351 Windsor Swap

I've had Red, Yellow, Gray, and Blue engines. I think I like my current Blue the best.











Couldn't find a pic of the red, Good thing too cause it was no good.

 

Yeah, went ahead and bought the blue paint at lunch time, will paint it tonight. I can't believe how much surface rust happened overnight where I'd been wire brushing. I'm going to have to go over those spots again before I can paint, which I'd better do soon to stop the rusting. Amazing. I'm glad I WD40'ed all the bores and other areas that may have accidentally got degreased.

I actually got it a lot cleaner than the last guy who painted it, and that may be part of the reason it rusted.

 

I like blue or black. I'm interested in how those summit headers fit, i hope they work out.

 

FYI, I think I'm going to be alright on the oil filter question. But if it turns out I'm not, I've learned that a Motorcraft EFL 90 oil filter is a bit shorter and should go right on without a fuss.


...So how about some engine simulations?

I've been running different combos through Comp's CamQuest software and Desktop Dyno. Here's what I've come up with.

First, a baseline. My current engine.


302 short block, bore 4.030, stroke 3.0, displacement 306.4 ci.
Stock 302 heads, 1.8 intake and 1.46 exhaust valves.*
Compression 9.75:1*
Dual plane aftermarket intake
600 CFM carb
Exhaust - Manifolds, mufflers.
Cam - Comp 268H**

Peak HP = 275.5 @ 5000
Peak TQ = 337.9 @ 3500
_______________________

Now, the new engine as currently planned:


351w short block, bore 4.060, stroke 3.5, displacement 362.5 ci.
Stock 302 heads, 1.8 intake and 1.46 exhaust valves.*
Compression 10.1:1*
Dual plane aftermarket intake
600 CFM carb
Exhaust - Small tube headers, mufflers.
Cam - Comp 268H**

Peak HP = 293.6 @ 4000
Peak TQ = 418 @ 2500
_______________________
*(this is a conservative best guess until I can verify.)
**(this does not take into account the increased lift provided by 1.7 rockers)


And here are my thoughts on all that... (I would love to hear yours too, so tell me if I'm on the right track or not.) Horsepower gains aren't enormous, and most of that probably comes from the exhaust. No surprise there. But look at that torque! And both the HP and torque peaks come in 1000 RPMs sooner. If this was to be a race engine I'd say the heads are holding me back, but it's not. It looks like this combo makes the most of what I can get with stock heads, and it's not like I can't upgrade them later. I substituted GT40's in the the simulation and didn't get a lot of gain so it's probably not worth the trouble for me to go looking for other stock heads unless I find something wrong with the 302 heads I have. Later on this should be a great platform if I decide to go really big.

Because I'm not going to be revving it very high, I think the relatively stock rotating assembly is not too much of a concern either. That's a lot of torque, but not too much for a stock crank, right? And a Maverick is a very light car...

I'm thrilled about these numbers as far as drivability. Peak torque kicks in right when my converter stalls, and since my power band is 1,000 RPMs lower my rear gears are now less of a concern, so I don't have to compromise anything on the highway. This engine will be much stronger in the RPM band that I actually use from day to day. I don't know what I should expect it to do on the track, but I imagine it won't be a slouch...

It should be pretty fun to drive. But expect a thread about traction some time after this is done and my wallet recovers...

 

So did you decide to use the 302 cam and firing order? I thought that wasn't reccomended or did you hear otherwise from a cam company?

With that much more torque and lower rpm power band it should be a blast in street driving. Now imagine if you had a 5 speed?

 

Same grind, different part:

35-218-3 for the 35w1, 31-281-2 for the 302.

Firing order seems to be the only difference. That's what Comp's software recommended.

 

Ok thats cool then. Are you going to try and fit this in without any shock tower notching first, or just go ahead and notch it befor hand? I'm interested to see if it fits with those headers and no notching. Maybe next time I blow my bottom end I'll go find a windsor instead. Should be a beast with my heads and cam.

 

Another project for another day! Probably another year. This engine swap has pretty much killed my plans for paint this summer, so that's moved to next year probably. That's ok though, the paint buffs up pretty nice and nobody's going to see anything but taillights now anyway.

 

I wrote this last night but passed out at the keyboard before I could hit the post button:



Pics!




The ride home. For a 6 hour round trip, much of it through mountains, the 354,000 mile E150 with the $65 junkyard transmission, already probably hauling more than its rated limit before we sling a fully dressed engine back there, did pretty great.





After I tore it all apart and checked out everything I can check out, the cleanup begins. I can't convey to you how grimy this thing was. First of all it was in a purpose-built mud runner, and then it had a valve cover leak. That, my friends, is a recipe for a concoction we call asphalt, and that's what was all over it. It was initially a lot like scraping off that "rust proofing" undercoat they put underneath a lot of cars...





Done cleaning. Notice I took a lot of paint off. Between that night when the picture was taken and noon the next day, a noticeable amount of rust was starting.









Now, a question. The timing cover. Did Ford paint those blue or leave them raw?

 

It would appear my headers did not come with gaskets. What should I be using?

Edit: I'm thinking Summit brand copper flange and collector gaskets. I really hate header leaks!

 

I'd go with the thinnest gaskets you can find. Or maybe no gaskets and some hi-temp silicone, If the headers are built well enough. Every fraction of an inch may help.

 

It looks like you went with the "Old Ford Blue" on your motor. The Duplicolor engine paint has 2 or 3 different Ford blues. I went with the New Ford blue, its a little deeper blue and brighter.

 

The timeing cover was painted with the engine on the line soo... Paint it.

 

This is Rustoleum's Ford Blue. It's not quite as light as what I'm used to seeing as the old Ford Blue, but then it's far from being as dark as the Corporate "new" Ford Blue. I don't know, I guess I'd call it a "medium" or maybe even an "inaccurate" Ford Blue. I like it either way. Definitely looking to go more old school than how my engine bay has been looking, and unless I'm wrong '71 could go either way.

Done. Now I just hope it stays painted. I have seen the paint flake right off these timing covers several times and I don't know why. I did get it incredibly clean, and blew it off with brake cleaner before I sprayed it so maybe it will be alright.

Also, curiously, there was gray paint on this cover underneath the blue. That suggests to me that it came from a later engine. I'd better check out the date codes on everything...

 

If anyone's interested, I finally bothered to look at the casting number on my block. It's:

E3AE-6015-BA 17

And below that,

3k20


...Looking this stuff up now. All I know so far is it's an '83 block, so not original to the '79 truck I got it from. No big surprise there at all. That might explain the layer of gray paint under the blue on the timing cover though, right? Would '83 be new enough to have the gray paint?

And does being an '83 change any assumptions we were making based on it being a '79?