I have a '95 351w sitting in my garage waiting for the weather to warm up so i can rebuild it. Planning on a close to stock rebuild.

The heads need rebuilding too. I do however have a set of low milage edelbrock performer aluminum heads hanging around from another aborted project. They have 60cc chambers.

Does anyone know what the stock '95 351W compression ratio was? Or what the chamber volume of the stock heads? Just trying to figure out what kind of compression ratio I will end up with if I use the performer heads.

 

If I remember correctly, it was an 8.5:1 ratio, and using the perfomer heads will bring it to around 9.2:1. The factory heads are around a 65 cc chamber volume. Don't quote me, I just have a set of pistons and a set of heads off of one, and someone may know better. Good choice with the heads.....A really smart idea is to take advantage of your roller cam capability. What you will need to use a roller cam: shorter pushrods(Ford motorsport has a hardened set, $40?, available from summit), if you are in the Portland Oregon area, I have an extra roller cam spider retainer available for $20, which is needed, a set of ford motorsport roller lifters, $109?, summit racing, and depending on what your uses are for the engine, a roller cam from Comp cams, perhaps a 35-514-8, a Xtreme energy 266HR cam, 266 intake duration, 274 exhaust, 216-224 at .050, .544 intake, .555 exhaust lift. You will have to get a ford steel distributor gear that is compatible with the roller cam. JUST A THOUGHT...............

 

good call on the cam, but one thing: the quoted .544" lift is for 1.7 ratio rockers, if you use the more common 1.6 ratio, you'll get .511" lift, which is much easier on the valvetrain. The roller lifter spider plate can be found from any boneyard vehicle with a roller cam, and make sure you get the two bolts that bolt it down in the center, if you use longer ones, they'll bite into the cam bearings. If the roller lifters in the block you grab the spider plate from look good, use them, it will save you $109. I couldn't find a good set in the boneyard, so I went ahead and bought new ones, but a good set of them is reusable, so don't hesistate if you find a low milage motor.

 

The engine is going to be for a daily driven Bronco. Needs to be reliable which is why I was going to keep it close to stock.

I was planning on using a roller cam. But had not really decided on cam specs yet. Would like to keep some low end torque. I also have a GT-40 upper and lower intake and I'm going to use a MAF computer and wiring harness for the EFI.

I have built a few 5.0's for mustangs and one for a swap into a jeep but this is my first 351W for a truck. I have been looking around for the stock specs but there is not much info for the 94 and up truck engines. So far this forum seems to be the best I have seen yet.

I'm actually across the country from you in Massachusetts. But I was just in Oregon over the holidays. Have family in Aloha near Portland. Got a few more months before I'll even be able to work on the engine. I think its somewhere around -6 degrees tonight.

 

TK, check your catalog again, the 1.7 ratio rocker specific cams are in the next slot below.....the info stated above was correct........oops...by the way, majic, my exact location is in Aloha, but most people don't know where it is...lol

 

Funny! Small world I guess.
Been looking at cams tonight. That 266HR looks right on the money for what I need.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Keep 'em coming.

 

I thought the catalogue showed the lift on the 266 was for 1.6 ratio, but I called Comp and asked them, and they said that the numbers listed were for a 1.7 ratio. It does go against the catalogue, but that's strait from the horse's mouth. Reason I asked is because I had them recommend a cam for me, and I told them I was using 1.6 ratio, so they said it would help cut down on a little duration, and make the piston to valve clearance work for me, since it's only .511" with 1.6's. It's kind of a mute point, but .544" is a ton of lift for a stock motor, so it's more comforting having .511", because if you float a valve on a stock motor with .544" lift, you're gonna be pulling twisted metal out of your engine afterwards for sure. TK

 

Doesn't a '95 351w already have a roller cam in it? Mine did. I thought that they were in all '93-up 5.0L and '94-up 5.8L. I know that the blocks were roller cam ready back in the late 80's-early 90's.

 

Hmm not sure. Everything I have read seems to imply that the 94 and up blocks were roller ready but had flat tappet cams from the factory.
I have a 95 sitting in the garage that I just picked up from a salvage yard last week. But its been too cold to open it up. Would be cool if it did. Less parts I will have to buy.

 

I have seen the intake off of two 93-95 lightnings, and I have the engine guts out of a '95 f-150 351w, and none had a roller, but were set up for one...........weird....

 

I called Ford Motorsport, and they said that all post-'86 blocks were setup for a roller cam, even the 351 blocks, but they didn't have roller cams installed in trucks until around 1993 in the 5.0, and the 351 "supposedly" never had a roller cam installed from the factory, but it has the spider plate retainer bolt holes already installed, so all you'd need to do is throw a roller cam, roller lifters, and a lifter retainer plate down and you'd have a roller cam 351. Keep in mind that if you're running roller lifters that you need double valve springs. They are great at reducing friction, but they are heavier than flat tappet lifters, so it takes more spring pressure to keep them from floating. You can get single springs that will supply enough force to keep them down, but they will fatigue faster than double springs will, that's why factory roller engines came with double springs. TK

 

Yeah, I knew they had roller capability, the 351w parts I have are out of a 95 block, and the only reason he wanted the entire engine was for the roller capability(???? he paid $750 for the engine, and crane had hydraulic retrofit lifters for $400.....)........I have been nosing around for a 351w roller block, but there are none to be had, and cores locally are priced around $500-600, So I will be going the Comp Cams reduced base circle route, so I can run stock ford roller lifters( I have about 4 sets of low mile lifters....). By the way, sorry about the catalog thing, kind of typical of Comp, I make occasional calls to them, and get different answers to the same question(for example, they supposedly don't know that they make pushrods for the roller cam swap I spoke of above, but they are listed in the catalog with a part number, I begin to wonder who to believe, lol).

 

Cool. That means someone already did all that work for me

 

I know its been a while, and idk if anyone even cares or has posted update to this string. just was surfing and found it interesting.
Ford put the roller cam motor in pickups from 94-96 only. i have a small collection of em, and have been learning the hard way as to which combos work the best for certain apps.
Biggest prob has been w pushrod length pertaining to different heads and whatever block work has been done i.e. decking the block, or heads and/or both. this plus a whole world of roller cams and valvetrain to choose from makes this particular family of Ford engines VeRY costly.
just my $.02 worth, which wont even idle an engine these days....
-saga

 

Yep, it's got a roller cam already. I've got a mid year 95 that I just went thru and it's got the roller cam. It'll have the F4TE roller, same as was used in the 94-97 5.0 in the trucks and later in the Explorer 5.0. 256/266 duration, .422/.445 lift (.445/.473 with 1.7's)