292 Y-Block engine showing heads
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292 Y-Block engine showing heads
Yes, I am familiar with the "stacked" arrangement of the intake ports since I helped my Dad replace a 272 with a 292 and I recall reading about the '57 heads being the best. I also recall the problem with the lack of oiling to the rockers, the heavier weight and the added width. I did like the way the stock exhaust manifolds came out in the upper front as helping some folks install dual turbos. I guess I never saw a comparison of the flow rates through the various heads the way that the SBC heads have now been documented so I did not know whether the SBC heads flowed better or worse than the Y-block heads. From what some of you said it was just several factors that favored the SBC, but maybe the added twist in the intake runners was the deciding factor. Probably porting those intake runners was very difficult. Back to the flathead, a modification that I have only read about was to fill the intake ports with molten lead and then grind them out as a straight pipe from the intake manifold to the valve head to eliminate the bowl bend under the valve head; I can see that sort of thing would be essentially impossible with the Y-block heads. Again it is doubly ironic that the main flaw in the Y-blocks had to do with poor head design at the same time they rejected the ARDUN heads! I got away from this thread for most of the day watching the Redskins miracle followed by Tony Stewart's third win ahead of the other folks in the final set of NASCAR races; a big day for Joe Gibbs Enterprises! For my two cents, I think the way the race is set up now is silly and Stewart is proving it by winning three races and still not in the points race; the old points system was better in my opinion. If this is still the flathead thread, let's chat about the 1934 Indy race that Ford V8s almost won except for the exhaust manifolds being too close to the steering box and the heat froze up the steering. Weren't the Granatelli brothers mechanics on that team, the same guys who make STP today and almost won Indy with a turbine? Just a little history to indicate that flathead blocks were run at the Indianapolis 500 in 1934 but were DNF due to the heat problem. I am not aware that the ARDUNs ever ran at Indy because by the time the ARDUN heads were available other engines like the Offenhauser and later the stock block Fairlane engine were available; I know some SBC cars have run at Indy but I am not aware that any has won. Just rambling comments.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
Don -There were alot of racers who ran flatties and some who were running Top Eliminator were Bob Alseny who in 1957 ran his combo with Ardun heads to a official time of 9.98 @159.01 which is pretty dam good.Another earlier one who was Top Eliminator was Don Yates who drove his yates & mikkleson 275 CI flattie to a 10.59@144.85 in 1954 using low doses of nitro. Flatheads had there problems but it seems someone always figured out how to fix that problem and they did pretty good. As you mentioned the worst problem was overheating.
Nope - not me - I'm from the NY Capital district - but about the same era thoQuote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
What messed peoples minds up was the fact that my car was at least partially dechromed and I ran the orange '54 valve covers - and of course they 'assumed' it was a '54 . Fords '52 to '54 looked virtually identical to the uninitiated.:D :D
Chevy37, I was referring to the use of ARDUN-flathead-block engines running at Indianapolis. As a teenager I looked forward to special coverage by Hot Rod Magazine on the Indy cars in the Spring and then again in the Summer on the Bonneville cars. I am aware of a number of successful ARDUN engine dragsters and seem to recall some Bonneveille cars with ARDUN heads on a flathead block but none for the Indy race. As I said the only race data for flathead blocks I recall in the Indy 500 was for 1934, which was with factory support, I believe. Maybe someone else remembers Indy cars with Ford V8 engines between 1934 and the much later Fairlane OHV engines (which were really special for the Indy race; especially with their "bundle-of-snakes" headers). Chevy37 if you have access to a neighbor with an ARDUN, I wonder if the sound changed with the four exhaust-ports-in-head instead of the stock three-in-block ports?
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
Don Sorry, didn't read you first message right. (tired, too much work) No i'm not familar with the old indy racers so I can't really tell what engine was used back then. I started to watch the indy races around 58-59 so I missed out on the earlier ones.As far as a neighbor with the Ardun heads, I'm afraid he lives in California, but I imagine the 3 in port block would sound different than the 4, problably much like the glasspacks sound on a flattie campared to a sb ford, mopar or chevy.
Don,
I can assure you that the exhaust went from the familiar flathead rumble to a significant snarl - i.e. SBC/F. There used to be a guy around my area that raced one - pre SBC/F - and it was sweet. He took a class win at the NHRA Nationals with it one year - probably in the '53 to '55 era.
Re;the weird stacked ports on the Y block. Henry was trying to fix the mixture imbalance that existed in most older engines. All the ports on a Y are close to the same length and configuration. An innovative, fresh-sheet-of-paper approach to the problem. Trouble is, it created more problems than it solved.
"Back to the drawing board!"