I am taking out a 302 and puting in a 351M. All is done except I am unable to locate engine towers for the 351. Can someone help me find them or know what engines have the same towers as the 351M? This project has taken me months grinding and boring and matching parts. Towers are my last find. Please help. Are other towers compatible or do I have to fabricate new ones, I am not a welder by any means. Thanks

 

I am in a similar process myself right now. I am putting a 351C in where a 300 used to be. I asked the same question about a month ago and recieved an answer from BigBrownTruck. He swapped a 302 into where a 300 was.

The motor perches he got from a salvage yard had 302/351/400 on them. This makes sense to me for the following reason. I hope I don't make this too hard to follow.........The 302/351W and the 351C are interchangeable in the cars without any motor mount swaps. The 400/351M and the 351C are from the same engine family, the differences are in the bellhousing bolt pattern, the deck height, and the motor mount position but not location. In other words the mount bolts on a 351M/400 go into the block similar to a 460 whereas the 351C goes in straigh from the bottom like the 302, but they are all in the same location. I have had this confirmed by two other people since BBTs post as well, so I am going on the hopes that everyone isn't wrong.

What I am trying to say is that you should be able to use your 302 towers/perches and buy a set of 351M/400 motor mounts and it should all work. Count yourself lucky because I have only been able to find one set or 302/351/400 engine perches in the whole county.


Good Luck!

 

I am currently running a '72 Ford with a 351M. At the time I dropped the engine in I was aware of the fact that Ford had 2 sets of frame towers. 1 for a six that came straight out from the frame, and one set for a V8 that angled toward the firewall and set the engine back in the engine compartment. It wasn't until after I dropped the Big Block in on the Small Block frame towers that I discovered that there were 3 sets of frame towers. 6,BB, and SB. The problem I ran into was it crunched my shiftdown linkage. No problem there since it shifts on the vacuum just fine. The big problem is that there's only about 1/2" clearance between the back of the block and the firewall. I can't even think about dropping the trans without pulling the engine at the same time. Additionally I had to have the front half of the driveshaft shortened about 3", just about the distance the engine would be moved forward if I'd taken the time to locate the BB frame towers.
By the way I've since discovered there's a 4th set of frame towers. These are for a 460.

Happy Hunting

 

I got my towers yesterday out of the salvage yard. They had a 302 truck and a 351M truck. After I got the mounts out of the 302 I set them on the frame beside the M block truck and they were the same.