G'Day

Quick question about putting a 351 Cleveland in a '48 F1........will it fit in without recessing the firewall?

I have my cab off the chassis at the moment so I can't take the required measurements.

I have a couple of magazine features on Clevo powered F1's and one says they recessed the firewall and the other looks like they haven't, but doesn't say.

The only F1 nearby that I can take measurements off has a smooth, recessed firewall, so that doesn't help much.

I will post some pic's of my project in the next couple of days. I have used a Mitsubishi L300 van front end and rear leaf springs.

 

the 351 falls into the engine bay, i have a 52 with one sitting in it at the moment, u may need a electric fan or u could move the radiator in front of the support and modify the top bonnet/radiator seal. a booster will still fit on the firewall and steering should'nt present any problems. u will need a bronco sump or sit the motor a bit higher than u otherwise would normaly.
the only minor problem is the gear shift on most manual boxes , i prefer a bench seat and because of this the remote/shifter mech needs to be moved forward.
cya..gary

 

I have had a cleveland,a 302 and a 289 in my 50. They sit just fine without haveing to rework the firewall. I used a tubular crossmember for mine and just set the brackets as close to the top of the inside frame rails as possible. I had one clearance problem with the exhaust on the drivers side as it did hit the steering box but that can be fixed with a set of headers. It wasnt the manifolds that hit just the pipe.It was stock frame and suspension with a front sump oil pan too.

 

I have a 50 f-5 ford and a 52 Mercury m-3 Trucks. And both have 460s EFIs in both of them with not much problem. So I would think a cleveland should be easy,because its not a big. But I would sit the cab on the frame,so you can tell how far back to put the motor. Then you can take the cab back off to make your mounts .eng & trans. etc. Also I used a 4 core radiator out of a late 70s ford truck. I ordered it new, made for a 460 engine. As I remember they cost me $160.00 each. I can get a part number if you need it. It took new shop made mounts also. Don't know were you are,but it gets hot in south Texas. Good Luck !

 

Thanks guy's

I'm laid up with a bad knee at the moment, but I'll throw the clevo in the chassis in a couple of week's and see how it fit's