Hey guys I have a 1968 ranger f100. Its 351 must have been rebuild. It runs amazing and is pretty quick. It has a edilbrock(sp?) performer intake and an ebilbrock 600 cfm carb. That is it. No headers or anything. I went to this old school hot rod guys house over the summer. He has a 32 ford exactly like american graffiti and a 55 chevy like the one in the movie too. The 55 has a blown 427 in it. Among the other cars he has! Anyway, he said that you can install a 2500rpm stall converter and some gears and it will feel like you added a lot of hp to your car/truck! Anyone have any thoughts on this???

 

Great if your trips are mostly 1/4 mile.

351? That has to be a transplant. Which version of the 351 do you have?

 

And what rear end gears do you have now?

 

I have an idea- if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The usual reason for putting in a 2500 stall converter is that the cam, intake, and general power range of the motor kicks in so high that it just bogs down at anything less.

If it bogs down or is real sluggish on the low end, then maybe you should consider those mods. A higher gear rear end means more RPM's to get down the highway and means less fuel economy as a result. You'd have to recalibrate your speedometer, and as previously stated, unless your goal is 1/4 mile at a time, not worth it IMHO.

Did this "old school guy" buy these cars already built or did he just pay someone to build them for him? Sounds to me like he has a lot of money but not that much knowledge.

 

Actually doug he is very knowledgeable and does all his own fabrication, body-work, paint and engine work. If you want to be rude then dont post please! Cant stand key board warriors! Was just looking for some opinions and his opinion was for 1/4 mile. Thanks anyway man!

 

What is the point of this thread? If you don't want a differing opinion then why ask? Just go ahead and throw a 2500 stall converter and some gears in and get back to us.

I guess you don't want anyone else's opinion either because you haven't answered their questions.

 

Easy, jimford. I'm pretty sure Doug was just trying to offer some advice, and it didn't sit right with ya. Anyway, what he said about the converter is true. The stall speed of the converter should be matched to the engine and gearing combination, in addition to driving conditions (street/race), among others. If you do a little research on the reasons for different stall/flash numbers, and how they relate to the performance of your particular application, I'm sure you'll understand what he was trying to say. Actually, not too many people even understand how a stall converter works. Converter Stall Speed Explained - CPG Nation Forum


Pete

 

Sorry Doug!! I get a little heated. You are right, your just giving your opinion. But my friend is as hardcore as you can get with cars. Mostly chevies though. My bad!! I want to put a cam in my truck. I dont care about gas mileage. I only drive it a couple times a week.

 

You have to know what you have first to put a cam in it. You said the truck ran "amazing and is pretty quick". To get a well performing motor, all the parts have to be matched. This is what I meant by "If it ain't broke don't fix it." Certainly not by changing the stall. To further clarify- if you take a well performing motor that is well balanced and throw a bigger carb on it, it will run worse. If you throw a bigger cam in it, it will run worse. If you throw a single plane manifold on it it will run worse. If you throw a big set of heads on it, it will run worse. If you throw all of these on your motor together, it will run worse. If you upgrade all of these parts and they are matched to each other and you throw on some headers, you might have a bad-*** motor.

EVERYTHING has to be matched to work well. The cam is the last thing that is added to the equation, because more than anything else- it has to be perfectly matched to the rest of the engine AND the vehicle AND the intended use of the vehicle.

Cams only really work by moving the RPM where power is made. Do you want it to have power at low RPM or high RPM? The other thing a cam does is help a motor breathe. But it can only make it breathe if the heads, intake, carb and exhaust are able to breathe as well.

So once you get big everything else and then you get a cam that makes power from 3,500 RPM to 7,000 RPM you need the gears and stall converter to get it to that range quickly, or it will just bog and creep for 1/8 of a mile until the rpm's finally come up.

Since you don't know what you have, it's entirely possible that the cam you have is as perfectly matched as possible to your motor already. The one first best mod you should make that WON'T make your vehicle run worse is a set of longtube headers.

Oh and gears- but you have to know what you have there first and and be ready for the consequences mentioned earlier.

 

And Jimford 1, there are people here willing to help, but to give any credible advice, they need to be armed with the proper information.

85e150six4mtod asked which 351 you have. In case you didn't know, there are 3 different ones and they are very different. The 351W, the 351M and the 351C. Since you have an Edelbrock manifold, it should say which one.

You can check your rear end to see if it has a tag on it. If it does, then you can post that information and someone can decode it for you. (Not me, it's one area I don't know about.)

 

I have a 351W I know the difference. I actually know my fords.

 

Maybe.... I know my Fords, too. But to quote your first post "It's 351 must have been rebuild." That tells me you are pretty vague on what this motor has or doesn't outside of visual observance. I have what appears to be a 302 in my 1980 f-150. I've never had it apart, so I don't know. Judging by the way it ran I'd say it probably was and probably bone stock.

"It runs amazing and is pretty quick. It has a edilbrock (sp?) performer intake and an edilbrock 600 cfm carb. That is it. No headers or anything." Putting that with the previous statement gives me the impression that you believe it runs better than it should with just those 2 additions. Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you are posting. At any rate, if you have the knowledge you are not divulging it.

Which brings me right back to what I asked earlier when I asked what the point of this thread was. I'm not trying to give you a hard time or put you on the spot, but I don't know what you are looking for here. Anyway, back to maybe.... You have a motor that looks like a 351W. It could be anything inside. You can stroke out a roller motor and it will have a fairly mild sounding idle ( especially with cast iron exhaust manifolds) but can have a fairly stout cam. Couple that with some stock appearing heads that have larger valves and a good port and polish job and you could have a motor that has much more than meets the eye. So it could look like a stock 351W, but be a mildly built motor with 420 or more ci's. The PO may have been building a sleeper or just building a performance motor and couldn't find headers for it.

 

I know my fords but to be honest I dont know what has been done to my motor. I wouldnt know how to pick a cam for it or anything. When I say I know my Fords I mean I know the history of the motors and the differences between the clevelands and windsors. I sit and read about ford motors all the time. But do me a favor doug, just dont post! Plain and simple. You obviously have an attitude and I dont want to play those games. Especially when the person is know where near me. Just wanted some advice. I was very vague but just say that. Why insults?? Why did you even waste your time typing?? Thanks but I would rather get some advice from someone else buddy! I am sure you are way more knowledgeable with engine building. I build atv motors. I wouldn't want to even try and build a car engine! I have never had an arguement with someone on a post. Everyone is usually cool.

 

Does anybody else see any insults? I don't get it , I was trying to help. I'm outta here.

 

i just see people trying to help!