 on other Ford forums)

 

Hi Dean,

I'm not sure what equipment Les has but for future reference, his number is (320) 395-2881. He walked me around his shop and the cam shop and showed me their equipment. There seemed to be an abundance of marine engines. I think there is a marine y-block in the picture below on the right.



Several of the engines he had were Hercules engines. I don't know anything about them. He said a customer stores engines with him and routinely has Les rebuild them for boat restorations.



In the background you can see some of his equipment. He pointed out his boring and honing machines, although I can't tell one from another.

Over in the cam shop, they had an impressive selection of cams.



Apparently they can reproduce lots of cam grinds for lots of engines with the equipment they have. Among all of the old vehicle references I saw one bin labeled "1906 Oakland". They work on lots of tractor engines too.



Here's a picture of my block after it was unloaded.



MplsMike
'56 Parklane
Minneapolis, MN

So here is the beginning of the recipe. I am starting with a standard bore 292 and want a very respectable street engine. I'm running a C4 with a 2500 stall converter.

I'll bore the cylinders to a 312 bore plus 60 over. I'll be using a 312 crankshaft. Forged pistons with Moly rings. I'll use a Mummert intake and one of his valley pans (with PCV grommet) for a little more bling. I will also buy a damper from him and new bolts for the mains and heads.

Jerry suggested a Comp Cam, either a grind of XS 274 S or XS 268 S. I think I will go with the 268.

I'm not sure if I will end up with a matched set of 113 heads or G heads. Yestertech will port them. I haven't sorted out parts for the heads yet. Carb is yet to be determined. I have a '57 and up distributor and plan on adding a Petronix unit. A Cloyes timing set.

Would love to get general impressions of the plan so far and I also have a few questions:

1) Jerry is bullish on Trend lifters. The only ones I saw appear to require customs push rods, and another posting I read might suggest they are overkill. Any lifter suggestions?

2) I don't know much about MSD versus a Petronix set-up. I know MSD is more expensive - what benefits do the $$ provide?

3) given what I read about the cams, I think the 274 would be a little too aggressive.

Thanks for any comments!

MplsMike
'56 Parklane
Minneapolis, MN

Make sure the 292 will bore safely  to .060 over 312. Have the cylinder walls sonic checked.

1)  I don't know about trend lifters, but I'll comment on the pushrod part.  One detail that most people don't do is to correct rocker geometry.  Do a search here, Google it, there's all kinds of info about that.  What it boils down to is assuming the geometry was correct to begin with (it's not) the bigger cam, head / block milling, valve job and other stuff I may not be thinking of at the moment make it so that you have to change the geometry to get it back to optimum.  This inevitably means that you need different pushrods because the length requirement will be different.  There are only 2 lengths of Y block pushrods available off the shelf so unless you are fortunate and one of those happens to be just what you need, you really need custom pushrods and since they are custom, you can have them made to fit any ball and cup arrangement you need.  Even if you don't correct geometry, custom pushrods are not that  expensive, $100-$120.  And I'm sure comp will have good lifters to go with their cams, and if not, there's Isky, and Mummert.

2)  Comparing MSD and Pertronix, in the case of the Y, anyway, is apples and oranges.  Pertronix is only a conversion for stock distributors, from points to electronic.  MSD is a complete, totally brand new distributor.  So that is where a big part of the difference in cost is.  You will still save money if you  go with a rebuilt distributor and the pertronix conversion, and that should make for a pretty solid ignition.  The MSD will be easier to tune because you don't have to take the distributor apart to get to the weights and springs and there is value in that.
The later distributor you have, have it rebuilt if you have not already.

3)  I'd probably go with the 268 as well.  I think with either, you are going to have to change the rear gear ratio.  You'll also need to get the compression up.  The heads and displacement increase will get that to a reasonably good spot, but those cams might like  a little more and you'll need domed pistons to do that.  With the G heads, 0 deck and composition head gaskets you'll be at about 9.35:1  With the 113s you'll be at about 9.04:1.  Don't be afraid of premium fuel.  You're going to kick the efficiency up enough that you might actually get better mileage than you do now (no promises) but also, bigger cams simply need more compression.



Lawrenceville, GA

Thanks, Charlie, for the insight. With regards to the Mummert intake, is the high rise version a better choice? I don't imagine there would be clearance issues in my wagon - is there a performance difference between the two choices he offers?

MplsMike
'56 Parklane
Minneapolis, MN

As long as it will fit, go with the high rise.  You might also want an inch or two of spacer on top of that.


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie's steering you correctly on JM's intake manifold.

The reason John offers the low rise unit is for those who have to fit everything under a '55, '56, '57 'Bird hood.

Hope this helps.  


NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

Are you still looking for heads ?.. I finally went thru my extras and I have a mismatched pair like yours .. An unposted G and a 113 .   They came off the same engine .  I tag everything when I remove . [I always wondered how it ran?] Both appear in good shape.  Reasonable.. You can give me a call at 724-272-7396  or Email  LMCDONAL@ZBZOOM.NET  Regards    Thundercat

Mars , Pennsylvania

Hi Thundercat,

Thanks for the offer but I'm all set in the heads. Most of the parts have arrived or are in route - I'm going to have to wait a couple of more weeks for a Mummert intake and for the forged Pistons.

MplsMike
'56 Parklane
Minneapolis, MN