I have both, I need to put them in the '84 Ford on my sig, which would you choose and why? Thanks for ANY input.

 

If you have the exhaust for both and they are both in the same shape and stock..... Then I go with the W. If you are going to rebuild 1 to install....I stroke the 351M to a 400 and drop it in.....

IMHO the 400 is second only to a 460 for a pure long stroke truck engine..... And I would take it over a 460 for some applications.

It it was going into a car light weight car I would take the W.

 

Consider that the 1984 F Series could be had with a 351W. The last Ford truck that used either the 351M or 400 was 1982.

 

According to your sig, you already have a 351 in there... Stick with that for simplicity sake. It is better than a 302 for a truck, and lots of bolt on accessories.

I like period-correct engines when I restomod, and get one of the best of what was offered in those years, so that would keep the M block off the list... If someone had already made one fit, a trip to the junkyard will usually find you a 400 crank for cheap.
That's my opinion!

 

Yah the 351 W has a cracked head and a lot of miles so i was thinking about swapping it for the M. Everything should bolt up right shouldnt it?

 

The trans is the only thing that you will have to change. The 351m has a bigblock bellhousing so you will have to find a bigblock bell c6, something that isn't hard. I did this swap on my 85 f 150. I bought it for 400 bucks because the winsor was blown. I did a mild build on my 400 as I wanted low speed torque. I also swaped the c6 for the t18 that came with the motor, along with the 205 t case. I am very very happy with the swap. The engine install is as smooth as silk, the engine bolts right into the windsor engine mounts, there is no fab work at all that is required. I have a friend who has an 83 with a 351 and i would much rather have the 400. If i were you i would get a 400 rotating assembly and throw it into that block along with some decent pistons and some minor head work, a eldelbrock dual plane and a 600cfm carb and go to work. I have yet to hook to something that i couldn't pull. In my opinion the 400 is better than a 460 because of the longer stroke, the 400 makes a better truck engine.

 

A guy I know has a 360 Ford for sale, runs well, I tested it today, would this be a better bet than the 351M?

 

Dang, ya gotta stop giving us all these choices! lol
I wouldn't wanna put an FE in an 80's vehicle, period...
They were fine in their day, but a little archaic by today's standards. Much more homework needed to build up later. It also has it's own transmission.

 

400 is your best in my opinion

 

ok ....

1. wheezer (351w) is darn good motor and if you rebuild the bottom end...get the heads sorted ut and upgraded...a bit of a cam and you will have a decent truck motor that will last a very long time with not a ton of $$. Regardless I'd want to tear whichever engine i pick down and look at it and replace bearings etc. The hard part is getting it in and out and in and out etc...once it's out it's FUN to work on and accessable...do everything you possibly can before the install.... also change out tranny seal and think about converter.

2. just rebuild the wheezer and go with it then upgrade to a clevor if you ever feel froggy. With a 400 stroker kit, cleveland heads and a bit of machine work and you will have an awesome truck engine that could be built to get better than stock mileage.

3. Buy a tranny, hope it'sd not shot and put in the 351M...after you put a 400 crank in it...same everything else...but you want the 400 over the 351m or stick with the wheezer. 351m takes the same tranny as the 429/460

4. Buy a tranny, hope it works and put in the FE...360...decent motor....a 390 would be much better but would require crank and rods. fe tranny are only good for fe motor ie 332, 352, 360,390, 408, 427,428.


If i were going to keep the truck a while...I'd do it right by keeping the wheezer in it after a rebuild. Do a bit to it to make it a better truck engine with a bit better mileage...the company had to worry about smog etc and mileage suffered.

the wheezer is a fine engine except the heads and ALL wheezer heads suck...period. but they work for a simple truck... swaps ALWAYS run into more than you thought it would... motor mounts, perches, tranny and mount...maybe, power...you have duraspark2... could make it work on a 351m with a new distributor or, better yet, buy an hei unit on ebay regardless of engine (except 360) for under 100$ and do away with all the ignition stuff....I have a 400 and 351w both on hei.

Bottom line is be ready for a much bigger learning curve if you swap...foks tend to think of end product vs the transition...any engine replacement is a bigger pain than you'd think and mcuh more so the more vaariables you add to it.

 

The only thing is that the 400 is a bolt in except for the trans. It is the easiest engine swap you can do in my opinion.

 

So in summary-a 351M requires a dif tranny, a 400 requires a dif tranny and the 360 requires a dif tranny, is that correct? Maybe I will go buy an old Chevy, they seem to swap easier... j/k.

So my best bet would be to have the cracked head on the 351W redone and stick with it rather than trying to swap any other motor because they dont bolt up right? There is NO WAY I can get a 351M, 400, or 360 to bolt up to a c6 auto at all? That just doesnt seem right.

If I wanted to go with the 400 or something bigger what all would be required? If I wanted to go big block what would the stipulations be? I'm sorry for all the mess but I really thought I could just swap the small blocks in and out w/out a much problem, this whole mess is starting to really **** me off due to the fact its probly going to cost more than what I thought and the fact my mechanic hasnt mentioned much of the above said to me at all.

 

The 400 is a smallblock engine with a bigblock bellhousing bolt patern so you have to run a big block trans, there are plenty of c6's floating around and all the internals will swap across. As for the size dementions the 400 is close to the size of the 351w except that it has a taller deck hight. The 400 is basically just an overgrown smallblock, as it is a lot lighter then a big block. Lots of people will put a 460 in place of a 400, but if you want a budget truck motor than the 400 is a little better and cheaper, because you need to buy motor mounts and the exhaust system will be a pain to run but it is possible as people do it everyday.

If you have to have the truck right away, find a used head someone has laying around and slap it on and run it while you build up the motor that you want to put in it.

 

O and the 351m and 400 are the same block, just different rotating assemblies

 

If you choose the 351W just grab a C6 from a 300-6 engine or obviously another 351W. If you choose a 351M or 400 you can use a C6 from a 370, 429, 460.