Just finished reading an article on a 327 Y-Block in Hot Rod magazine, and it is pathetic that it only made 307 hp with 356 lb/ft and 10.9:1 compression with ported Mummert heads.  This gets a multi-page article in Hot Rod?  Surely someone can do better with a 3 x 2 intake and 327 cubic inches.  I know the Offenhauser intake was bottom tier, but surely if they could port the aluminum heads, the intake could have been improved upon quite a bit.  It really gives the Y Block a black eye in my opinion after Ted winning the EMC in 2016, and only a few paragraphs published about his build.  Joe-JDC

JDC

Joe, I haven’t seen the article, so I can’t comment on it. But the Offy 3x2 manifold I had was a plenum on top, with 2 fairly small openings feeding down to the passages to the ports. I don’t think you could have done much to improve that one without cutting it apart and then trying to weld it back together. It wouldn’t be pretty, if even possible. It only takes one choke point from air cleaner to exhaust pipes to stop the airflow and kill the numbers. They should have run one of John’s intakes and say, the FPA headers.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Just received my copy of Hot Rod Magazine.  Ouch!!!  Even with the Offy 3X2 intake, that particular engine should have made at the very least 1HP/CID and that’s on the low side when considering the aluminum heads that are being used.  I regularly get 400+ streetable horsepower with combinations built similar to that one with the exception they are running a single four barrel intake manifold.  This Hot Rod magazine buildup is unfortunately typical of what you get when you get engine builders working on engines they are not familiar with.  At 307 HP, that particular engine builder should have been questioning why that engine was making numbers not much better than a run of the mill Y build up with iron heads.  At the very least be looking for spark plug wires hanging loose and not connected.  Even the editors at Hot Rod should have recognized something was wrong considering just a year earlier they posted the results of the 2016 EMC where a Y was making 603HP at 6500 rpms.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

HRM = FAKE NEWS? Oh my, what else is new? It's an Anti-Ford deep state!


"FREE SAMPLE"

Damn Im still trying to build my flathead from Easter last year!!



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

Another undeserved black eye for our favorite engine!  Oh! I forgot, it's Hot Rod Magazine, if it's not  a Chivy it's not in their balywick!  Why of why do engine builders insist on using that useless Offenhauser (Y-Block) Tri-Power intake ?!  If they spent a few minutes looking it over, they should realize that it's not a good design & all it's good for is hanging on the wall of a shop with an appropriate sign attached, or as aluminum scrap!  This madning issue goes back to Popular Hot Roddings buildup of a Y-Block in 1970-71 !  It's an issue similar to the 1954-56 Load-o-Matic distributors poor compatibility with 1957 & post carburetors, it never seems to go away!... Dissapointing!  
N.B. re read JDC's opening post & noticed that the builder had "ported" Mummert's aluminum heads.. Wonder if they made a mess of that too?  From John Mummert's old articles on porting  original heads, I gather that Y  heads need a careful reasoned approach or the results are likely to be dissapointing..   



Paul

I nearly came out of my chair when I looked at the horsepower and torque numbers.. You would have to work to hold the horsepower that low with the parts used in that build.
If you read closely you will see some of the old Y Block wives tales resurface and get repeated.Oiling, port configuration etc..  Highest factory rating 235???? Keith Dorton may be a championship winning engine builder, but obviously not with Y blocks
I have a 333 inch build that has parts very similar to the build in HRM . I have a Mummert intake and 750 Holley, Slightly more compression. With a cam of about same duration mine made 500 horse.. With a cam 15 degrees smaller it made 465hp and idles at 700 rpm
I am sure the owner paid good money for that build.. I wonder what he would think if he knew how much torque and horsepower it could have made...

This is the one thing that bugs me about the renewed popularity the ol' Y-block is currently enjoying. Lots of people who never heard of them will rush out to put one in their rod, cuz hey it's trendy! They'll bring it to a builder who probably doesn't have a ton of experience with them, and will most likely choke it with an Offy intake because everyone wants that "look".
Eventually they'll end up disappointed and go back to their crate motors and the Y will again be written off as junk.

Somebody should do a build with an Offy intake on an LS and see how that works out for them  LOL

Unfortunately, I think to some degree it's the storied Offenhauser name that often attracts car people to use that manifold. If the info I have on this subject is correct, ( I can't remember the source of it)  the original company operated by Fred Offenhauser did not make the intakes for the Y-Block. I believe that his nephew with the same last name, operated a seperate company that cast the Tri- Power intakes. ..     


Paul