Picked up a 351w with 80k origional miles on it. it is stock and am trying to decide where to go with it? any suggestions on rebuild kits, heads, and intake? would like to get around 400 hp but dont want to spend a whole lot. any suggestions much appreciated.

 

Procomp aluminum heads, a mild cam, MSD or Mallory distributor, and a set of headers are a good start.

 

That should put you very close to 400HP depending on the heads and cam you get.

I personally opted for some small chamber '65 heads and had as much done to em as I could afford. As hard as people push aluminum heads, I am surprised to see so few in use around here. Almost everyone I know rolls stock Ford castings...some modified, some stock. Personally, I am quite happy with my setup. It may not make 400HP, but it has plenty for me. (Never had my setup on a dyno)

 

Air Flow Research Heads are pioneers in Ford Motor development. Edlebrock Air Gap manifold and a cam in the 280ish/.490ish area with headers. A Carb of about 750 CFM (but less is good also) with MSD Ignition is a good investment. That should get you there.

Dawg-a-saurus

 

I changed mine to a 418w stroker, dart pro-heads, dual quad edlebrock intake, MSD, Eagle crank, etc...
running 600hp at the flywheel. my estimate is probably closer to 450 at the wheels or so. it is pretty easy to drive on the street and I get about 10-12mpg on high octane pump gas. my foot is not normally in it too much though. that freaking thing will scare the hell out of you if you're not careful.

 

I really liked the idea of stroking my 351w out to a 427, but i hear a lot of talk about not being able to get a head to flow enough to make any difference after you stroke it to 408, your thoughts?

 

Head flow, especially on the exhaust side, in stock form is barely adequate for stock engines. Increasing your displacement by over 20% isn't going to help anything. You definitely need some serious aftermarket heads for the new combination to work well, if at all.

My understanding is going all the way to 427 compromises many factors inside the engine, including rod angle, ring location, piston scuff issues, etc. It may be fine if you're building a race engine that will be rebuilt regularly, but not ideal for a long-term, relaible street engine. Ford Racing offers a really nice 392 crate engine. It's not cheap, but speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?

Ford Racing 392 C.I.D. 430 HP GT-40 Head Stroker Crate Engines - SummitRacing.com

 

I'm in full agreement with Wayne, the Windsor heads lack efficient flow. That's why the Clevor swap was popular back in the day, as the worst C head, still flowed better than the best W head. But with today's aftermarket, there's some great options for the 351W, just that they aren't cheap, lol.

In the stroker category, I'd go no more than 392 for street reliability. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...2-stroker.html

 

I'm wanting to go street strip with this one, i hear you on compromising things inside the engine but i'm a little confused about it as well because my understanding is that you can stroke a 351w to a 454 if you really want to, so you would think 427 would be safe?

I watch a lot of Pass Time on Speed channel and the main stroker i see is the 408, but the 392 would probably be a little more reliable as you mentioned. The thread was really helpful until the last post where the guy with the most experience with it said if he had to do it over again he'd stroke it to 427.

I'm going to stop stealing this thread, but since you guys have all the links so handy, do you have any on the MAF conversion mentioned in the one link? I was going to switch to intake/carb, but I still have the EFI intake on it right now so this would be the time to decide on that.

 

The more an engine is stroked, the more the offset of the crankshaft, and the longer the rods. This has a direct effect on the rotational "diameter" that the stock block may not allow. There is also a possibility of a clearance issue when the connecting rod makes that bigger "swing" , as it may hit the bottom portion of the cylinder wall's lip. This can be clearanced, but it weakens things, or an aftermarket block can be made with stronger webs and such. Either way, the aftermarket has done a lot of trial and error on this, and so the 427 came about, as opposed to something bigger. The 454 is an aftermarket block, such as Dart, and no stock production block will allow such an overbore and stroke.... which in turn calls for bigger oil pans, 4 main caps, etc... and more $$$.

I'm sure there's an aftermarket MAF and TB, or maybe a 351W (one year only for the Cobra? ) that might work. I know it's been done, but I'm more old school..... OK, I'm more like an old school drop out.

 

Having owned a 392 Rousch motor in a '67 Mustang Fastback, I can tell you they are plenty powerful and reliable. It's a nice balance of stroke and diameter. As I recall there was some minor clearancing required on the block and the rod bolt heads were really small.

 

I just yesterday ordered a rebuild kit from Summit. .30 over hypereutectic slugs. A couple months ago I got a set of World Products Windsor SR. heads. Tommorrow I will order a Crane RV cam for some mild bottom end grunt, and new timing chain and gears. I already have Peformer intake and carb. I'll prolly pull the motor in a couple weeks.. It won't be a fire breather, but should be a pretty good performer.