Should I Or Shouldn't I?? 351c

[crab]

So I picked up a complete 351C today. 2V heads and no miles. It is an original ford crate motor that was used at my local high school for auto class. Came on a run stand with radiator and all gauges hooked up. Been sitting for quite a few years, but inside. Oil has never been changed and it still clean as a whistle. I pulled one of the valve covers and the oil is spotless laying on top of the heads. I'm pretty sure the motor has never been apart but not positive. Came with a complete new gasket set and valley pan. My plan is to put new bearings on the bottom end and run it. I've read a few of the posts here and was just looking for a little feedback. A buddy has a cleveland in his bronco locally, so at least I can follow his trial and error path. The bronco is going to be used for street and sand, no crawling. What do you think?

 

[mountainview68]

Clevelands are for wimps! Stroked Windsors are the way to go!! :-X ;D

 

[crab]

Clevelands are for wimps! Stroked Windsors are the way to go!! :-X ;D

Hey, you talked me into buying it :'( Now I'm on a mission

 

[mountainview68]

Coast High makes a stroker kit for the Cleveland!!! That would move Angie's ride really good!

 

[broncnaz]

I'm not a big fan of the 351C swap in a EB but it may suit your needs fine for sand running street I'm not so sure about.
Most, come to think of it all of the C swaps I've seen were not done very well and looked like crap but then I've never seen one that looked good so they may all be like that. Quite a few people run them and swear by them so you should get a few more opinions for it. Personnaly I's sell it to the mustang guys and go with a W.

Also I would go through the whole motor just being in a High school auto shop class would lead me to err on the side of caution. I took auto shop during HS and we tore apart every motor we had. Also keep in mind that 2 barrel clevelands were pretty detuned maybe 200hp at the crank less than what your 5.0 should be putting out.
heres the numbers
71 2V 240 hp
72 2v 163-177hp
73 2v 156 hp
Put a new timing chain set on as the factory one was retarded for emissions get a dura spark unit off a 460 and if it has the aluminum rocker fulcrums swap them out for steel ones as they are prone to cracking. Also a 4V manifold and carb will pick up some power it was said that the factory 4v manifold bolted on a 2V engine would see a 35hp increase.

 

[bmc69]

The 351C-2V makes a great EB engine all around and its not hard to 'wake one up'. Do not go for a factory 4V intake..the port mismatch is too big and you will kill the bottom end torque and throttle-response. The Edelbrock Performer dual-plane intake, or equivalent, will make the engine happy.

The canted-valve, oval-port head design on the 2V Clevelands is superior to the stock Windsor castings in any form and have 2.04" intake and 1.67" exhaust valves. In addition to the 4V intake conversion, the apprpriate cam and timing set will really make a big difference - the Cleveland was originally designed for performance; it just suffered from smog detuning after 1971..like all of the rest did as well. What year is the one you have found??

 

[meathead333]

i dont know crap about engines, but i have one and has worked fine for my needs. plus, its always a good conversational topic, nobody beleives me when i tell them its a cleveland until they look at it and the say "wow, thats a cleveland."

 

[Case]

i second going through the engine. you never know what a shop class may have done to it.

 

[bmc69]

i dont know crap about engines, but i have one and has worked fine for my needs. plus, its always a good conversational topic, nobody beleives me when i tell them its a cleveland until they look at it and the say "wow, thats a cleveland."

LOL..I just have "408 c.i." on my fenders. Of course, everyone looks at that and shakes their head knowingly.."stroked Windsor, eh?". "Nope, 400 Cleveland, .030 over" Then, of course, the hood has to come up. ;D

 

[crab]

What year is the one you have found??

The cast number next to the starter is D2AE CA
Haven't had time to look it up yet. Maybe someone here knows?

 

[bmc69]

Holy smokes..according to my casting book, that is a '72 4-bolt main block. But the book has been wrong on occasion too..and you said that it was a 2V motor..which should have had A D2AE-DA 2-bolt main block. This could get interesting... ;D

 

[bmc69]

ah ha..found an interesting footnote in the casting book:" Ford often used 351C 4-bolt blocks in 2V engines starting in 1972". You might have a real nice piece of hardware on your hands.

 

[crab]

I stuck it in my bronco overflow storage unit last night. The casting was definatly D2AE CA. I only glanced at the intake and assumed it is a two barral intake and assumed it has 2V heads. Originally I was told the motor was a Windsor which I knew it wasn't when I picked it up. I turned down the deal at first (wanting a windsor) but the motor was too clean to let go for $100. The guy I baught it from is a chevy guy and has no clue what the motor is (he's a "collector"). Let me know what to look for.

 

[crab]

ah ha..found an interesting footnote in the casting book:" Ford often used 351C 4-bolt blocks in 2V engines starting in 1972". You might have a real nice piece of hardware on your hands.

Speak in bronco english. What are we talking about here, to nice to stick in my bronco? Do I stick it in or sell it? I have a guy that want's the pan and pick up (he say's it's worth $50) but I don't really want to part it out until I'm ready to tear it apart.

 

[bmc69]

For an EB engine that will see dd and trail use, it better be a 2V. If it has the 2V intake then it is a 2V with 2V heads..the 4V intake only matches up with the 4V heads and their gymongous intake ports.

If it is a 4V then you can sell it to the Mustang crowd and be happy with a nice profit on the deal.

 

[bmc69]

Speak in bronco english. What are we talking about here, to nice to stick in my bronco? Do I stick it in or sell it? I have a guy that want's the pan and pick up (he say's it's worth $50) but I don't really want to part it out until I'm ready to tear it apart.

An unmolested new 351C 2V engine with 4-bolt main block is about the stoutest starting point for a superb Bronco engine that I could think of. Just real rare, or more folks would do it.

I would not sell it..for what you paid for it, plus the cost of a 265DEH cam, Rollmaster TC set and a 4V aluminum intake and carb...you will have a very strong-running and robust engine for awfully darned cheap.

 

[crab]

351C Boss 351C-71 CJ, HO 72-74 4V 72-74 D2AE-CA 4.00 9.206 Note casting # same as 2 bolt. Hobby consensus is that Ford mixed these in production. 2 bolt blocks have been found on 4V's and 4 bolt blocks in family cars.
Found this info: Do I need to pull the pan to find out if it's a 4bolt now?

 

[bmc69]

Looking inside is the only way to know for sure. Like I said earlier, the casting number references are often wrong when it comes to Ford blocks especially. My book shows the two different numbers for 2-bolt and 4-bolt '72 blocks and just says that some 2Vs were built with 4-bolt blocks.

 

[crab]

More later........

 

[crab]

Well, not a 4 bolt but still going forward. I pulled the valve covers, pan and plugs. Hosed a bunch of WD-40 everywhere I could and threw the wrench to the crank. Didn't budge so what do you do when you're unsure? That's right.....get a bigger bar. Started making progress, gaining a little movement each direction until..........SNAP!.........bent a push rod ........Guess I over did it a bit. The assembly moved free after that. I pulled the rest of the push rods ans just the one bent. I'm assuming it's just a stuck valve, but will know more later. At this point, I'm going to comletely dissassemle the engine and see where it goes. Everything looks to be in excellent condition and don't plan to replace any internal parts at this time other then a push rod and maybe add some SS valves to the heads.