i have a 351w in my 78 f250 and i want to rebuild it this winter. so i want to start getting some parts now. i want to do everythingexcept probably pistons and heds. i'm going to port the heads myself so that don't count. but i want more low-midrange torque . i'm running 36" TSL with 4.10 gears. i was wondering what are some upgrades that i can use to keep my rebuild around 1000$. most importantly i want to know what cams work good andwhat pistons would be best for my setup. This truck is pretty well only for play so i'm not worried about mileage or emissions

 

Do you have any aftermarket goodies on it now, or is it all stock? The obvious things are a cam, dual-plane intake, carb, ignition, and long-tube headers. You can get a matched cam/intake setup from several companies like Edelbrock. These items alone will eat up your grand pretty quickly, unless you're a first class scrounge and can score some good used parts. But one of the nice things about the bolt-on stuff is that you can always add them later, as the budget allows.

You say everything except pistons and heads, then at the bottom you ask what pistons would work best. I assume from your post that you're still driving it at this point and don't know for sure what kind of shape it's in internally. You may not be able to make a determination on the pistons till you get it apart. You may find the pistons and the cylinder bores are okay and you can get away with reusing them, or you may find you have too much wear on the cylinders and it needs boring. Also, can you say for sure that it's never been opened up and are all the parts std. size. That's another reason it's best to wait till you have it apart and inspected to buy the rebuild kit.

If you get an engine kit with rings only, and then open it up and find you need to bore it and do the pistons, then you have the added expense of buying pistons that wern't in the kit, and an extra set of rings. Screws with the budget, too.

You can buy the cam kit/manifold, a true-roller timing set, and a few other external goodies now, and try to budget for the internal parts depending on what you find when you go in.

 

what are you using for exhaust now? no company that I have found makes a bolt in set of headers for our trucks with 351w's swapped in....I am still looking. some guys have got mustang shorty headers,and had an exhaust shop do some custom bends,but that will cost you torque. not sure if any one makes long tubes,as tiger dan said,that would be your best bet

 

Ben, are they that tough a fit? I swapped a 351C into my '72 and the headers I had scrounged fit pretty well. There's quite a bit of room in there.

I don't know what they were off of, but I think it was a Ranchero.

 

I am just using stock manifolds on mine for now,jerry rigged to line up to my original exhaust pipes,hoping somebody makes long tube headers for this swap some day.I wouldn't want to keep ordering headers and sending them back because they wouldn't fit.there is a member on here,loudfords I think is his user name that used MAC shorty mustang headers. he said one side fit great,the other side had to have some tricky bends done to make it work.

 

Over the years I've managed to amass a decent collection of small-block headers. Unfortunately, I don't know what the original application is for most of them. When I'm doing a swap, I try different ones to see what fits the best, then modify if needs be. I'd be surprised if I couldn't find some to fit that application out of my collection, but I'd be hard-pressed to tell you what the heck they are!

 

i bought a set of used 1 5/8" mac shorty headers headers and you're right the pass. side fit good but the driver side hit directly on my frame mounted clutch linkage so i think long tube is the only way to go.that's right i'm still running the truck and i don't know for sure if everything is stock or in what condition. i just wanted some suggestions for when i do rebuil the motor

 

Do you think headers from the 1980 series 4x4 F-150 would work? I am in the process of putting a 351W in a '79 F-150 4x4 and don't have it figured out yet.

As for the Original question, I Just put a comp Extreme 4x4 cam w/.493/.512 lift & 262/270 duration 1400-5500 rpm, a 725 cfm Road demon carb, Edelbrock Airgap RPM intake, Edelbrock Performer RPM heads, Speed-Pro Flat Top Hypers, And had the Rotating assembly balanced, to top it off I have a 125hp power shot NOS Plate. I can only tell you, I can't wait to get it running.

With only a Thousand to use, I would put my money on a Cam, Intake, and Carb, Provided the Bottom end is OK. If the bottom needs help then that will use up all of a grand. Plus when the bottom end goes You can move the cam, carb & intake to a new bottom.

Good Luck on the build
Shawn