Customer Reviews

Ford Y-Block: How to Repair and Rebuild the 1954-62 Ford OHV V-8

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Finally a book on Fords Y Blocks, Fords "forgotten V-8". I say forgotten because it is easy to find info on Ford's flatheads, FE's, small blocks, etc. but very hard to find info on the Y Block, especially as informitive and well writen as Mr. Eickmans Book. I enjoyed reading the history as well as the pitfalls of this engine. There are a few mistakes in the book and a few "controversial" tips on rebuilding the engine, but overall it is an excellent source of info. Good Stuff. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Y Block Fords. Besides, there doesn't seem to be any other books out there about Y Blocks.

PS If you are REALLY interested in Y Blocks, subscribe to Y Block Magizine!!!

Where has this book been. I have searched for information on the Ford Y-Block since, I bought a 56 T-Bird a few years ago. I am in the process of restoring it and this book is full of the information I need for rebuilding the engine.

I found the history of the Y-Block quite interesting and now see why I have had so much trouble finding the information I needed. Who would have though I should have been looking under Ford Pickup Engines.

Besides history the books gives well illustrated instructions for tearing down and rebuilding the engine. Several problem areas of lubrication were pointed out along with solutions, that should work, to fix them. The book is written in simple everyday language and was easy to understand. I would highly recommend this book for people who need information on the Y-Block and are having a hard time finding it.

I just finished a complete teardown and rebuild of my 292 Y-block engine. This book was at my side through the entire process. The author does a good job of explaining *most* of what's going on.

However... Upon completion of my project, I discovered an egregious error in the book that caused me to make a costly mistake. The illustration showing the timing mark alignment showed the marks aligned facing the wrong side of the engine! The marks need to be 12 chain links apart facing the LEFT (oil filter) side of the engine. The original factory manual explains this, but Eickman does not. His book shows them incorrectly facing the right-hand side and makes no mention of which side is correct. Because of that error, I had to tear the front of the engine apart after it was assembled, and align the marks using the factory shop manual's illustration.

Some of the book's other illustrations are out of sequence, but they don't pose a problem like the timing mark illustration did. The author's overall attention to detail seems to diminish toward the end of the book. In addition, the book makes no mention of the 1963-64 Y-block engines used in Ford trucks.

If you are going to rebuild a Y-block engine, I'd say you should definitely buy this book - but verify the details against factory procedures whenever possible.

For those interested in the Ford Y block this text is very helpful, depending upon your level of knowledge (or expertise). It is a combination of the motor history and some technical information regarding engine parts and casting codes.
I find this book interesting and helpful for two reasons. First,this book seems to be in a class of its own. Perhaps that is because many people are not familiar with this engine series relative to the 302, 351, 427, etc. Second, I do not know of any other books compiling general information comparable to this one. You could gather the information in the book from several different types of shop manuals, etc. but it would be difficult.
If you are an experienced Y block person, you may already know much of the information, but even after a long time with these motors, I still found some new information. Of course, for price you really can't go wrong.

The book is a great reference for the Ford Car Y-Block. Not so for the Heavy Truck series which use the larger and similar Lincoln Y-Blocks. Only wish that this publication could be revised and updated to newer and clear color pictures. What's there is good but with a revision this would be a super excellent publication. Still this deserves a 5 star rating as it stands.

There just isn't a whole lot out there on the Y-block, so that alone makes this 3 stars. However, like other reviewers have noted, the illustrations and photographs are absolutely horrid. The best of them are pretty bad and most are completely useless - black and white blobs with no detail. The text reproduced fine, but completely falls apart with the figures. Don't purchase this if you're hoping for visual references - it's for text content only.

this book has the worst pictures to follow I have ever seen in a manual. The contrast is so dark you can not see anythig but black blobs. I can not believe this manual is even on the market.The writing is ok but very plain. do your self a favor and save your money.There are not many books on Y blocks for ford, and it is too bad that this is what a person has to choose from.

Well written and informative, but the reproduction of the photos is very poor......nothing against the author who is very knowledgable about the Y-block engines, the publisher needs to update the pictures.

I have seen previous versions of this book that were very good. This version I returned to sender. It is a copied version and the photos are too dark and unclear. This is not a PRINTED version!!

this entire book looks like a photocopy. The pictures are so black you can't even make some of them out, let alone see any detail. I have several other books published by MBI, and they are all first class. I can't believe they would release something of such poor quality. If it wasn't for the good history brief of where this engine design fits into the chronology of Ford V8 engine development, and the high quality technical information (I think it is the only book around on the Y-block) contained in this book, I would have given it only one star.