Stumbled across this looking for something else.  https://www.hotrod.com/articles/build-reliable-powerful-ford-y-block/   Not a performance build but it looks like they actually did talk to people who know, first.
One thing that seemed ignorant to me is "The Ford Y-block is a stodgy old cast-iron American V-8 that has taken a lot of research and development to produce respectable horsepower and torque at the Engine Masters Challenge."  It is valid, but they make it sound as if all other engines were just power monsters right out of the gate and did not require any development, that they haven't had or needed the decades of development they actually have had.  The Y is just playing catch up.  That's a small gripe.  Seems to be a good article overall.


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie.  I clicked the link you posted, but something must be incorrect.  The following banner came up . . .

ERROR 404 - Page not Found.

It appears the page you were looking for is either long gone, or no longer exists.


Thanks for all your postings and for being one of our Forum Moderators.  Much appreciated!  

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

Fixed it.


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie.  Excellent Classic Trucks article and pictures from the Hot Rod Network!  Many very good technical reminders to help in assembling a y-block IF you haven't put one together recently.  THANKS for posting this!  


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

Well. I hate to p!ss in everyone's corn flakes this morning, but when scrub introduced their SBC, they handed FORD their hats.

Sure the Y-BLOCK was competitive but look @ where the SBC went.

" There were no special Y-block truck blocks. Heavy-duty trucks with steel cranks used C1AE or C2AE blocks produced for both car and truck lines."

The last series blocks cast had special main web casting for particular use on the 292HD engine as this block would be used until the FT was introduced. The same casting was used on PASS CAR service as the 292 PASS CAR engine was being phased out and cost entered the picture. It was similar to FORD's later 105 391HD block casting being used in LT.

Now don't get me wrong, I am FORD TRUE AND BLUE, but you can only spread it so thick. This writer surely did. I am surprised it got past HOT ROD ... er ... HOT scrub MAGAZINE's review board.

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... hmmph ...

Thought I would have been shown the door by now...

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It’s a given that the SBC was the poster child for performance in the Sixties.  That gave it some roots to hold on to for four solid decades.  Both history and marketing was responsible for the newfound popularity of the SBC engines.  With the AMA ban initiated in 1957 on corporate sponsored racing, Ford simply backed completely out with both GM and Mopar having back door racing programs.  Ford was also putting emphasis on two new engine families introduced for the 1958 model year and that killed any future Ford Y development.  Came 1960, Ford started to come back to the performance end of things but it was the FE that was the showcase engine for those efforts.  Development for the SBC engines was strong right up until about ten years ago.  The LS series of engines would appear to be the dominant performance engine right now for the masses.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

GM also did something that was a major help to hotrodders, they kept the same transmission bolt pattern for all their engines thru the years, which meant that all engines and transmissions interchanged.with all GM cars., 

"GM also did something that was a major help to hotrodders, they kept the same transmission bolt pattern for all their engines thru the years, which meant that all engines and transmissions interchanged.with all GM cars"

Now that is a good point I didn't think about.

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scrubrolet kept their performance parts cheap, Ford parts cost the moon, just look at the blower cam in the old price books or the 1956 2 4bbl setups, I can still buy a performance cam cheaper today than the hot cam was in 1957