Slick 60's

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 7:51 pm**

a friend has a 63 uni. 292 3 speed. runs like crap and has since he bought it. the carb is junk, lifters out of adjustment etc.
so i went down there this weekend to drink beer and sit around the fire in a real shop. mission accomplished. then after about a 12 pack and several hours of glancing over at the 63 i took the valve covers off much to his dismay. he wants to work on it but never does. in fact i was surprised to see it in the shop at all. so i kind of got the ball rolling whether he wanted to or not. lol. guess what? no oil on the top end. the covers weren't even wet, and neither was most of the upper valve train.
so now i have his attention and we start into the old truck. the drivers side rocker ass'y wasn't even tight to the head. i wonder why it was fartin' through the carb? lol
so we get everything off a soaked in gas, blow through it all with compressed air, let it all dry and reassemble.
hey look at that, it's oiling on the top end now. not very well, but it's gettin' everything wet. also, it runs pretty good now. still lots of clatter so he runs the lash. oh my, it runs about as good an engine can run with a dead carb.
so that was my weekend.
beers -11 pints, truck -1 chris +12. not a bad 48 hours.

the truck:

the head:

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 8:11 pm**

mazen what a little TLC can do with these old clunkers

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 8:20 pm**

It's also amazing how these Y-blocks are so damned hard to kill..

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 8:29 pm**

the oil pump is leaking like a sieve so that needs addressed. plus it is probably weak. get the oil light sometimes at idle.
plus i pulled lots of valve guide seal parts out of the heads. i'd say they need replacing too.

can anyone tell me which position is the "open" position for the heat riser in the exhaust? up or down? i'm guessing "up".

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 8:39 pm**

Wow. This thread isn't at all what I expected from that title.

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 8:42 pm**

i don't even want to know what you were expecting.

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 8:52 pm**

Johnny Canuck wrote:Wow. This thread isn't at all what I expected from that title.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a dirty mind.

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 9:06 pm**

Good you are making headway Chris.
A Y block oil pump is pretty expensive - you can still get the rebuild kit though.

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 10:21 pm**

Johnny Canuck wrote:Wow. This thread isn't at all what I expected from that title.

Guess I'm not the only one here with a teenage boy's mentallity

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 10:38 pm**

That looks like a REALLY nice uni. Just needs some love...and oil in the Y!!!

Posted: **January 16, 2011, 11:58 pm**

matt2491 wrote:It's also amazing how these Y-blocks are so damned hard to kill..

Yep. I drove mine for several years as my only source of transportation, manually oiling the rockers once a week. It never did fail me. When I finally took the rockers apart, they were worn but not nearly as bad as I had expected. I still have that engine and bet I could fire it up tomorrow if so inclined.

Posted: **January 17, 2011, 11:27 am**

ezernut9mm wrote: can anyone tell me which position is the "open" position for the heat riser in the exhaust? up or down? i'm guessing "up".

Chris, look at the wheel for a weighted boss cast into it. If the boss is down, at the bottom of the rotation, the valve is open - assuming the thing still moves.
When the spring gets hot, it gets longer and relaxes, allowing the weight to rotate down. When it cools, the spring shortens and tightens up, pulling the weight back up.

Posted: **January 17, 2011, 11:33 am**

the heat riser moves. it is on the passenger side and the big weight is in the "up" position. i would assume that is closed then. thanks banjo.

Posted: **January 17, 2011, 1:03 pm**

If it is still not getting oil the cam bearing has probably turned and blocking the passage. I had a 313 Y block do that on the right bank. No big problem though I had a cheap fix for it. I simply removed the valve cover and laid a extra absorbent Kotex on top of the valve train and poured a quart of oil onto it. It would keep it oiled for about a month or six weeks depending on how much driving I did. When the valves with start to complain I would remove the cover and put a new one in. When you removed the old one it would be shrunk up to almost nothing, probably about a fourth the size it originally was.

Posted: **January 17, 2011, 1:51 pm**

Ga style.copper lines from fittings on block,up back and into drilled grommeted hole in valve cover correct location,no need ever to remove v .c. or use feminine products... highly suggest rebuilding oil pump, if shot/need parts,I got ya covered. Rebuild carb,I am quite good at this,have lots of parts if need be as well. Addin a QT of diesel ot engine oil and runnin for a while just above idle unless pump is gone will loosed gunk in lines.I have a few y block for parts and the correct specs ,should ya'll need.. just sayin.......

Posted: **January 17, 2011, 4:15 pm**

It wasn't until about a year later I learned of the top oilers for them. They were available at just about every auto parts store at the time.

Posted: **January 17, 2011, 4:23 pm**

Can you still get top oiler kits for y blocks ? I had to put one on the 57 ford i had years ago.

Posted: **January 17, 2011, 5:01 pm**

it's oiling, just not spectacularly. everything is getting wet but it's not slinging it like i would like to see.
michelle, i'll se if he has any kotex laying around. lol.
pete, this carb is shot. the butterfly shaft is very worn causing it to suck air and it doesn't spray fuel into the venturi like it should. it has soaked and been blown out repeatedly and still won't work right.

i need to thank greg for his help over the phone about where the oil journals were located. thanks bro-ham.

Posted: **January 17, 2011, 5:12 pm**

As long as each rocker is wet, you should be good.

Posted: **January 17, 2011, 7:25 pm**

the rockers are not pressurized. on mine a lot of the oil runs out the little tube on the end.

Slick 60's

oil that "Y"

oil that "Y"

external oilers