i just had a73 couger come to the junk yard i work at with a 351 cleavland. the rear end was stolen so it was towed . windows locked. i got the door open and poped the hood. low and behold a cleavland with a fresh rebuild, new motor mounts,trany seals,starter and more price for me.........$120 with trany and all exsesorys what is in volved to put this in the mav. id like to get it on the road for hot augest nights
Dave (ratio411) seems to be the go to guy around here for the 351C. I believe he had one in his Maverick.
i think they still use the sbf bell housing and 302 frame mounts. headers seems to be the big issue but from ratio's posts i think he's said that C headers fit alot better then W headers since the ports point more downword. i may be wrong but it probably has a C6 or FMX. life will be easier of you stick with a c4 if your going auto you should search some of his posts. he definatly seems to know his stuff
I need a good hood left fender and decklid for a 73 Cougar. You will need to cut the shock towers (unless you like to pull the motor to change plugs. If it is a 2bbl Engine it should have an FMX tranny. 4bbl (Q code in VIN) will have a C6. BTW if it has a floor console they fit our cars pretty good. And the bucket seats will work as well but the tracks are different.
never cared much for the Clevelands myself.... they dont come alive untill 2K rpm's and die out around 5K, not to mention the bottom end isnt all that great but this is all just my opinion. i have seen a few that were very reliable and quick.
i think this has been discussed.. a cleveland will NOT fit between the shock towers. i think you need to do a M2 front end conversion.. if you work at a junkyard, you should be able to get the M2 front clip complete for dirt cheap as well. or maybe i am thinking the M will not fit..
better do some more research C do fit, and headers do fit easier than W spark plug changes are harder but it FITS!
Everybody keeps saying they won't fit. I put mine in with a C6 and no cutting. Change plugs without pulling the engine. Headeers from Auto Crafters and regular 302 Motor Mounts. Since Cougar the Trans has the correct arm for the floor shift. Get the cross menber from the Cougar, I used one from a mustang and modified it slightly (widened by about 1/8 inch and added spacers) C4 is easier and lighter, also will bolt up to the 351C. I have had mine in since 1998 and the header clearancing took the most work. Test fit the headers while on an engine stand and trim the corners of the motoer mounts as needed. Also easier if you have manual steering.
Using a C4 will keep you from having to cut things. A C6 will make you shorten the driveshaft... cut, reweld, balance. A C6 will require modding/fabbing a crossmember to fit. The Cougar came with an adjustable member, the Maverick has a fixed member. They do NOT interchange. They would however cut and weld together. Just use a C4... They require much less horsepower to use and the bugs have been worked out over the last 40 years. They are commonly built to handle mega horsepower. They run them behind 460s nowadays. The engine will go in without shaving the towers, however you'll never catch me doing that again! You gotta have that little extra room to save your sanity. Tubular makes a variety of headers to fit... 2v, 4v, and a small selection of tube sizes if you like. Autokrafters and a few others resell these headers as their own. Get them at the best price, from the source. Gotta use early iron SBF engine mounts though (if you don't want to cobble things up to use the Mav mounts). These are getting hard to find. Used to be easy and cheap. At the swap this year I noticed 2 things I had never seen before: *Early iron frame stands and engine mount sets going for 100 bux! *Maverick frame stands and engine mount sets going for 100 bux! The second is odd because this is the first year I have seen Maverick sets at the swap! I found 4 sets! The Stang guys are getting wise to Mav parts. Sorry I got off subject. Is the 351 a 2v or 4v engine? The 2v will do great as a cruiser. The 4v will most likely be 4 bolt main. The heads would be open chamber. Not good for performance IMO. You can get 70-71 closed chamber 4v heads for better performance. If it's a 2v, you would have to get some Aussie 302 heads to get closed chambers. Don't worry about all this though, if it's just a cruiser, slap it in and go.
This hasn't been my experience... Not saying you're wrong or anything. Maybe I have been lucky or working on different years/models than you. I will argue with you on this! Ford, GM, Mopar all made special bottom ends for their engines that would be raced. Steel cranks, special rods/bolts, 4 bolt mains, etc... When is the last time you saw a steel crank for a Cleveland? No one, not even Bob Glidden got a steel crank for his Pro-stock Cleveland. This is one engine Ford never needed to offer a steel crank! The C was the Nascar standard for many years. Even the Nascar engines today are based heavily on the C design (Not just the Fords anymore either!). Nascar didn't get steel cranks, Motorsport blocks, or special rods for better than a decade. All the blocks were essentially 4 bolt main. They all had the bosses, but all weren't drilled. Anyway, the oiling system was sub-par for racing, but the bottom end strength was never an issue.
oiling is about the main problem with the C , but they have parts out there to make it oil a little better C can make stupid power
