Hi guys, i thought you might like to see these locally made intakes from the late 60,s on. They were made by old foundry in Newcastle suburb of Sydney, they were carried on by his son, john cain and ceased production after fire destroyed the premises in the 80,s. All were open plane with no port runners and were very average aluminum content, although made for cars, most were used on speed boats. Another company "Tawco" made similar boat type intakes without thermostat housing feature.

You may wonder why we had all these odd intakes etc here, but being a big island in the pacific we were not connected to the rest of the world as it is today and could not just go down to the local parts outlet to get one off the shelf! So inovation thrived here.

This boat intake was home designed and cast nicely, no port runners but interesting flow design on each end directing the fuel into port area rather than like an offy log intake. I am assuming who ever made it named it Revwell! very fitting i thought!

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

AussieBill,

No doubt you Australians own a special place in Y block history. We always knew there was a good reason why an Australian - St. Lawrence and his St. Train - held the speed record for the Y! Too many people in America of the 60's, 70's and 80's went the scrub 350 route buying in to what the media and magazines had to say. Couple that with the fact the GM continued making the small block scrub while Ford just decided to discontinue the Y block and most, but not all, of its inherent design characteristics. Every time I read a little bit of Y block history, the Aussies tend to come to the forefront in carrying the torch for quite a while. The last 10 years has witnessed a good shift in Y block interest by the "masses". You should see our trailer when I visit a car show and pull in with a decorated Y on an engine test stand. Edlebrock making a new 3 deuce manifold, John Mummert is almost there with an aftermarket head, and some of the major parts suppliers like Speedway motors now has a "Y block parts page"

Nice intakes - put them on ebay in the states and they're worth over $2K!!!! I have seen one or two Cain intakes here in the states.

When are you starting your Y museum????

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Dont know maker of these 2, notice small single center carb flange for local 6 cyl carb.

Goldsborough were a popular local maker of marinising manifolds for most engines, this has had angled carb flanges milled flat.

Tawco 2 x 6 with center ports blocked off, basically inspired by weiand/offy type log intakes.

There were quite a few other manufactures basically imitating each others products by the 70,s, eg. Broardly, Hamson, Tawco, Goldsborough, unnamed ones also, a lot of their products are lost to time, when i can clear my way through the engines and other stuff, i will send some pics of the marine water cooled exhaust manifolds. regards bill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

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Daniel, thanks for the kind words1 i know you understand!!!

I have often thought about the content of your words and put it down to the fact we had very few imported V8 cars here with which to obtain big engines for hot rods etc, basically the local 55 customline 272 started to replace the sidevalve V8 and chrysler/dodge flathead 6,s, it took years before there were other used v8,s available here so the y block had a long time span in racing either in cars or boats. I have spent over 47 yrs with them continually and often speak up when i hear " The y blocks are coming back", I cant help remark " When did they go out??" to the supprised look of the speaker. Ha, ha.

As for a musuem, it would be a dream to do! I have collected everything interesting over the years and am trying to document it all as a collection while it can be appreciated and recorded for the future, once items are sold off, no one gets to see the parts again, unless occasionally on ebay. While it appears i have some parts, be sure there are still some waiting out there for me!  There are plenty of other level headed y block people who understand the history and the heart of the beast! Best regards bill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Hey Bill, show that one with the SUs again.  That was pretty neat.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

Look good in your herald!

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Look what I found

Welcome to the site.  Great first post and really good stuff.  What’s the back story on these and what part of the world are these located?

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted, Says TAWACO on them, Australia I'd imagine.



Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

WOW - unfinished and still with the molds.
Hell of a score!
Need to hear the story on this find!
Oldmics