Which 351s are the most desirable? Which ones had the best heads, crank,roller cams, etc?

 

Well I'll speculate that the most desireable would be the 1969 4V as it had small chambers, big valves and ports and flat top pistons. Next would be the 1994-up roller cam engine, because by then performance was back up and the stock roller cam seems to be highly respected.

 

In my opinion the 94-up would be the best, but topped with better heads like the 69-74's had.

 

Which ones had good heads? were any built with forged parts?

 

If you're looking for the best production longblock, the GEN 1 Lightning motors have GT-40 heads, GT-40 intakes, 65mm TB and dished hyper-t pistons.

 

None of the stock heads are great, even ported with big valves they won't flow near as good as what's available aftermarket. If you want something complete with forged parts you'll have to look in the Motorsports catolog for a crate engine.

 

why do so many preach the aftermarket? not all of us have that kinda coin!! i think hes lookin for affordale performance parts like i was and all i heard then was aftermarket, dont do it , aftermarket!, i say lets not forget the oldschool ways that got the aftermarket started!, shall we!!

 

Just stating the facts, man. There is a lot of potential in the stock parts, I tell everybody that will listen. But there's only so far you can go. With the stock windsor heads, porting and big valves will get you into the 300hp range naturally aspirated(with the right cam and intake). Not bad for a little elbow grease. But bolt on a set of AFR heads and you'll get an immediate 75-100hp more. The factory truck parts are pretty good, the block, crank and rods are all pretty strong and will support quite a bit more HP and TQ. But to get all the potential you will need select parts from other vehicles and the aftermarket. The Gen1 Lightning was the only 5.8 equipped vehicle to get any real quantity of performance parts from the factory. But even then they left a lot on the table.

 

i understand that and fully agree! , i'm not bashing aftermarket but what i'm sayin is that some of us can't afford the aftermarket, so were lookin for easily ubtainable parts to get that little bit extra that we can! i would love to buy a allready tested package deal or motor,but can't, and like i said before lets not forget where the aftermarket started!, from people mis-matching stock parts +re-workin them to fit , thats all,

 

with that thought, i have a 4bbl intake on a 83' mustang can i use it an a bronco w/ a 302? replacing carb ofcourse

 

302's + 351's share the same block + bolt pattern's for tran's, what's wrong with the carb?

 

If both motors are 302 windsors then yes you can.

 

No they don't.. the 351 block is wider and taller, so intakes will not interchange. The heads and the tranny bolt patterns are the same however.

 

i stand erected

 

the eletric choke, on my mustang carb is bad, that and i dont know how well it would work in/on a truck, and the bronco has a 2bbl on it right now

monday i will know more, thats when i get my new to me play toy