I have a lead on a short block 351w that's a recent rebuild, but its a mid 70's block out of a truck, could I use this short block for an efi build? Don't know if the oil pan and engine accessory's will bolt up.

 

Good question to ask, but I believe the accessories should bolt right up. Or at least you should be able to use the correct front timing cover to go along with the accessories I would think.
Do you already have all that stuff from your existing 351/5.8 or would you need to source all of it? The timing covers are many and varied, but they all fit both the 302 and the 351W blocks so if you have the correct cover to go with the water pump, timing pointers and pulleys and other stuff, they should all bolt on to the older engine.
There are different ones for mechanical fuel pumps vs electric. Your mid-seventies truck engine would still have had a mechanical pump boss and the eccentric on the front of the camshaft. Your '92 would have had in-tank electric pumps and no facility for mounting a pump on the engine. So using your later model front cover would probably work better. Not sure if they left the eccentric pump drive installed or not. My guess is that they did not, but may have included some kind of semi-balancer contraption thingy to take it's place. Well worth looking at your existing one, even though it's a 302.

Bolt pattern for the bell housing is the same as well.

Cylinder heads will too, but should probably be of the later variety to be more easily compatible with all the upper EFI stuff.

Oil pans are vehicle specific, but do have to be from a 351. Your 302 pan will not fit without lots of modifications that used to be commonplace when swapping engines in the old days. Nowadays you can probably find a pan out of your year vehicle that had a 351 already.

Is the engine out of a 2wd or 4wd truck? In the seventies the 2 and 4 wheel drive pans were different. Front sump (2wd) vs rear sump, or double-sump (4wd). Whereas after the '80's models came out I think some of the pan aspects changed, but I don't know if those changes made them incompatible or not.

I'm sure a lot of members have swapped Windors in for their 302's so hopefully can tell you exactly what's what and what's not.

Good luck.

Paul

 

Oh, and there was probably still a boss and threaded hole on the driver's side of the old block for bolting on the clutch linkage bracket. Your newer engine would not have that, but I don't believe that fact would cause any incompatibility issues.

Paul

 

A 351W short block is a 351W short block. They were all identical from 1969, until 1996, with the *one* exception of the very last couple years (94 and up) being drilled and tapped for the stuff to use the roller cam, instead of a flat tappet. The bellhousing pattern is the same on all years, as are the various places where motor mounts, and other accessories bolt up to.

The only difference in the years is in the heads, the pistons/compression ratio, and the induction systems.

 

The cam used in the rebuild may be the only thing that is not EFI friendly.. depends if it's stock spec or something aftermarket. If you can dig up some info on that post it up

 

In the mid 70s' the deck height changed (taller) to decrease the compression.

Depending on how the deck may/maynot have been milled you can have manifold fitment & possibly piston above deck issues.

 

Thanks for the reply's guys.
Found out more, its a E4 block so its a 1984 block and has the one piece rear main so it looks like I'm good with it, so I bought it today.
Its been bored .030 over and the rod journals have been turned .040 and the mains .030, so I plan on taking the 84 block and pistons/rods to the machine shop to have them cleaned up and inspected. I have a 351w out of a 92 bronco and I plan on using its crank for the 84 block since its been freshly bored.

I will have to look, but I think the 92 crank is stock never been turned but I will find that out once I pull it out, I would feel better about the 92 crank because the 84 crank has some nicks in the snout and I can not remove the timing gear by hand or with pry bars, and besides that I would like to use the 92 crank especially if all it might need is a polish as compared to being turned down like the 84 crank currently is.

When I get more time I think I will start a thread on this build, been wanting to build a 351w for my 92 f150 for several years now and it looks like its finally coming to fruition.
Looking for recommendation's for a hydro flat tappet camshaft, the Crane 444232 does not appear to be made anymore.

 

The only marking I found on the cam is the letter B on the end of the cam, and the guy I bought it off of didn't know much about it because he wanted the block for a 408w build, but he did say this motor was in a mid 70's truck and the org owner pulled the stock 351w heads and used them on a 283? build and then sold the block.

 

I assumed your were using the motor as it was but sounds like it's going to be rebuilt so the existing cam doesn't matter, there is nothing about an '84 block that will prevent it from being used in your truck. If you want to find out more about the cam that is in it you just need a dial gauge and degree wheel to measure lobe lift and duration before removing it from the block.

 

I'm just going to get a new cam, since the crane cam has been discontinued its looks like my only choice on a efi friendly cam is the comp 35-255-5.
Is that the only option I have these days for a cam?

 

No there are more and you could have a cam ground to the Crane 444232 specs if you like. There are also roller cam options, this route is more expensive but it eliminates the risks involved with flat tappet cam use.

 

Yes, there are tons of EFI friendly cams right off the shelf. One aspect that seems to come up often is the wider lobe separation, or lobe centerline (whichever one it is) in the 112 to 114 degree range. Seems to keep the fuel-injection induction sensors happy.
But custom cams are not that much more expensive than a pre-made one. Or at least they did not used to be.

I'm old though. For me it's still shocking to me to see standard roller cam kits in the $1,000 range. I still remember flat-tappet cam kits in the $90 range! "Come on down and get 'yerself this sweet RV cam for your small block Chevy for only $89.95"!!!!
Sometimes including lifters and springs, even when not the cheapest, a full kit might only run you 150 bucks. Nowadays is a whole different story.

But roller cams are wonderful and worth considering if they don't break the budget.
I've got three engines going together and all are going to be some type of EFI with the 112 and 114 LSA's on two flat-tappet and one roller.

 

I would love to retrofit my motor with roller lifters, but they are insanely expensive for a little gain, this being a budget build I don't want to spend that kind of money when I can use it towards a good set of heads.

What are the two cams are you using for the flat tappet motors?
I think I want to switch out the .030 over pistons that came with the block for some flat top pistons, any recommendations?

 

Wouldn’t that depend on what heads you are going to use and your target compression ratio? What pistons are in there now? You’re expecting the compression to be to low or too high the way it is now?

 

Well blow me down, said in his best Robin-Williams-does-Popeye voice...
My 302 cam is the Comp 31-255-5 which is probably just a slight variation on the same theme. I don't remember what the differences denoted in the prefixes are.
Generally speaking, a larger engine (your 351 vs my 302) can get away with a slightly more aggressive cam grind than the smaller engine. But that does not mean that you should go more aggressive if that's not what you want. Just that you can, without some of the disadvantages of doing so.
The cam you chose looks to be very mild, but still a nice upgrade from stock.

The one in my 400 is an old Crane grind with slightly ore aggressive specifications, but not by much as I still wanted everything smooth and mild and was not going to be building a race engine.
Unfortunately the box is likely gone and I could not find my cam card right off the bat. I'll still see if I can put my hands on it, but the cam is already in the engine so I can't get the number off the end of it.

Paul