Bought a 1951 ford panel van and it has a 1960 truck y block (B9AEF with COTE heads) and transmission.

Rebuilt the Holley 2 barrel but the motor still ran rough. Pulled the valve covers to adjust valves but found out that the external oil line feeding on the passenger side had plugged a long time ago and the rockers on that side where dry and shot.

Found a local guy that has two ford trucks (63 & 64) with y blocks he is planning on not using. He told me I could have any parts off of them I wanted. I grabbed a rocker assembly off of the 64 and got my panel running and driving.

1) is there anyway I can get the engine to oil on its own without pulling it apart? The external tubes are hokey looking and have already proved himself to be in adequate with this motor.

2) if I do end up building a motor would there be a better one of the three truck motors to use as a starting point (60 vs. 63 vs. 65)?

Any advice would be appreciated

A trick I have used for years.  Take an extra rocker stand, cut it in half, take one of the halves and tap the center hole for a grease fitting.  Bolt it to the head where the oiling hole is, and pump grease into it with a hand grease gun until you feel it break loose, then three or four more pumps.  Put the rockers back on with the bolts slightly loose, run the engine until grease stops coming out from under the stand and oil starts running, tighten them down and adjust the valves.  What puzzles me is that '60 heads should have a passage cast in the head surface, the restricted area of early engines should not exist.  Maybe the center cam bearing is installed wrong.  An indication of that would be the inability to break loose the clog.  No easy fix for that except to re-install the outside oiler..

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Thanks for the reply John! I plan on useing one of the rocker towers from the worn-out rocker assembly and try your zerk trick. Does the cam have to be in a certain orientation for it to work?

Just picked up a fourth motor. The block is stamped ECZ 6025A and the heads are stamped 5752. This is the only motor I have that is blue and the valve covers do not have ford on them. What are the chances of it being a 312?

The block seems more of a teal color and valve cover look more light blue.

The cam doesn't need to be in any certain position, the grease escapes between the bearing and the journal.

The ECZ-A block is '57, could be either 292 or 312.  The 5752 head will have 113 cast on the other end.  Those are very desirable big valve heads.  They are '57-'59 vintage.  If the distributor is also '57 or later, treat it with kid gloves.  They are scarce and very desirable.  The ECG rocker arms are the desirable '56-'57 1.54 ratio arms, as opposed to the 1.43s of the other years.  I don't know what color '57 Merc engines were, Fords would have been red with black (292) or silver (312) valve covers.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Using John Mummert's crankshaft chart, you have a 292.

Re the Blue rocker covers. Are you in Canada by chance?  I don' t recall where I have the info, but I think some Canadian 312 engines had Blue covers, but that's not certain..  ??    


Paul

Nope I am in idaho. But who knows where the engine came from, could be a foreigner for all I know.

Got the panel truck engine back together running good. It even holds oil with its new rear main seal.

Just finished replacing all the worn out brakes as well so Monday will be the first around the block trip.

It'll push the old panel.  Us boys and our toys.