351W porting question.

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Nov 30, 2006 | 11:03 PM

gearhead351

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351W porting question.

I have a 1984 Ford F250 3/4ton 4x4 truck and it has the 351W. Im planning on stripping the motor down to the block. Im replacing the crappy 2 barrel carb and iron manfiold for a 4 bbl aluminum edelbrock intake and a 4 bbl holly. Along with that I plan on throwin in a high performance cam in while im at it. My question is on the windsor heads is there a "bump" of some sort in the exhaust port? Ive heard about this in some of the windsor heads but im not sure. Would it be worth it to port the exhuast ports? How much power does the porting add? Ive only done porting on dirtbikes n stuff so i dont really know the kinda power gains on a v8. any other suggestions for power besides headers? I already have a good exhuast on so thats done and Ive got a full MSD ignition. Thanks

Nov 30, 2006 | 11:05 PM

smallblock351w

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porting makes a big big difference on the smallblock ford engines specialy on the exhaust side because the ports are so small

Nov 30, 2006 | 11:13 PM

gearhead351

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Is there a way to port the heads your self? Or an inexpensive way to do it?

Dec 1, 2006 | 07:33 AM

smallblock351w

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yeah use a dremel and a stone to port them out, little time consuming but works just fine

Dec 1, 2006 | 09:41 AM

Kemicalburns

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From: Bend,OR

dont bother with those heads, locate some E7 heads from 87+ 5.0 or 5.8 engines and do some port work on them. if you get a 5.0 head the head bolt holes will need drilled out to 1/2" to bolt onto your block. I also suggest having the port work done by a shop, this way they can clean and check everything properly so you dont have issues later.

Dec 1, 2006 | 12:44 PM

mudgepondexpress

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From: Spokane, WA

Later heads would work fine, but your will also be OK. The bump is in some but I don't think it is in the 80's 351 HO engine. Exhaust porting will be the biggest bang for your buck. Use a good exhaust gasket as a template to trace out the port size then use a die grinder (I have a 1/4 collet Milwaukee but you can get a Makita that will work OK) with stones (I like the sears version, about 1/2" diameter and about 2" long, don't worry, they wear down to a good shape quickly...round nose from square). It will take about 4 stones to do the exhaust.

Do not drop the floor much on the exhaust, but raise the roof of the port to match its natural shape. You won't need to do much bowl work unless you are going all out. I like to leave the guide and just teardrop shape it a little. If you have the bump, grind it flat....you will just have a small hole in the port when done.

Kenny