351W Swap Question..

[Tram]

So, my ‘74 is sporting a mid-70’s 351W.

It’s getting a little old in the tooth and what is like to do is find another 351W to put on the stand and build and keep driving the Bronco, instead of having the Bronco down during the build.

Plus, I’ve always wanted to rebuild an engine myself, so I’d kill 2 birds with one stone.

Anyway, already having the ‘70’s engine - would it make the most sense to find another 70’s to build or swap to a later year roller engine and if so, what would I be looking at swapping to go that direction?

Ideally, I’d like to be able to pull this one and swap in the new one as easily as possible.


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[Timmy390]

Stick or auto trans? The roller will not have the boss to mount the Z bar linkage. The venders sell a adapter. It and some grinding and it works well.

I like a roller....one piece rear main and roller cam/lifters

Got mine from a E350 van. It had E7 heads....Good but GT40 and 40P's are better. I went with the P's

Tim

 

[cldonley]

Got my 351W roller from a 95 van. Went hydraulic clutch, which is a pretty simple upgrade. Got the bell housing from a mid 80s F250 and used new master and slave cylinder for the same model truck. Works great. Are you fuel injected?

 

[Tram]

Stick or auto trans? The roller will not have the boss to mount the Z bar linkage. The venders sell a adapter. It and some grinding and it works well.

I like a roller....one piece rear main and roller cam/lifters

Got mine from a E350 van. It had E7 heads....Good but GT40 and 40P's are better. I went with the P's

Tim

Right now, it’s a 3 speed, but I’ve got an automatic I have been planning on sliding back into it.


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[Tram]

Are you fuel injected?

No, still carbed.


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[Broncobowsher]

The later block will be fine. I prefer them for the main reason of a 1-piece rear main seal. They are so much dryer than 2-piece seals.
Most of the time fuel injected blocks will have minimal wear compared to carbed engines.
The only down side to a late block is maybe the lack of the clutch pivot hole, which isn't that big of a deal even if still running the mechanical linkage. There are kits to get around it.
A roller block is a bonus.

No reason to go searching for another 70's block. Not anything special or desirable about those.

 

[Apogee]

Later roller block for sure, unless you want to pull out all of the stops and go with an aftermarket block and a big-bore stroker kit, then definitely do that instead! I don't have anything against my 351W from the 80's, it's a good engine, but I do wish it had the 1-piece rear main seal and roller lifters.

 

[Rustytruck]

do you have a 3 bolt damper or a 4 bolt damper. depends on who dis the swap and what pulleys were used.

 

[Broncobowsher]

do you have a 3 bolt damper or a 4 bolt damper. depends on who dis the swap and what pulleys were used.

Not really an issue. Just swap dampers as you do the engine swap. At worst you pick up a new damper to match what you need.

 

[Tram]

do you have a 3 bolt damper or a 4 bolt damper. depends on who dis the swap and what pulleys were used.

From what I understand, I should have a 4 bolt damper, I haven’t verified, I think ‘69 was the last year for the 3 bolt.


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[Broncobowsher]

If you have stock Bronco accessories it is a 3-bolt. Which is easy enough to have been transfered from the original 302. Also the Econoline kept the 3-bolt damper up through 1974 (from my understanding anyway)

The 4-bolt is the common car application after 1970. But that only matters as it was originally equipped, much like saying your bronco has a 302 in it becasue that is how they were built in 1974. Not taking into account that someone has changed something in the past 50 years.

 

[Rustytruck]

a new roller 351 would have 4 bolt so if you still have 3 bolt damper you will have to deal with the changes.