I'm thinking on a mild build up on my 1981 351m,c6 I no it is a bit of a dog comparaed to the winsor or cleveland but the <a href="http://www.motorhaven.com/">351m </a>I have is very strong so what I would like to no is if I guy was goin to do a buget build up what would be the best was to go, cam,intake,exhast,heads,ignition,also is a shift kit worth it as well any help on this will be great.

 

Well its hard to do anything on a budget (beleive me I know). But I'll just point out quick a few things. What is usually considered the biggest design problem in the m-block motors is the cam. Get a good aftermarket cam with a dual profile. For the best price on new parts, summit racing has a cam that appears to be identical to the edelbrock performer plus cam. The other big problem is compression. Next would be the carb & intake. My opinion is the motorcraft carbs on the m-blocks were horribly innefcient. I put on a edelbrock performer intake and 750cfm 4 barrel on my <a href="http://www.motorhaven.com/">351m </a>-knowing it was alot more carb than it needed- and got better gas milleage and way better top end power. I would recomend a 600 edlebrock or 625 carter afb but I just happened to have the 750 on hand to try. Just my $0.02

 

thanks for the great tips just wonder what was the size and part number of that summit cam?

 

diddo on the summit cam, great cams. look in the catalog at summit brand cams, it is the bigger of the two that you will want.
to go real budget use the summit cam, summit headers, even use your factory intake and a <a href="http://www.motorhaven.com/"><a href="http://www.motorhaven.com/">Holley</a></a> 500 2brl carb.
cam.........sum-k5201-p3p................$75.95
headers........................................... $79.50
carb.............................................. ...$199.95
also throw in a timing chain while your there..$41.95
all you need to make a screaming little M.

the reason for bad factory cams is they came with such severly retarded cam timing, if your realy cheap, like me, just have your cam timing advanced. i think about 3 degrees or so.

 

Just another thought on the stock cam. Yeah its retarded and thats a big problem... but here are the stock specs I found somewheres and wrote down a while ago. Duration at .050" intake=192 exhaust=198, valve lift intake=0.4325 exhaust=0.4325 == sucks LOL

75f100... just curious about that cam, you said go with the bigger of the two. Do you say that just for a bit more power or is there another reason?

I was going to link the cams here but for some reason summit doesnt have the specs on there website just the total duration. I guess I'll have to look at a catalog to get the exact numbers.

 

that is right at the limit you can go and still use an auto, happly.
a little stall would wake it up even more. and i would advise in a shift kit.

 

Ok, that makes sense abotu the cam 75f100. I was thinking about a shift kit what I would like is a gated shifter with a full manual reverse patern shift kit. But I got to thinking and I am not sure if that or a higher stall would get me introuble in the winter, as I do have to occasionaly drive around town in icy conditions.

 

just a word of advice, i don't know what kinda of wheeling you do, but those fancy shifters suck off road. i do aLOT of 1st to rev, only when getting stuck. but alot of those shifters have rev. lock outs and it is a bitch to speededly shift forward to rev. just a though.

 

I would take a close look at aussie cleveland heads, 2 v ports, closed chambers....(good low to mid end torque and high compression even with flat top pistons)

aluminum intake....portmatch the intake to the heads, go atleast 625 cfm...
autolite, holley or edelbrock in that order...

as far as cam goes....I would suggest an RV sized cam or a bit better...

go roller rockers...and you've got yourself a work horse....

I see 325 hp easily.

 

How much do u think it'd be making after the list that you made considering it makes like 150-160hp stock