I am thinking about performing the legendary 250 I6 -- 351W V8 swap (oooooo.... aaahhhhh). anyway, while i'm looking around for a 351, is there any prefered year of engine i should look for? if so, what are the consequences, or how are some better than others? what sonor vehicle should i look for? ie... i've found many van 351s... are they considered worn down because of a probably heavy duty life, or are they the same use as any other vehicle? whatever you guys can provide is great. also, if anyone knows of a good source for a 351W, i'd be very interested. Thanx!!
mike, have you modified the shock towers. if not i would advise sticking with the 302. you can stroke it to 347 and make a lot of power. also it's lighter than the 351w. i just finished taking my 351 out and it's amazing. the language i use even shames me. i removed the starter but couldn't get it out as the headers were in the way. unbolted the headers, could hardly move them. pulled the heads, spent an hour on 1, yes 1 bolt. finally unbolted everything and lifted the motor to get the headers and starter out. did i mention that i have a 351w for sale? actually i grenaded the motor. i'm putting a 302 back in. if you still plan on the 351 try to find a 69 or 70 because the heads for those years are probably the best. the hard thing is to find one that hasn't been rebuilt already. about .040 over is the max to bore or you'll run into heating problems. maybe some others have had better luck but that's my experience. good luck to you.
Don is right on the money. I would personally go with an 86 up mustang roller motor, and stroke it out to 347 cubes----I am a big fan of the late 86 up 5.0 roller motor engine. I think a good stroked out roller 5.0 can't be beat--+you will have all the clearence. Will you have bragging rights with a 351--yes, but the way I see it is that it used to be fun when I was younger to spin the wheels-but then I got a car that was fast, and suddenly spinning was now a problem. edit: that last statement was kinda unclear in other words, some things seem real good on paper, until it comes time to put it to practice, then it is a whole different story
It's still fun to fry 'em at will on the freeway when your favorite camaro tries to race ya!! Kinda dangerous though when you're smoking tires @ 70 mph
Don't know if your still interested in the 351w project but I have a 72 351w for sale at my house. I live in Rhode Island. You would have to come and get though as I don't have any means of transporting it.
It doesn't run at the moment because I pulled it out of a mustang 2 years ago. It has the timing cover, dampner, duraspark distributor, front sump oil pan, oil pump, and 351w heads that I have ported the exhaust ports on. I currently have the heads, oil pan and timing cover off. When I ported the heads I noticed that one of the exhaust valves has a small crack in it. I was surprised to see that because the motor ran perfectly. After an unsuccessful attempt at putting it in the Maverick ( don't have a mig welder so I couldn't cut the towers) I took it apart to put new gaskets in while I was porting the heads. I want $300 for the motor.
Because of the location of the piston pins, a 347 stroker is prone to breakage and excessive oil consumption. I recomend a 331 stroker instead. It's only 20 cubes less than the 351. In any case, stroker motors are expensive, but should offset the expense of the necessary modifications and headaches for the 351. If you DO decide to go with a 351, whatever you do, avoid '77 and later 351s, as they use the same small valves as the 302...
I like my 351w. After today's picture-perfect weather and a great-hooking track, I dont know that I'd go back to the 302 (at least not anytime soon). I consistently ran the best times I've ever run with this car today...all were within .03 second (best 8.640, worst 8.672) with similar 60' times. Dad still likes his 302 in the Fairmont, though I am car #687, the other car was a '81 Camaro with a aluminum-headed big block. Beating those fat block Chevy's sure is fun
mavman, have you changed your front end setup? sounds like a good running car. hope to have mine back at the track in 2 weeks.
stroker kits... mmmmm im somewhat new to the idea of strokers and stroker kits... anyone feel like explaining them in detail or offering a good resource to learn more? thanx.
It's still the same as last year. Trimmed towers is all that's been done, other than the usual spring modifications and some other things to keep the front end down. It's still even got the factory drum brakes in front. The only change since last season is a stock-stroke 351w rather than the 393 I grenaded. The 351w runs just as strong if not stronger, but that could be due to a "bit" more compression
Billy, strokers refer to increasing the stroke of the crankshaft. Usually, you have to buy a complete new crank to achieve it, along with different rods and pistons. That's why they're so expensive (for the most part). They also exert a LOT of extra force on parts, usually more than they're designed to take, so extra measures must be taken to strengthen things. A popular combination is to use a aftermarket crankshaft with a stroke of 3.85" (stock 351w is 3.500") in a 351w block, stock-length 351w rods (5.956") and stock compression height pistons (1.600") to make a 393 inch windsor. Hope this helps.
explaining a stroker.... Your piston travels further. Bigger crank, smaller connecting rods and smaller pistons(height of the pistons on some kits). Cubic inch is measures by stroke and cylinder size(bore). Its all about volume. Look at it like this: imagine your piston being as far down in the cylinder as possible on a stock 302. Then fill that cylinder full of gum balls. How many gum balls can you get in it? (I don't know either!) but anyway, now increase how far down the piston travels in the cylinder(stroke) and also increase the cylinder size(bore) then see how many gum balls you can get it there......(i still don't no, but it is more than before! Hope this helps.
John, you aint never going to get your Mav to run right if you dont take the gum balls out of your engine. Repeat after me, "gumballs are not a calibration tool"
