What is the difference between a 351C and a 351W? Which is known to be better?

 

Based on my book knowledge and things I remember hearing on this site, the 351C (Cleveland) is a racing engine designed to run at higher RPMs--probably dosen't make for a good daily driver, but an impressive hot rod. A daily driver is better off with a 351W (Windsor) which has a more streetable RPM power range.

INLINE SIX POWER!
300 Cubic Inches of Low RPM Truck Torque! And twin-I-beams too!
"Drive a stick young man! There'll be time for automatics when you're old and unable."

 

I have heard one has a bigger stroke than the other but the other has a bigger bore. I cannot remember which one but I am guessing after wat you said that the 351C has the longer stroke???

 

Don't know. Longer strokes are more suitable to lower rpm/higher torque applications and shorter strokes are more suitable to higher rpm/higher horsepower applications. The basic 351 is like a stroked 302, but with larger bearing sizes. My guess would be that the stroke and bore are the same on both engines and that the difference is in the camshafts and heads. Maybe I can look it up tonight.

 

So you are saying that if I had a 351W I could put a bigger cam in it and put the heads off a 351C and it would be the same? That is hard to beleive.

 

To start off with. The 351W was made at the Windsor engine plant and the 351C was made at the Cleveland engine plant.
The 351W is the big brother to the 255, 260, 289, and the 302. The 255-302 all have the same deck height. The 351W has a taller deck.
The 351C is in the same family with the 351M (Modified Cleveland) and the 400M. Most parts will swap between a 351C, M, and a 400M.
The 351C, and W have the same bellhousing bolt pattern. The 351M, and 400M have the same pattern as the 429-460 (385 series engine).
The 351C was basically a high performane engine. The Cleveland design of the blocks are still used today on the Ford Racing engines in NASCAR, all of those Mustang Shootout races, and most recently in NHRA's Pro Stock Truck class. It's design is more durable and it has a smaller main bearing journal diameter which allows it to rev better without heating up the journal too much. The 351W has larger main journals.
The Cleveland also came with better flowing heads back in the 70's, as evidenced by it being a performance engine. Some came with massive intake ports (4BBL heads) and they flow great. Thease heads are widely used in the same racing as well. Robert Yates makes an awesome Cleveland style aluminum head for all of his engines, as well as Brodix, and Blue Thunder.
I personally have a 351W in my race-car and it runs mid-high 10's at around 125 MPH in the 1/4 mile.
A 351W will bolt in easily in place of your 302 in your pickup. All accessories will bolt up, only the belt and the exhaust should need to be modified. This will vary depending if you have a carb, Mass-Air, or Speed Density Fuel Injection.

Hope this helps out somewhat. Anything else, let me know.

 

WOW! thanks for all the info. Damn your car is fast. What do you think a Cleveland would run?

 

My book is from 1970 and so only represents the first year of the 351 Cleveland, but they have the same bore and stroke (4.00 and 3.50 respectively). Intake and exhaust valve sizes are 1.840" and 1.540" for the "W" and 2.190 and 1.710 for the "C" with 4 barrel carb (a limited number of 2 barrel "C"s were made with slightly smaller valves. The "W" has inline valves, whereas the "C" has canted valves. The "C" block has room to convert to 4 bolt mains and actually had 4 bolt mains in the "Boss" version. Heads from the "C" will not bolt up to the "W" because the water passages don't line up.

 

If I remeber correctly the C is a completely differant block than any of the others, even though some of the parts will interchange, I remeber the C engine being called the wide block since the intake manifold is so much wider then the others.

 

The Clevelands in the Pro Stock Trucks were running in the mid 7's with all aftermarket parts. I've seen 351C's with 4BBL heads run mid to high 9's easy. The blocks do have different water passages than the 351W and the heads will interchange although some pretty involved machinig is required to put some C heads on a W block. The valves are canted on a C motor, not on the W. The W engines can be drilled for 4 bolt mains, The Boss 302 had this. Anything else let me know, glad to help.
John