351w swap - what is the best vehicle to be a donor???

[Madgyver]

I pulled the covers off the one in my garage to take this pic..........

 

[SeanNollan]

I thought all Boss motors were 351C. I know somwhere between 72-73 ford a mustang with a 351HO that was a windsor.

 

[jate]

It depends on what you want to do. If you plan to rebuild the motor, I would look for a nice low price one to start with.
If you plan a performance, but close to stock build, a roller block is a good start. Note: even the roller blocks are not full roller; they still have the conventional rocker arms on it. Full roller is a roller cam AND roller rockers. The only time that rolled out of the factory is the ’93 cobra. Those are a little pricey considering you can just bolt on a set yourself.

If you plan to just get an engine and drop it in as is, you have to consider condition. The ’69-’70 engine was the best there was, but they are 35 years old now. I would never pick up a stock engine that old and just drop it in.
For the most part anything from the 70’s and newer will all be about the same.
The latest engines are the mid 90’s engines. These engines are available in 2 flavors. The light truck, and the heavy duty. Before you go thinking “lets go get the heavy duty” think of this: The heavy duty was meant to run at full throttle all the time. Sounds good right? Wrong! The compression was dropped from 8.8 to 8.3 to prevent problems in the engine. This takes out a big chunk of power. The rest of the engine is the same. The light duty (F150/big Bronco) engine will out run the heavy duty (F250 and up) engines. If you were to swap the engine into a boat, I would recommend the HD engine because they were built to run hours at full throttle. Sacrifice a little power for longevity. Consider how long you drive at full throttle? Witch engine better suits the needs of a bronco? The ZF (if I remember right) is typically found on the HD trucks, the ones with low compression engines.

As for a rebuilt engine, all bets are off. Pistons and cams can be changed to almost anything and it could still fall into the category of “stock rebuild”. Flat tops replacing dished and vise versa. Factory cams came in dozens of grinds, most of them bad for performance as they were each trying to squeak the engine through tighter emissions. Anything that has gone through a rebuild house I would consider suspect.

It basically comes down to getting a good engine (weather you build it or just fine one used in good condition). Don’t take anybody’s word about it. Look for cars and trucks sitting in the junkyard because of accidents. A cherry car sitting there is probably there because the engine died.

And for fuel injection, please do a search. There is enough stuff on this board to keep you busy all weekend.

Okay, so if I understand what you are saying here, if I were to buy an engine and drop in as is, the light duty is the way to go. But, if I were to do a rebuild the HD is the way to go since I can change the compression ratio. Is that correct?

 

[Madgyver]

72 351HO is a 351C4V with hydraulic lifters, 351 BOSS were mechanical or solid lifters

 

[SaddleUp]

Okay, so if I understand what you are saying here, if I were to buy an engine and drop in as is, the light duty is the way to go. But, if I were to do a rebuild the HD is the way to go since I can change the compression ratio. Is that correct?

That isn't what ge said. He specified the 69 or 70 block as a rebuilder. The reason for this is that they supposedly are a little heavier than anything newer. In reality any 351W block should work fine as a rebuilder since the compression can be changed. Don't lose any sleep trying to find one of the old blocks. If they can even be found they could very well be bored out already. Regarding the difference in compresson ratio between an F150 and an F250 in newer motors it is something I would verify with actual documentation first. Even then you might want to get the HD version for longevity and reliability if it turns out that they are really different.

 

[Slick]

Far be it for me to argue with the great Hawaiian Bronco guru but,

Up here, the 351 Boss Mustang came with a Windsor with all the 'goodies'.

I could be wrong, but I have seen two of these cars at shows, and they both had factory Windsors in them.

TOFIC

%) I may be wrong... BUT what you MAY be thinking of is a 69 mach 1???

the engine in mine is out of a mach 1 and it is indeed a 351w and had a bunch of goodies from frod, plus it was ford's best year for block strength... if I'm not mistaken. ;D

 

[jate]

What goodies came with the 69/70 Mach 1 windsor that did not come with other years?

 

[Slick]

295 horses!

 

[jate]

Okay, I got that part. How do they get that kind of hp? Is it exhaust, fuel, cam, etc?

 

[probaja]

'69 mach 1 - the best! - if you can find one...............

 

[Slick]

STRONG chance I could be wrong, BUT I'm under the impression that the crank is steel, and they were able to breathe the best then... moot point on mine I'm sport'n the eldebrock alu comp heads... %)

I'm think'n the blocks were the strongest that year fer sum reason, and last year of unrestricted engineering.

Once more I could be wrong bout the crank...