351w Rebuild suggestions

[67halfcab]

Ok, I'm picking up my 87' EFI 302 tomorrow which will be transplanted into my 67halfcab replacing the tired 351w. (temporarily replacing the 351w) ;D<br><br>So, while the 351w is out I'm will be rebuilding it.<br><br>Please tell me what you would do if this were your 351w and you were rebuilding it.<br><br>Also, anyone know of a good place to get a video or books on rebuilding a 351w. This will be my first 351w rebuild.<br><br>Thanks for your input.

 

[Desert Thrasher]

It really depends on what you want to do with the engine. Do you want a powerhouse? If so then stroke it, go 393 or 408. Get some good aftermarket heads. <br><br>Or are you looking more for a stock/slightly built motor? You will probably need to have it bored, also have the block decked. Have a machine shop check your crank to see if it will need to be turned, have the oil holes chamfered too. And have them resize your rods while your that far into it.<br>Either way you should install some good aftermarket pistons like Kieth Black's or Speed-Pro, as well as a good quality set of rings and bearings. If your budget allows get some aftermarket cylinder heads or at least have some port work done on your stock ones with a fresh rebuild, i.e. new valves and seats and springs. Some roller rockers would be great too. Then depending on how you want your engine to be, choose a good cam and lifter set.<br> I have 2 books on ford engines both are great books:<br><br>Ford Performance by Pat Ganahl from S.A. Design<br><br>HIgh Performance Ford engine parts interchange by George Reid from also from S.A. Design<br><br>You can find them at speed shops or maybe at a large book store or from Summit racing. Summit also has small block specific ford books too.<br>Good luck.<br> <br><br>

 

[eBronc]

Wow, great timing - I just picked up an '85 351W (carbed) to rebuild for my eBronc project.<br><br>How you plan to use it determines how you build it. Mine's going to be mostly a trail truck, but I do plan on driving it around town a little. I don't plan on racing it, mud running, sand dunes, or tractor pulls, just playing around on the trails and rocks, and I don't want to have to worry about it. I don't want to have to run octane booster to prevent detonation or a $400 aluminum radiator and all kinds of coolers and fans to keep it from overheating, so I'm going pretty simple on the engine package. Just a rebuild, really, concentrating on reliability and throttle response. <br><br>Rings, bearings, gaskets, double-roller timing set, oil pump, oil pump drive shaft, valve seals, and an "RV-grind" type cam (260 duration, .450" lift) for great off-idle torque, headers, and a Q-jet (again, for throttle response..and it's great on hills). <br><br>I picked up the core engine complete for $150 at a salvage yard, and the PAW rebuild kit is less than $200. The Q-jet, headers, and Bronco 351W swap oil pan I snagged on eBay for about $120 total.<br><br>The great thing about a 351W is that it makes plenty of torque (350+ ft-lbs) and horsepower stock (300+) - you don't have to go crazy with parts to get power. Of course, if you plan on driving your EB in ways that require more oomph, you can always build it stronger..and cheaply.<br><br>You can go EFI, stroker kits, single-plane intakes, aluminum heads..anything the 5.0 Mustang guys do to the 302's can be applied to the 351W..(and that' a LOT.)

 

[67halfcab]

I think I can sum up what I am after in this one sentence.<br><br>I want a streetable, Torquey motor with great throttle response.<br><br>I'd say about 40-50% of my driving will be the 1 mile I drive to work and the remaining will be offroading in many different types of terrain. Mainly 2 tracks, hills, mud and some sand dunes with very little rock crawling.<br><br>I will be installing EFI on it when it is done, have thought about stroking it to 393 but think reliability would be my #1 importance factor so maybe just an RV cam and the rest I'm not sure about, so I thought I pick all of your brains to see what you'd do if this was your engine.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Just build it stock. Cheap, easy, dependable.

 

[Madgyver]

Stroke it and top it off with a good set of aftermarket heads.

 

[rjlougee]

This thread is right on time for me as well (must be the winter project thing). It's started smoking a little on start up, and it just annoys me. Should only be guide seals, but I might as well do something else while I'm in there....<br><br>My thoughts are:<br>393 stroker<br>Ported GT-40 heads<br>New roller cam, more aggressive<br>Resized stock rods<br>Block work<br>Etc...<br><br>I'll maintain the MAF SEFI.<br><br>What else would the experts recommend? I'll do wiring all day long, but the insides of engines have always been magic.<br>Joe

 

[rulebreaker]

All my drag racing buddies swear by balancing the engine. For instance they weigh the pistons on a paint scale and make sure they are all the same. Very time consuming and not for me but they swear by it.

 

[74bronc]

I should pipe in here since I have in my bronco now the exact motor it sounds like you want. I have an 84 351W, bored .030, new hypereutectic Speed-Pro pistons with teflon coated skirts, block was boiled, bored, honed and new cam bearings installed. I used the stock heads, which I know are the weak point of the motor but I didn't have the funds at the time to do nice heads, so I pocket ported the heads myself, had a 3 angle valve job done and they have been great. The cam is a dual duration Crane Blazer 260/272 with new hydraulic lifters. The timing chain is a Crane Blazer dual roller, also had new moly rings, new freeze plugs and obviously new bearings. New oil pump as well.<br><br>I have about 7K on this motor and I love it. It is super torquey, especially down low. I winds out about 5K or so, but I rarely run it that hard. It pulls strong all the way up though. I was into the motor, parts and machine work, around $1000. Assembled and installed in myself. Next on the list of mods are nice heads, roller rockers and a roller cam. But, the list is long.....<br><br>I would definitely have the motor balanced. Any good machine shop will be able to do it for between $125-175. Not only will it make the motor run smoother, it will last longer. My motor runs so smooth it is crazy!<br><br>Good luck on your motor.

 

[bsaunder]

[quote author=rjlougee link=board=5;threadid=11808;start=0#87004 date=1038622612]<br>This thread is right on time for me as well (must be the winter project thing). It's started smoking a little on start up, and it just annoys me. Should only be guide seals, but I might as well do something else while I'm in there....<br><br>My thoughts are:<br>393 stroker<br>Ported GT-40 heads<br>New roller cam, more aggressive<br>Resized stock rods<br>Block work<br>Etc...<br><br>I'll maintain the MAF SEFI.<br><br>What else would the experts recommend? I'll do wiring all day long, but the insides of engines have always been magic.<br>Joe<br>[/quote]<br>As mentioned above, definitely get it balanced. Since your punching it out some, I would at least up the size of your MAF (unless you’re already running a large one), might want to do some calculations on your injectors to make sure they are sized properly, same with a throttle body. If you go bigger on the throttle body though, you may want to re-work the wheel for the throttle cable to more of a cam of sorts so you don't move it so much at low throttle position and therefore have a less touchy throttle at crawling speeds, but something that will rev it up and run when wanted. Not sure on the 393, but you may need different length rods. Always replace the oil pump when you rebuild an engine - I also like to replace the pump shaft with a FRPP shaft, they won't pull out and drop into the pan like a stock one can. Depending on the upper and lower you are using, porting and polishing them could help you too. If you’re running an auto - you may want to get a different torque converter. When you stroke the engine, the torque curve not only increases but shifts back in rpm level, and therefore moves the peak HP level back too.