That would be an affirmative“Yes”. Ford 292/312 blocks using big bore sleeves tend to crack the decks between the cylinders as well as have water seepage between the sleeve and the deck into the combustion chamber where the head gasket is not residing on the edge of the cylinder itself.

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Not many 292 blocks will bore out to the 4+” bore required for big bore sleeves without breaking through at least a part of the cylinder walls. Core shift within the block has a lot to do with how severe that cylinder wall offset will be and the subsequent complete boring away of part or all of the cylinder walls. If the cylinder head had a combustion chamber that was fully within the bore confines, then a head gasket with a perfectly round sealing ring could catch the top of the sleeve and minimize the water leakage issue regardless of what was going on between the sleeve and what was remaining of the existing cylinder wall. Granted that this would not be a total fix but this would go a long way towards addressing the water seepage issue with big bore sleeves.

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Cylinder wall integrity has much to do with making the big horsepower numbers. Minimal cylinder wall thickness simply promotes cylinder wall flex which in turn costs some serious horsepower as well as setting the cylinder wall up for an early failure. It’s for this reason that cylinder walls are intentionally left at smaller bores so that the cylinder walls can be thicker in boosted applications. A case in point is when building the engine for Randy Gummelt’s rear engine dragster, the bore size was intentionally left at 3.800” bore rather than the 3.860" bore used on a serious normally aspirated Y engine build.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ok, so this is a bit out there and it may be costly.

What if the cylinders where bored out completely including the inner portion of the deck, leaving an outer silhouette of a block deck.
Some alterations could be done in the water jacket area. Then a set of larger cylinders attached (precast) to the new inner deck area.
This new cylinders would then be pressed into the base of the water jackets and welded, as with the new inner deck area.
Maybe web between the banks to for extra rigidity.

Well, what do you think?

Sounds super expensive even if you could find someone to do it and still most likely want work. The Y block is what it is, just like the Flathead before it. My thoughts are if you really have to have a four plus in bore, find a good FE engine.

Glen Henderson



Freedom is not Free

Letohatchee, AL

Apparently the Y block crank will bolt straight into a 302 windsor and create a 340.3.3" stroke
4" bore
opposed to
Y Block -292 B:3.75" and S:3.3"
Windsor -302 B:4" and S:3"

RUBBISH! Also cant see why you want to reinvent the wheel with the sleeve theorys, dreams?, once you bore through the original walls, any reliabilty, longevity is at a minumn. The most expeirenced people here have tried and explained it all i thought !

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Glen, words of wisdom to the deaf !

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

As far as a 292 Yblock crank being used in a 289/302 I think it has been done. I bought a 66 Shelby 350 in the late 1970`s that had been a drag strip car. The engine was replaced by a plain 302 but in the trunk there was a set of professionally ported hipo heads and a steel Yblock 292 crank. That was extensively re worked, stroked ( offset ground) I never tried it myself but I gave it to a guy who road raced his GT350R and I lost track of him so I never knew if he used it or not. Pete

My brother mentioned a while back that he recalled reading in a car mag many years ago the mod to install a Y crank in a Windsor when I mentioned about bore spacing being the same.

Of course no one would want to work away from the Y block anyway, that would be ridiculous.

And I did mention with the opening sentence "Ok, so this is a bit out there and may be a bit costly"

Words are only words to the wise.

I have been told that Fords Indy engines of the early 60's used a crank that was based on the 292 steel crank. If I remember right rules limited the engines to 255 ci. I have no idea how much machine work went into the block or crank to make this combo work, but I will assure you that it was not plug and play.

Glen Henderson



Freedom is not Free

Letohatchee, AL