OK so I'm about to start building my first 351w in the next months and was wondering if yall can give my some insight or tips on what I should do. the block is still stock bore and the casting numbers are d47ae-6015 aa7 I know its a 74 block and the previous owner said it has less than 90,000 on the block. It spins freely when I rotate it and all the cast dish pistons and piston walls look fine as well. So I was thinking maybe I can just toss it in for now until something breaks (bottom end wise) but I will be swapping out the cam,intake,heads,carb...Im gonna be going with a Air-gap intake, a xe268h camshaft part number CCA-CL35-242-3, a holley 750 double pumper vacuum secondaries or another if I can find one for cheap, and stick with my performer rpm heads I have On my 302.I already have an ignition box and coil but cant decide if im gonna just use a stock dizzy or go aftermarket..the trans is a t5 and the rear end is an 8 inch with 4.11's inside of it too.I already have a champion 3 core radiator and electric fan so im not worried about cooling in texas..question is should I replace the bottom end with new bearings, and pistons or will I be alright with the way it right now. and advice from yall I will apreciate
If the block/crank hasn't suffered from a failure you may be able to use as is, but I'd defiantly inspect the bearings for excessive wear... If they are OK it likely will be usable, but I'd at least repl the rear main seal... I've seen engines that only had light wear just honed with fresh rings rings and bearings run another 80-100K miles without a problem... Something to think about, do you want to do all that work only to pull it out later for a rebuild??? Of course while you're up and running, could be looking for a roller 351 to replace it with(F4xx block)... Decisions, decisions...
How can I inspect the bearings on the engine? and I was thinking of using this kit as the rebuild for it http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fem-csmhp824-000/overview/ also I cant find any of those blocks here for some reason :/ I guess im not looking hard enough for them...
351 If this is going in to your Maverick the 351-W is very tight fit headers are a pain. I went with a 302 because of this.
Yeah,without notching the towers & doing something like installing Crites mnfg. headers,you will struggle.However,hard to give up that power,if that`s what you`re looking for.Plus you have so many options as to what you can do w/ a windsor.
as others mentioned already.. you may be kicking yourself down the road for not freshening it up when it was all apart. Krazy Comet makes a valid point though.. as retro-fit roller cams can be pricy if you ever decide to go full roller later on. That's where the relaible power is. Be careful with you piston choice as you'll want to get the tallest pin heights the block will accept to help bring compression up from stock. The tighter the squish.. the better everything is for that motor. Also.. those gaskest are crap. I'm sure others have used them without issue and so have I.. but once you use better quality gaskets?.. you'll see clearly. They're crap and that's how they make some extra cash on those rebuilder kits. I'd spend the extra cash and make your own kit. If you get compression up near 10-1 where it should be.. that's an easy 360 horse motor that'll last you nearly forever. Low end/midrange torque will be fun in a light car.
The 8:1 compression ratio is much too low for a Comp XE268. The '74s were gutless smoggers and won't perform very well without a performance rebuild. Not to mention the hassle of a tight fit in a Maverick.
that's right on target for advice.. but he has the RPM heads. Even with the factory slug down in the hole.. it should still make 9-1 or slightly over.
Consider zero decking the block, they can be as much as .054 down in the hole. Also, I always use 1011-1 or 1011-2 head gaskets depending on heads used. They will give you a .041 and .039 quench respectively and that is a good quench number for a 351W (shoot for .040 quench). If you are going high performance or drag racing it at all, go to an aftermarket rod. We've used Scat, Cat and Eagle without problems after fine tuning the clearances. I also go for the bolt upgrade to ARP2000 bolts most of the time instead of the standard ARP8640 bolts. I do use a oil restrictor kit in the main webs or in the passage at the back of the block that goes from the main galley up to the lifter galleys. If you haven't done it before, buy a kit and follow the instructions. Some claim they aren't needed on a Windsor but I like them for keeping oil on those 3" diameter main journals. Lots of choices for aftermarket heads out there. You can nearly buy new aftermarket heads for the price of machine work and parts to completely freshen a set of stock heads (plus the aftermarket heads will flow better than any stock head). JMO, SPark
Also, if your going to thrash on it at the track with the T5 and that much power, that 8" isn't going to be a happy camper.
so what kind of pistons should I get then? I dont want to bore out the engine either and I thought the rods are good enough to 500 hp , I would just need to change out the bolts to arp and it'll survive I know its a pain with putting it into the maverick but I want more power
I have killed stock rods with ARP bolts at a lot les than 500HP. Get an aftermarket rod. What do you want from the motor? What type use? How hard do you want to turn it? SPark
