Hello. This is my first post here. Most of my experience is with bowtie motors though I have no problem with driving or working on anything. I recently got a 22' RV built on a 1982 E350 econoline chassis. Aside from all the camper systems functioning perfectly the real bonus here is the vehicle only has 29k original miles. It has a 351w motor and auto tranny. I got it for going to bike rallies and tow a small motorcycle trailer with it as well. I would like to simplify under the hood. I'm ditching the AC as the compressor is siezed and does not work. I also want to ditch the air pump and emissions components. I ordered an edelbrock performer intake and edelbrock carb. I used this combo in the past on the 350sbc in my chevelle and it worked well.

So anyway I want to get rid of all that useless stuff under the hood. I notice there is a hose from the smog pump running to the back of the motor. It connects to a metal pipe that attaches to the back of both heads. Can I get rid of this pipe? Are there blockoff plates available like for the egr on intakes?

Also if there are any gremlins I may run into I would love warning. I do as much research as I can. Being a truck driver I work 14 hours a day mon through fri and am only home on the weekends to get stuff done so my free time is limited.

Thanks for any help.

 

The pipe in the back is connected to two small exaust ports. One bolt on either side holds it on if I remember right. When I removed mine, I cut the pipe off flush with where it connects to the block that bolts to the head. With my mig welder I just welded up the hole from the pipe and bolted the block back on with high heat gasket maker. Not a single whistle or tick since.

 

These engines are not much different from the Chevy, same program. One thing that is nice, you do not have to take the dist out to change the intake. You may have to take one or both valve covers off to clear the intake, but if you are careful you can sneak the intake up and to the rear out from under the dist.

You may get a gas smell under the hood when you take the evap system loose, the one that goes to the charcoal canister. There is a line coming up from the fuel tank that goes to the charcoal canister and it vents the tank. It needs to be left open, thus the gas smell sometimes.

 

Thanks. Looks like I need to take the mig out of storage (had to hide it during divorce to keep it lol). For the gasket just use the red rtv?

 

Thanks. The valve covers wil be coming off anyway for new gaskets. They seep a bit.

Do these old vans use a vacuum operated accessories, like the flap for the heater or anything. I'm hoping to only have to worry with vacuum advance, tank vent, brake booster, and pcv for vacuum hookups. I like to keep things simple.

EDIT: Wait, isn't there a vacuum line that goes to auto transmission? I think I remember one on my chevelle. I didn't work with autos much, my trucks all had manual tranny.

 

Haha I used my cheap little flux core Hobart Handler 115 from TSC. It was a little tough to arc at first but it got the job done. I'm saving up to get a nice solid wire Eastwood mig. Saw it on an episode of Hot Rod Garage where Mike Finnegan talked about it and I fell in love with it. Great machine for the price. Untill I get my transmission figured out and truck payed off, the Hobart will work. 8 dollars an hour can only take you so far from paycheck to paychech.

 

Also as a side note, What is so special about the windsor engine vs the cleveland? When I told the guy I got a 351 windsor engine with 29k original miles he about creamed his jeans. I read the wiki and all I could ascertain is the windsor is a bit stronger block that makes torque better than the cleveland.

 

I built an entire 18' drop tail trailer to haul the backhoe for a cemetery I used to run back in the day. Used a 180A chicago electric gas mig from harbor freight. It still works well.

 

Don't get me wrong, the Hobart gets good penetration and makes strong welds. It doesn't do to well for me because it doesn't have enough adjustability for the kind of work I use it for. It burns through exhaust pipe too easy and it doesn't have the amperage for thicker 1/2 stuff. Also, it makes ugly beads lol

 

Yes, you need a vacuum line for the HVAC system and the auto tranny.

 

Nothing special about the Windsor. It's more common and was in production more than the Cleveland engine if you are calling the Cleveland the 351C.

Welcome to the world of Ford engines. Every rainy day they changed what they were doing.

In the late 60's they came out with the Cleveland engines, it was called the 351C. It had a bellhousing pattern like the 260/289/302/351w/300 six, and had motor mounts setup like the small v8's. If you are talking about one engine being "better" than the other, the 351c actually had the better flowing heads. It was a little bit heavy and bulky though overall.

Then in the early 70's they took the 351C and converted it over to the 351M and the 400. These engines were somewhat based on the same design, but there are enough differences to where the cylinder heads are the only thing that readily swap to the 351C. They took the 351C and re-cast the bellhousing and motor mount areas to match the 460 patterns. They also made the deck taller and made the stroke longer than the 351C. Some people call these engines "cleveland" engines but it can cause confusion.

One of the things Ford seemed to do compared to chevy was always raising the deck of the engines. When chevy wanted to stroke a engine, they always seemed to just raise the pin on the piston, using the same block as before. Ford instead of doing this re-cast the block, raising the deck height to accommodate a longer stroke. That's how your 351w came about. It's based on the 302 with a taller deck block. You have the same heads as a 302, they are just sitting up higher on a taller block. This makes the intake wider, so a 302 intake won't fit. They also changed the bottom around a little bit while they were at it, using larger bearings for the crankshaft in the 351w. Most of the stuff on the front of the 351w will interchange with the 302.

 

EDIT: OK, This is the OP, Big Cat. I Explain in a later post I didn't notice when I logged in my browser filled in the login prompts and I just logged in. I have been using the same password file in Mozilla for over a decade. Apparently I had an account here years ago and that's the one I logged in to. So Gravdigr = BigCat


Well I actually got home today, rare for me to be home during the week but I have a traffic court hearing tomorrow (long story). Anyway I get home to find a big box in the living room with my name on it. Feeling like a horny teenager at prom I tear open the box and check out the goodness.



Yeah it's probably overkill for an RV but this is the first real engine I've gotten to work on in years, one that doesn't have all that japanese electronic fuel injection need MIT degree to work on crap. Sadly I won't have time to play with it this weekend until Sunday

EDIT: I decided to go with the 600cfm carb rather than the 750 I had on my chevelle. The 350sbc on my chevelle was beefed up with bigger cam and aftermarket heads. As this motor is all stock I think a 750 would be too much carb for it.

 

OK, I couldn't resist and went poking around the engine compartment. I think I have all the vacuum lines figured out. Since I chucked the ac I can ditch the valve in the coolant line going to the heater core right? The small plastic line going to it was broke anyway I can just plug it.

I'm assuming the black plastic ball looking thing is the charcoal canister. It looks like the vacuum for the hvac Tees off the cruise and that whole mess is connected to manifold vacuum. I am curious, the vacuum advance on this ford, does it connect to normal ported vacuum? It currently plugs into a web of lines I am just ripping out. Usually it's ported vacuum but I have heard sometimes they get hooked to manifold though I've never seen it.

Other than that all I can find is the brake booster and transmission that both go to manifold vacuum.

 

Ok, this is weird, I just noticed I'm posting under an old net handle I used to use, Gravdigr. I'm now big cat. I must've made an account here years ago and the password was saved in my browser settings. When I logged in today The password field was filled in and I just clicked in.

 

I see you have a chrome aircleaner. I would not run it if you are going to drive this thing in cold weather. And it really will work better and have more power in the summer if the original aircleaner has a pipe that leads out to cooler air.