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Our beloved Y-block had a bad reputation back in the day, IMO mainly due to people using the wrong oil and not changing it often enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI_TBe1qss4

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Motor oil was not as well refined in the '50's as it is today. I can remember the first time I popped the rocker covers off my 272 back in 1973. The rocker shaft was completely encased in burnt sludge.
Modern oils will last longer (mileage-wise) than motor oil did back then also. However, I still change my oil at 3000 mile intervals.

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That youtube video is kindof stupid for saying the Y-block is the worst engine of all time and talks mostly about top oiling problems.
Then he talks about installing camshaft bearings wrong. Well if you install the bearings with the oil holes mis-aligned, of course you are going to have rocker shaft oiling problems, duh.
those stinkin chebby small-block engines gummed up as bad as the Y-blocks did. This is a total BS video. Please don't waste your time watching it.

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Too late, I already watched it. I started at a smal Ford dealer when I was 15 in '65, and I'd taked the valve covers off a couple of those engines, and the sludge was unbelievable. They told me it was because the people just drove around town and didn't let the engines get hot enough.

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Any time I open a video with a person that age trying to tell the world what it was like to be a tax paying citizen fifty years before his birth, the video is closed.

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My first "real" car....after a bunch of jalopies I drove on the farm....was a used 1957 Ford. Stock V8 292 engine and it had external rocker arm oilers. After about the third oil change with 10/30 high detergent oil, I was able to turn them off with the petcocks that adjusted the flow. Eventually took them off completely and plugged the outlets. This was in 1963 and have never seen any type of work around like this since!!!

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Yeah, the second the video opens, this young guy who has probably never been near a y-block is going to tell us that this was the worst engine ever?

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To the best of my recollection: In the 30's, 40's, and 50's, the oil changing
interval's was recommended every 1,000 miles.

Also I remember the new cam bearings after the 312 c.i, engine came out
was grooved, to let the oil flow to the upper valve rocker arms incase the
oil hole in the bearing turned.

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I did like how he said it wasn't a good motor because it had oiling issues that were caused by neglect, bad oils and poor maintenance by the owners. BUT, it wasn't a good engine for those reasons?

mike

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Don't waste your time reading that garbage.
That young guy only thinks that he knows what he is talking about. My Ford with a
Y block runs perfectly with no oil issues.

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Interestingly, the original owner's manual that in the glove box in my '40 Ford lists an oil change interval of 2,000 miles for engines without an oil filter, and 5,000 miles for engines with the optional filter.
Yes, that official number from Ford was 5,000 miles!

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I guess my recollection is not to good. My apologies, and thanks for the
correction.

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The flathead had an oil filter, (sludge collector), inside the crankshaft. Centrifugal forces took the particles out of the oil and they went in the hollow part of the crank. At overhaul time, you need to remove the plugs and boil the snot out of the crank.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall it, the early Ford Y-blocks had a hollow cast-iron crank and the oil holes were located in the journals such that oil inside the crank would be thrown out upon the rod bushings by centrifugal force. But later truck Y-blocks had a solid steel crank without the holes.