Ford Y-block engine

The Y-block is a family of small-block, overhead-valve V8 engines built by Ford from 1954 through 1964. Its name comes from the deep skirting of the block, which makes the casting resemble a Y and gives a rigid bottom end at the cost of weight. It replaced the side-valve Ford Flathead V8. The first version displaced 239 cubic inches (3.9 litres) and made 130 horsepower, against 110 for the Flathead's final form, and larger 272 and 292 cubic inch versions followed in 1955. As Ford's first overhead-valve engine it fed oil to the rocker shafts through a passage from the center cam bearing, which earned it a reputation for poor top-end oiling that Ford eased with an external oil tube to the rocker shafts.