Hello fellow Mavsters. I'm glad to see that there are other people as "crazy" as I am for being obsessed with Mavericks! I have a 74 that I converted to a 71 Grabber clone with a mildly hopped up 302. The 302 is feeling a little under the weather, so I found a great deal on a freshly rebuilt 351W. any suggestions on how to get it to fit? I've heard everything from "it will drop right in" to " It will fit, but will be lop-sided" to "you have to cut the shock towers". Has anyone out there done the swap? what all do I need to do? Also, how can I get my Mav's photo on my signature, I'm having a hard time figuing out what to do when the http come on when I hit inser picture. Any info on any of these matters would be great. Thanks, Mike P.
Hello mad mav welcome to the board, To your 351W question you have to cut the shock towers to make it fit, and to the picture question if you have it on your computer you can click browse to find the file on your computer.
You shouldn't have do do anything to get the motor to fit. If you want to change plugs and be able to get to everything then you will need to cut the shock towers back a litle bit. As far as the way the motor sits I believe it sits about 2"s higher not 100% sure about it though. A lot of people have done the 351w thing. I haven't done mine yet still looking for cheap motor but when I find one I will be doing same.
mike, i had a 351w in my 71 grabber. it fits without cutting the shock towers. but you have to have the right headers and the plugs are a bear to change unless you do some shock tower mods. easiest way if you want more cubes is to get a 347 stroker. that's made from a 302 block. will give you more power than you'll ever need for a street car and fits right in with no mods.
Here it is. On my side of the PA Welcome to the MMB http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?ed=M7tNO.p_0TqT&csz=Windber+pa&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=
howdy do mad mav ...... just curiousity .. WHY must you do better than 15.00 ? ...... unless that is seconds in th........ oh forget it, duhhhh Robert
Windber, the home of TARZAN (Johnny Weismuller) is about an hour and a half west of Pittsburgh. Were about 7 miles from Johnstown (Famous for several deadly floods, and where the movie "All the Right Moves" was shot), and about a half mile North of Shanksville (Where the plane went down on 9/11), and nearly the same distance from where the Quecreek miner's were rescued. (The actual cage is, or at least was on display at the Winber Coal Heritage Museum).The area sounds more interresting than it acutally is, not too much else happens here except for the "Dog Run" wich is a giant motorcycle cruise-in that happens every September. I often thought of having a "Maverick Correl" in the area. Since theres about 6 of us Mav enthusiests in the immediate area.:confused: Thanks for the interest, MIke
Yep. the best 1/4 mile time I was able to get out of it even with all the engine and gear work that was done. (it's not a Viagra thing!) I think the '74 heads are killing me even with the 3 angle valve job and the shaving.
I thought it would have done better too. those 74 heads just kill the power! also, those big steel reversal Cragars add a little weight to the engine load.I think it would have done better at the strip with the last couple mods I did (msd ignition, and new distributor. It ran really good for a couple days, then went Kaput. "That damn Nissan!" I have a couple bent pushrods and a rocker arm with a little notch in it, plus the cam gear was chewing up the distributor gears. I figure by the time a put another cam in it, and play with those heads I may be better off moneywise with the deal on this 351, there may even be a 4 speed toploader in the mix from the same guy. I miss being able to go over 65mph and not worry about the engine blowing up from the gears (3:89s with a powertrax locker in my little 8 inch rearend) I already put the deposite down on the engine, so there's no turning back now!
mike, what oil pump are you running? i think the 302 block will be a better street motor. just build it to go as fast as you like...frank...
The 351w will fit without cutting the shock towers. Grabber71 in Vancouver, BC did the swap. He told me he put 302 headers on it (modifing the headers to clear shock towers). Says he pulls the valve covers off to change the plugs (takes about 45min). So, it can be done.
