Figured you folks would know....this answer to this question:

Why do you find Chevy 350 engines being put in most hot rods?
(It is because there are more Chevy engines, or because they are cheaper?)

I am just curious, not trying to upset anyone by mentioning the "C-word" on a Ford forum.


Curious Joe

owner of:
1950 Ford F-1
1999 Ford Ranger

 

Curious,
This goes back a long way and I'll try to give you my condensed biased opinon.
Years ago Zora Arkus Duntov sent a letter to the GM bigwigs in which he stated that GM needed to sway the hot rodder movement away from FoMoCo.
Zora had been instrumental in the manufacture of OHV conversions for flathead Fords, where he went wrong and defected to GM I don't know.
Anyway his plan worked somewhat and the small block Chevy was designed to fit nicely in an old Ford engine bay. The key here is the placement of the distributor/oil pump at the rear of the engine. This allowed the oil pan to clear the transverse front axle found in Ford automobiles from the Model T thru the 1948 Ford. The flathead was used until 1953 so the engine bay was still easier to put the Chev in than the later Ford engines.
As much as we hate the Chevrolet engine and all it stands for you have to admit it can be a screamer. It is also a hand grenade but I guess some folks don't care. Anyway the ease of installation caught on and small block chevys got crammed in everything.
Then along came the AMA ban on racing and all the manufacturers "agreed" to not support racing. All except chevrolet who said they would and then handed out racing parts out the "back door". Ford honored the ban until they found out what was going on and at about that time Lee Iacocca came along and Total Performance was born. If you look at NASCAR records you will notice Ford (and Chrysler) was kickin some chevrolet rear end in those days. Mainly because they had some killer big blocks and chevys "mystery engine" couldn't hack it.(mystery was how to keep it together) Then somehow NASCAR decided that 355 c.u. was the way to go and "POOF" gm is there with just the right size engine. From 1971 to date gm has tried to dominate NASCAR and about had it done till the mid 80's when the aero T-Bird and Bill Elliott came along and showed them Ford wasn't foolin around any more. In NHRA racing in the mid 80's Bob Glidden showed the door slammers the backside of a lot of Ford sheetmetal. Ford also really got behind their racing program across the board in the eighties and has seemed to ever since.
The result has been, in my opinion, a movement back to FoMoCo(even though some of us never left, kinda like that song We was Ford Guys even when it wasn't cool) and putting Ford engines back in Fords. There is the Mustang 5.0 crowd who showed them camero guys a thing or 2, and the Ford truck contingent is by far outgrowing the chev jerks, mainly because,I believe, Ford built the 1980 F-150 and stayed with that body for 16 years.
Well, before I get off my soapbox I gotta tell you I always get a laugh when I read in a Hot Rod (read that Hot Chevy) magazine where the guy chopped, channeled, lowered, sectioned, removed, added, customized, put on 57 layers of paint etc. and installed the small block chevy because of the ease of installation. Guess he was too tired to do anything else after 17 years of work doin all that other stuff.
I know I've left out a lot of stuff here but it kind of gives you the gist of it. And by the way Henry Ford died a gazillionaire and had founded one of the largest industrial empires of his time. Louis Chevrolet died a poor looser working on the assembly line that produced cars bearing his name. It will all work out in the end.
Aloha
Meze

 

I think it's because they're cheap and easy to get parts for. I myself hate hybrids... True I do like some Chevy cars/trucks, but I wouldn't ever consider putting a Chevy engine in a Ford car/truck. BTW, older Ford cars ruled over chevys.

 

Chebbie used the Small block in some way shape or form in just about every vehicle they produced. The wrecking yards are full of them. This makes them easy pickings for anyone with a couple dollers and a want for a V8. They can be built to run, but, so can a small block Ford

Brad Godkin
1986 F350 CC/SRW
6.9liter/C6

 

Try getting a MPFI or EFI conversion for a For. All the aftermarket is geared toward sales. SBC rules the sales. Look at the prices of building a SBC vs BBF. Look at the selection of SBC parts. Look at summit racing, 90% chevy.
I just built a 428 for FE and it cost twice as much as a chevy. This really sucks! I hate the fact that SBC has so many cheap parts to choose from and I have to either pay thru the nose, or do without.

SBC is the most hot-rodded engine, and the people making parts have to make some money. It's tough to design a new intake, heads..., for a small market. That's just the basics of business.

Having said that, the 5.0 Ford really changed things in the past few years. The Ford 302 and 351W are great power plants and are seeing a great aftermarket. Now we have Ford Motorsports BBF 460 engines making some big gains as well. Too bad they don't make the 460 blocks any more.

Just as a side note, I've heard arguments that Ford didn't need the aftermarket as much as chevy did. An old FE with the proper selection of stock parts, would run like the wind. Kind of the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"
Consider that the Ford aftermarket was weak back when Ford was KING of so many areas.

Some of us like to be different, having a SBC in a Ford isn't different, it's SAD!

 

I always have and always will like ford vehicles but i cant knock the chevy 350 and i dont care what anyone here says that is a very good engine long lasting with good power and economy just like any well designed engine not just chevy everyone made good and bad and as far as putting chevie motors in fords i wouldnt do it but thats just me i mean when you customize a car wheathers its puting a solid front axle in a truck that had twin traction beam or putting a sbc in a 32 coupe thats why they call it customizing you make it the way you want it not the way it "should" be or whatever your building it for yourself and nobody else, i mean ill argue down a chevy guy anyday of the week but only in good fun because like the rest of us hes just another guy whos in the hobby like millions of us he just wants to have a good time and have some fun so i cant knock anyone for that, thats just the way i see it

 

Joe, I have kept out of this for as long as I could, I bought a 1940 ford 1/2 ton and when I bought it it was a started project (streetrod) it is sitting on a chevy luv chassis tottally boxed frame(good) it has rack and pinion steering (good) it has a turbo t-bird rear 8.8 traction lock 373 gears (good) it had a 454 big block chevy supercharged (NOT GOOD) what I'm trying to say is it may be fine to update an old ford or chevy but when we (some of us) do the upgrades try to keep it as much of what it started out life as possible keep a chevy a chevy and a ford a ford the chevy is cheap to build but it is no easier to install than a ford as far as fuel injection use what ford put on it works good in the mustangs!!! and as far as a chevy lasting in stock form it probably will but if you build it for power it is a grenade. a friend of mine is a die hard chevy fan and he will tell you that it cost 3 times as much to build a ford as it does a chevy but you will blow up 3 chevies to one ford. It is up to you what you use in your truck but I pulled a 454 with a supercharger out of my truck and it only had 10,000 miles on it.
My feelings should be plain enough by now keep a ford a ford but that is why they make vanilla and chocolate.
John

 

Joe, sorry, I didn't mean that to sound as though I was bashing you. I just think it is such a shame to put that engine in that truck that is why I made a deal to get rid of mine before I ever moved the truck I sure didn't need more work you can see the pictures on heres my truck post but I couldn't run that old truck like it was built either keep looking I'm getting ready to start on that 40 now and will keep everyone posted as to the progress. John

 

The way some people close their minds to certain things absolutly astounds me, furthermore if anyone is blowing 3 motors to another guys one i think he should find a new engine builder or a new hobby cuz any motor can be built to be bulletproof I'm not here to give anyone crap or tick anyone off and i understand this is a ford board but saying that one brand is so much better than another seems absurd i think there all created pretty much equal its more of preference than a quality or "performance" issue, and all brands have their pros and cons

 

Otto, I'm not closing my mind to anything, and yes chevies do blow up more often than fords they wind up faster in most cases which gets them a real beating like bumpinexploers camaro they get beat hard and as far as closed minds most chevy people have a real attitude about ford to start with. All I said to Joe was it was a shame to put a chevy engine in a ford truck if that is being closed minded......I"M GUILTY If I had a chevy I would not put a ford engine in it so why would I do the opposite? but then I don't go to the chevy boards and ask for it either do I?
John

 

I dont believe in putting chev engines in super Fords either

 

I remember some years back, everyone trying to find Bronco oil pans, so the oil pan drop was in the rear of the ford engine. Then it could be used in some of the street rods. Seems like the Chevy V8 is probally the cheapest and most common engine out there, that probally has a big part to play in all this..

 

inexpensive, smaller size, and more plentiful.

Mike

 

Darknight, one out of three isn't too bad. They are inexpensive but as far as being small so is a 302 or 351w and being plentiful how many 302s do you think ford built been building them since 68. John

 

I wouldn't put a chevy motor in a ford or vice versa.

I think it all boils down to loyalty, similar to ford guys loyalty to their W and Fe blocks.
When we went to rebuild the 351M, the machinist kept saying "too bad its not a windsor" over and over.

Too bad buddy, but after that gosh darnn M went 23 years and 375,000 km running like it was on steroids, I ain't replacing it with anything else you idiot!

After him saying this so many times (and my dad ready to shove a W block up his #####)he rebuilt it and was amazed what a stock rebuilt M ran like!

Be loyal to what your truck has pulled your a$$ around with for the last three decades!

Matt
1978 F250 4x4 - 351M
Don't crush them, restore them!