If you want a Cleveland, I'd give these guys a call on Monday.

http://www.precisionengine.com/g_engines_d_ford.html

 

There are lots & lots of engine rebuilders out there and he'd probably be much better off finding 1 in Canada to avoid potential customs issues. Besides, as I've said many times before, any large volume engine rebuilder has to sacrifice quality for quantity and when they're charging the kinds of prices these guys seem to be I'd be extremely suspicious of the work they do.

Frankly I think he'd be better off buying the machined Cleveland even if it is .060 over than purchasing a rebuilt motor from the US. If it's going to be a crap shoot then at least he can even the odds a little by doing the assembly himself.

BTW since he's in Canada the numbers are a little deceiving. $1200 CDN is just a tick over $1000 USD. $819.95 USD is $950+ CDN. Add in the core charge of $350 CDN ($295 USD) since he doesn't have a core and shipping charges which are going to be substantial especially international and he's much better off finding a good rebuildable core and either building it himself or finding a good local shop to help him out.

 

what would be the easiets way to get a good 350 hp out of a cleveland?

 

1 HP/CID is a pretty ambitious undertaking. It can be done and certainly the Cleveland is a very good candidate with it's excellent flowing heads. The real question you have to ask yourself however is what do I really want in a street engine? Is it really HP or do I want to be able to launch well and feel it pull hard up to about 5K RPM? If the answer to those questions is yes then building for big HP is the wrong solution. You want serious torque as low in the RPM range as you can get it and a flat torque curve which starts to drop off as you reach redline.

HP is nothing but a calculation of torque applied over time & distance. It basically measures the ability of the engine to continue to accelerate. The torque is what's actually doing the work and provides that slam you back in the seat feeling.

If you choose the correct cam, do some minor porting on the heads, possibly including increasing the valves to 4V size, put some small tube headers and a free flowing exhaust on your truck you'll be more than satisfied with the results. Will it net you the magic 350 HP so you can brag to your friends about it? Maybe, maybe not but when you leave them in the dust every time it won't matter what the dyno sheet says.

 

Clevelands run way too hot after .30 over.Some guy's go .40 over to fix a .30 over block ,but pistons are hard too find,and that's only if .40over will clean it up enough.Just my thought's 78 f150 4x4 shortbox with 71 351c 4bbl

 

OK I'm a lil confused. Are you planning on swappin the trans as well? If not, Don't look for a 351 C. The 351 C is a different series than the 302. The bellhousings will be different as well. If your truck has a 302 and you don't want to swap the treans then look at the 351 W. Same bellhousing as the 302. Some parts interchange between the 302's and 351W. As for $1200 for the engine you were lookin at....Pass on it. You can find one far more affordable. For $1200 that baby had better start and run.

 

Cam, Intake, a lil head work, and some nice headers and you can push almost 400 hp out of a Cleveland. The better your engine breathes the more HP you can get. For a Cleveland see if you can locate a set of 351 C CJ heads. They sport 2.19/1.71 valves and with a lil port/polish the flow unbelievably well.

 

The 351 Cleveland has the same bellhousing bolt pattern as the 302/351W. It will bolt right up.

Sure you can push 400 ponies out of a 351C...at 5000 RPM. Clevelands like to rev especially when you have the big port heads on them. How many of us spend a lot of time at 5000 RPM in our trucks?

Putting heads with huge intake ports in a heavy truck is the wrong thing to do. The 4V/Boss/CJ heads are OK for a light vehicle like a Mustang with high rear gears but on a truck you're going to be disappointed in their performance unless you like having to rev the motor to 3500 RPM just to leave a stoplight.

 

my mistake on the bellhousing. I got the 351m and the 351c bellhousings mixed up. My bad...

 

I've got two 351 cleavland engines, both are the CJ (4 bolt mains and 4V heads). I'm running one in the original 73 Ranchero, the other is a 72 version, rebuilt with .20 over pistons this ones sitting in my shop and it's priced allot more than $1200.00 CND. The Ranchero is a heavier vehicle than a 79 pick-up, I know this because I'm in the process of building a 79 pickup and I have the same delema, what engine to use. The Ranchero with the 351C, 4V heads has no problem with bottom end torque, it will turn the tires on bare pavement, in fact you can't prevent the tires from lighting up when you punch it, this is at any speed up to 30 mph. So I'm confussed when people say the 351C has low end torque problems. I figured if I used the cleavland in the truck it would perform better than in the Ranchero. My reasoning is the truck is lighter and has a posi. I have another problem with the cleavland, it won't rev past 4800 to 5000 rpm's, it has all kinds of power to that point but just will not rev, any ideas anyone.

Back to the engine delema, I think a 351C will work well in the 79 but parts and performance bolt on's are fairly expensive and I don't think you'll find a good one cheap. A 351W will work as good for street and towing and parts are allot cheaper, you can build these to whatever HP you want, I have several sets of (ported, none ported, various valve size, and one set aluminum heads) for the 302,351W. I'm probably going to put a 351W fuel injected (300 + HP) in my 79 with a AOD tranny just because I want it for daily use and I'm not finished playing with the Ranchero yet. If I wanted the 79 pickup for serious street and strip it would be with the 351C or a 460. Everything depends on what you want to use it for.