i did the 302 swap in my mav and i am very pleased with the result and so did one of my good friends. he has a 351w that he put in his wife's 66 mustang but after seeing the 302 he wants to even trade me (afraid that she will kill herself in it). my question is how much more work is the 351 swap, i know you have to modify the tower or order swap headers. is it worth it.
adam, you don,t have to modify the towers for a 351w to fit. it will bolt right in. you will have a hard time changing the plugs though. i think there was another post here about what headers to install. i bought mine with a 351 in it and i can't tell what brand the headers are. if i remember right the plugs were the only problem.
do i have to swap frame or motor mounts? most important will the engine fit under the hood or do i have to modify it? i just want to know how many modifications i have to do to do the swap.
On my 302 to 351 swap I used the 302 engine mounts and have no hood clearance problems with the Proformer RPM manifold although I am using a drop base air cleaner. I bolts right up easily. To change plugs I just remove the valve covers and the job is then pretty simple. I used a dummy block to modifiy my 302 headers to work and used a body hammer to tap in the required areas. The body hammer is good because, unlike a reg hammer, it expands the header as it flattens. A reg hammer will just dent them making the tube smaller. Of course, this is the reason I'm on the lookout for proper headers!
