Hi everyone:  My son and I have been discussing the possibilities of a Y-block marine engine and a suitable boat. Just pure speculation at this point.  I believe the Y-block marine engine rotates opposite that of an automotive engine and the cam is gear driven which would therefore turn the cam in the usual direction. Do these engines require a specific crankshaft and will a common off-the-shelf camshaft work? I know there are other things unique to this engine like wet manifolds, water pump, starter etc..  Just wondering what parts are common to the automotive engine? Everyone stay safe and thanks in advance, JEFF........................


64F100 57FAIRLANE500

The guy I knew passed who was up on all this but it seems stupid to me if a single engine boat. Every boat I’ve been involved with ran the same as a car. Even with a vee-drive. I see these Marine Y’s for sale a lot, get a complete, they are out there. Hope for one that never saw salt water.. good luck.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

This post brought back some memories.   Years ago a friend purchased two supercharged 427 Ford side oilers out of an offshore racing boat. They were both complete engines from carbs to oil pan. When we opened them up, they had Carrillo rods and forged cranks.  One of the cranks had snapped in half at one of the main journals.  He kept that engine to build a stroker drag engine using a 428 crank.   The other engine he sold to a local street racer.  Some time later the guy he sold the engine to called and said the engine he sold him ran backwards.  His Mustang had 4 reverse gears and one forward.  We were stumped.  Turns out the camshaft is ground differently on that engine. I always chuckle when I remember that story.  

I can understand why a twin engine watercraft should have one propeller rotate counter to the other. I'm trying to figure out the Ford Y-block marine engine. If indeed all other single screw V8 marine engines rotate clockwise as DryLakesRacer stated above when viewing the front of the engine pulleys, this should mean an automotive Y-block could be adapted after lots of fabricating and sweat to a Mercruiser, OMC etc., no??


64F100 57FAIRLANE500

hear in bc canada there where lots of the ford ys in boats,lots of twins  i clock 2 counter they worked well. as time went on the twins where separated  so i countr  1 clockwise. had experience with  a single counter in a boat. main diference was the cam it had diferent gear that drove the cam and dist same at non counter so oil pump and dist where the same.
can't remember the firing order. the side draft carbs where a constant issue. the idea was to have a low  profile and kept the engine bay free of gas fumes as most air came from  bilge aria.
does any 1 know the firing oder?

Buy mine

It's not hard to spot the reverse rotation engine. If you pull the timing cover you will find gears instead of a chain. I think the starter is reverse too.

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Thanks everyone for all the comments and information. Clockwise or counterclockwise, would the crankshaft be the same? Would the direction of crankshaft rotation require counterweights that are specific for the rotation?


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There are single engine boats out there with reverse rotation engines.  This was simply the result of having to make enough reverse rotation engines to make it cost effective to do so.  Because there were more of those engines being made than there were dual engine boats to put them into, the surplus of the reverse rotation engines went into single engine boats.  Those single engine boats used either a reverser transmission or a reverse angled prop.
 
The crankshafts are different but only in that the hash marks for the rear main seal are going in the opposite direction.  If using a reverse rotation crankshaft in a standard rotation application (or vice versa), look for a serious oil leak at the rear main seal regardless how good you think you are in installing those rear main seals.  The counterweights are the same.
 
While a majority of the reverse engines do have a ‘R’ stamped on the front of them, there’s no guarantee that that is easily spotted.  Simply removing the fuel pump and looking in at the timing gear set will verify if the engine is standard or reverse rotation.  If you see a chain, the engine is standard rotation and if you see a beveled gear, then it’s a reverse rotation engine.  While the distributor turns the same direction on both engines, the firing order is reversed on the reverse rotation engines.  Instead of the firing order at the cap being 15486372 in a CCW direction, it will be 12736845 in the same CCW direction.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Thanks Ted and everyone for the great information.  In regards to the camshaft, it appears that any Y-block cam could be used in any marine engine provided it matches the build.  If this project should some day take sail, I'll send reports. Now that I know what we're up against in regards to the engine, the first task will be to find a fiberglass watercraft with an out-drive already in place. The information generated by his forum is priceless, thanks again, JEFF..................


64F100 57FAIRLANE500