I was concidering getting a Ford Racing 351 crate engine for my 72 f100 3 spd. $2600 for the 2bbl (240Hp), $2900 for the 4bbl (250Hp), same cam, heads, comp ratio, only intake differs. The engines are complete less carb and exhaust. Best of all, it comes with a Duraspark dist, so goodbye points.

Only, I am not too fond of parting with 3g for only 12/12 warranty, but it is still Ford. Any experiences with Ford Racing? Good? Bad?

This is not a hopped up Windsor, just a stock replacement. Mostly, should I be concerned with durability?

Thanks for any help

 

Has nobody delt with Ford Racing?!

Oh well, maybe later

 

ok, have the 72 in the shop. Need to know if Ford Racing engines are good. I want to stay with Ford. Need quality and affordability. I dont need anything special, stock Windsor should be fine. I know there are cheaper alternatives, but the FRPP crate comes with everything except carb (probably Barry Grant), Headers (probably Headman), and Duraspark Ignition box (have 2 already).

Should I just plop 3grand into my 33 year old 302? could I get the same amount of performance with the same amount of reliabilty? Its just going to be my Sunday driver, no drag racing, no rush hour traffic, maybe hauling around an engine or two, running about 60 (OK, maybe 75 every once and a while), possibly a cruise in.

The Windsors 250 HP is @ 3800, my 302 is 133 @ 3800, could I make that up and still have a reliable engine?

How can I gain 125 HP with bolt ons without revving over 4500? No nitrus, no forced induction. Remember, $3100 is the comparison target. Heads? Intake, water pump, valve train (comp cams probably), dont forget machining, line hone, over bore, install cam bearings/freeze plugs, distributor (have a 78 135W duraspark wirh 305k miles on it). Dont forget plugs/wires, thats about $75......

 

Well the down side to the Ford racing engines is they come with no warranty, also they seem light on power for the cubic inch displacement. Though I have no personal experience with the Ford racing engines I have alot of their parts on my 302 and they are excellent quality. If I was going to lay down that kind of cash on an engine I would want a warranty, my two cents.

 

the new engines do come with a 12/12 warranty, just what i was waiting for

 

I think the Ford Racing engines are great. My buddy had one in his mustang and it was awesome. It was the 302 345 or so hp version. I think he put about 20k miles on it before he sold it, but they are well built engines, just as good if not better than a stock production engine. Depends what you buy, they do sell straight production parts and then also offer high performance parts.

I think your better off with a ford crate motor w/o a warrantee vs a jasper or the like motor w/ a warantee. That ford motor has a way better chance of being 10 times better and you having to replace that jasper (or like) motor. I would have much rather gotten a ford racing crate motor for my truck, but I'd of had to swap a lot of stuff off it and it wasn't worth it.

You could get a 350 hp 302 for about 3200 in the crate...thats a nice engine. Maybe change the cam on it to make better low end torque (it comes setup for a mustang, not a heavy truck). Sell the crate's cam on ebay to make ur money back...and ur ready to go with 350hp.

I say go for the crate...10 times easier then doin it urself.

 

Reliability will depend on the level of trust you have for a local engine builder, and their applicable warranty.

12/12 for the ford sounds good, 36 month/unlimited miles sounds better.

 

I also forgot about an old LTD sitting out back, 351W, C5, 308k... Your basic grocery getter. Well, until my uncle blew it up. He didn't want to fix it-wanted my grandmother to get a new car (98). Well, I got a car carrier and removed the vehicle.

Started to restore it, then found it had major rust problems. Dont have a welder nor a dry shop, so I decided to let it set until I could do something with it.

The Windsor is locked up tight. even a breaker bar wouldnt budge it. Not sure if its the engine or tranny, but I cannot get the engine out without messing something up. If this might be something to look into, I could remove the front clip and take the engine/tranny setup out of the front. Just never did it because I know if the front clip comes off, I'll probably never put it back on.

If I take out the engine, what is the probability the block will still be good? Could I build up a nice windsor (worst case with the block still being usable) for under 3000?

I also have a 77 302; block, heads, whats left of the crank & cam. No visual defects, just wore out after 350k. This is one block I wouldnt mind messing up for a stroker. Although I am kinda wondering about strokers, reliability issues, rod-stroke relationship...

If I build the engine, I will probably do the work myself. I do have a 15 x 18 storage shed I use for assembling things. Nice, clean, heated, cooled....just dont have the time any more for an involved build. It was nice though when I built the shop. Tore down about 3 engines, assembled 1. Then I needed more land, career change took more of my time than I planned.

Now I drive a dump truck, so work is boom or bust. When I work, its 12-15 hours a day, 6 days a week. When I don't, its raining. Then sunday is gone with family, church, and Nascar.

I was looking at the FRPP crate because 1) it has a 12/12 warranty, 2) comes with everything minus carb ($400) and exhaust ($220 - inc header to tips), and 3) converts to Duraspark ignition. I was looking for something I could just drop in, so the truck could be on the road in 2005. While I was looking up the prices, I just saw that if I get the FRPP engine through Summit Racing, I save 220 bucks. They are GIVING me the exhaust!!

 

I just finished my 393 last night...

There is a book in FTE's Motorhaven shop about building a sbf on a budget, I bought the book about a year ago and it's very helpful. I suggest you get it, but I still suggest the crate motor. Takes all the headaches out of the project, there were many in mine and I just simply bought a shortblock and assembled the rest of it.

 

Ford Racing is good and if you don't mind the headaches build your own. Building your own can get pricey. I just got done building my own had to start water cooling my credit card. But the 410 rwhp is nice to hear in the morning, my neighbors don't much care for it though. The first 300hp is easy to get, the next 200 are a little harder.

Sanders
331 stroker

 

Sounds good. I appreciate the advice. I think I will take out my 351, just talked to a machine shop next to where we park our trucks, (rained out this morning.) He said to take out my engine, disconnect the tranny, and try turning it over then. If it turns, it was probably the tranny, if its still stuck, he said the crate engine would probably be cheaper. (parts & labor)

How do you think the fuel milage will be with 250 horses on tap. Still 3 spd, cannot figure out how to do the cable reverse for 4 spd conversion.

appreciate it, hava good'en

 

Fuel mileage would be pretty similar to stock, not having overdrive kinda kills a lotta gas. It's really hard to say...I don't think people could tell what your gas mileage would be, it won't be anything like 5 mpg, i'd say an easy 10+...

 

well, my 2.3 efi gets 23, so a V8 with say, ......12-9 would be plenty acceptable. BTW, the 4 spd would be overdrive (SMOD), that should get me close to 15-18, no?

Would be using BG Road Demon 525. Thought about Speed Demon 575, but the Road demon is more mileage-oriented. Would 4 to 1 headers kill the torque? I found an exhaust kit, header gasket-back $220, but I dont want to kill the torque. (I like my power down low)

most of my driving will be hilly country roads, about 50-60 mph. Every once and a while, I might drive it to work: 10 miles-2 lane, avg 58, 18 miles-4 lane avg 68, 9 miles-2 lane avg 48 in morning(5:00A) about 25 in evening (6:00-7:30P). probably gear for around 1800 in OD @ 50, should put 70 about 2500?

 

The exhaust should be fine that way...

To find out the RPMs at a specific speed, you can use this formula.

MPH x GEAR RATIO x 336 / Tire Size

So plug in the desired MPH (60, 70..whatever) and your tire diameter and rear axle gear ratio and it'll tell you what RPMs the engine will turn at that MPH in a 1:1 gear ratio (4th on a 4 spd, 4th on a 5 spd).

 

Is that (mph x gear ratio x 336) / Tire Size=rpm
OR
mph x gear ratio x (336/Tire Size)=rpm

???