What's the bigest Motor I can get?

[charliemccraney]

Hawk,
It sounds like you're still in the past with regards to the potential of the Y. Ted Eaton of Eaton balancing has turned out several naturally aspirated Y's in excess of 500hp in the past year. The tests on Mummerts site are years old, way before the aluminum heads. 300hp with a Y is a walk in the park. Nothing exotic is required for that, only good headers, a good intake, big valve heads, and the right cam though things like porting certainly do make it easier to achieve. 500hp does require some fancy stuff, but really nothing too wild. Cost is a factor, as previously stated, but for Y enthusiasts, it's not a big deal and in many cases, it's really not that much of a difference.
I guess "several... in the past year" is not a good qualifier to say not uncommon. But the fact is 500hp is absolutely possible and easy to attain. So let me modify that. 400-450hp is not uncommon. If you don't believe me, show up at the Y-Block shootout at National Trails Raceway in Columbus, Oh, on Labor Day Weekend and witness street cars and race cars at or above that level with or without nitrous or turbos/superchargers and, to keep it honest, many below that level, as well. As long as the usual folks show up I can guarantee that you'll see at least 4 of the naturally aspirated Y's with over 500hp.
John has done a lot in recent years to boost the output of the Y.

[Hawkrod]

Hawk,
It sounds like you're still in the past with regards to the potential of the Y. Ted Eaton of Eaton balancing has turned out several naturally aspirated Y's in excess of 500hp in the past year. The tests on Mummerts site are years old, way before the aluminum heads. 300hp with a Y is a walk in the park. Nothing exotic is required for that, only good headers, a good intake, big valve heads, and the right cam though things like porting certainly do make it easier to achieve. 500hp does require some fancy stuff, but really nothing too wild. Cost is a factor, as previously stated, but for Y enthusiasts, it's not a big deal and in many cases, it's really not that much of a difference.
I guess "several... in the past year" is not a good qualifier to say not uncommon. But the fact is 500hp is absolutely possible and easy to attain. So let me modify that. 400-450hp is not uncommon. If you don't believe me, show up at the Y-Block shootout at National Trails Raceway in Columbus, Oh, on Labor Day Weekend and witness street cars and race cars at or above that level with or without nitrous or turbos/superchargers and, to keep it honest, many below that level, as well. As long as the usual folks show up I can guarantee that you'll see at least 4 of the naturally aspirated Y's with over 500hp.
John has done a lot in recent years to boost the output of the Y.

Ask Ted how much that 540 cost him for the engine challenge and tell me its not a big deal! It can be done but it is a very serious deal. BTW, the heads alone cost more than most guys motors here on the forum and you will be into them over 3K before you even start prepping them to produce that kind of power. You can easily dump 5K into just the heads. Hawkrod

[charliemccraney]

The Engine Masters engine was very expensive because it was very exotic in order to put out a lot of power and fit within certain limitations and he built it to be dependable so he could reconfigure it for drag racing and use it in his dragster when the competition was over, rather than building a "dyno queen," I believe is how he put it. My comment about cost was general about the Y. We'll leave it to the guy who wants one to decide if the power level he wants is cost effective. I don't think the cost is a big deal but we're obviously on different spectrums there. I like to have what the guy next to me does not have and I'm willing to pay more for it if I have to. The fact is anything below 500hp is not that difficult and if you want more than 500 it is possible.

[64 f100]

Best bet is the paxton supercharger kit for the yblock. Actually available on the 57 F-bird. Could have had one many years ago for 500$. A couple yearsa ago there were a few available for less than 1,000$. Haven't seen any since thne though. Reground cam from Mummert , and upgrade in cylinder heads To the ECZ-G heads forom the 312 engines, and a new aluminum intake will pep the little darlin up considerable. One thing I do advise is an upgrade to petronix ignition. Hopefully, whoever is working on your motor knows how to set the cam timing on a yblock. Not the same critter as most other engines, and I hae heard where some books have it wrong. Just depends on where you want to be with the engine. It's a matter of how much you are willing to spend. There were roller timing gear setups available from Ford for the heavy duty yblocks. I bellieve part numbers were a B6C or 1956 number. I alos reccomend that you insure that whoever does the overhaul knows that it takes a special seal for the oil pump inlet tube. Sometimes these did not come in the gasket sets. I've seen one engine ruined because the person did not know this.

Lst of things you can get for a yblock:
headers from reds
original ramhorn manifolds roughly 300$ gibve or take
ECZ-G heads big intake valve, highest stock compression, price varies, cost of rebuilding varies I have 700$ in one set. These heads had some cracking problems so you may have to buy several to get a good set. Other large vlave heads also available but not as high a compression ratio, but fewer cracking problems. If you want a set contact me.
Intake change to 4 barrel, new aluminum is 400$, used cast iron 100$ and up.

Otherwise my suggestions are cam change ,petronix ignition, headers and dual exhaust and 4 barrel intake. These things will make the engine better. Anything else, and you beetter design the engine ffrom the ground up as to what you wants.

Rich

[bmcgc]

I think a twin turbojet is much more pratical than a diesel electric setup out of a ship.

The D/E requires a crew to operate as well as a 100ft bed extender. Parallel parking would also be a bitch.

[Gritsngumbo]

And would pretty much rule out trips to Sonic

[62bigwindow]

How much would it cost to build a 400-450 horse Y?I have been debating on what to run in my uni.I know what it will cost to build a 450 HP 351 stroker but not sure about a Y block.Also there is not ,in my opinion,a machine shop around here that I would trust to build either so what ever I choose will have to be done out of this area.With that said anybody also recomend a good shop for either engine.I like the nostalgia of the Y and it fits better in my build but the afore mentioned still brings doubts.

[charliemccraney]

Contact John Mummert, http://www.ford-y-block.com/, Ted Eaton, http://eatonbalancing.com/, or Tim Mcmaster, http://yblockguy.com/, discuss your desires and find out.

[BobbyFord]

If it's 500+ HP and 500+ ft. lbs. of torque you're after and not worried about the nostalgia aspect of the Y-block then a 460 is the easy way to go.

[Mctim64]

I may be a little late to this party but if you don't need 500 hp and somewhere north of 300 would suit you the engine that I ran at Bonneville last year for the "testing stage" was 320hp and nothing more than a freshen up on a previous +.060 rebuild. That's right, 301/292ci with a good balance job, cam change, head work, Mummert intake with a 725 Demon on top. Ignition was a stock dizzy with 6 AL MSD box. Might of had as much as $1k in the engine. And my labor of course. Ran a best of 126 mph in a mile.