just wanted to say hi, i have a 71 grabber roller that i will be putting my 351-c in. any one with some tips (except those who will tell me not to) can drop me an email or post. thanks, jim
hmmm.... Tips.... Get a BIG hammer. If you already have a big hammer get a BIGGER one. Just kidding. I know nothing about this and if you hang around long enough you find out I know very little about a lot. But welcome. There are some VERY knowledgeable folks here.
HiJB, Have a 72 myself, Going the 351C route also. GO FOR IT! We are putting a Mustang II front end kit in it. This eliminates the shock towers. If you dont trim the towers or eliminate them, you have to jack the motor up to get the valve covers up. A real pain, etc. Dont know what your fab skills are, but the conversion is real easy. Also Tubular automotive has headers for us.781-878-9875. Make sure you use a 157 tooth flywheel and bellhousing, C4.If your car has a 250 six, you can use the original trans and bellhousing but have to upgrade to v8 clutch planetaries and PRE- 85 V8 FLYWHEEL (28 0z weight). Check www.ausfordparts.com They sell some AWSEOME cleaveland items, especially the AFD heads. 700 hp real easy, and uses all cleaveland valvetrain perts and dimensions. Give me a shout. 989-494-9746 Al
thanks very nice car,love the look. mine will look similar when shes done. grabber blue, low, wide 17" torq thrust,
thanks for the info Al. i have a new set of hooker super comp headers made for a 67 mustang swap with a 4v cleveland i plan on trying. hope they fit. also, i want to go with a tko600 later, but for now i have an fmx im going to try. not that i want to but i had this, an ati 3,000 stall and a B&M trans pak left over from my mustang so if it fits its going in for now.
Shave the towers. If I do another 351c swap, it WILL have shaved towers. Raising the engine almost totally out to get to the plugs is a hassle, to say the least. When I did my personal swap, I foolishly used Moroso tall valve covers too. That was a bad choice. I had to raise the engine almost out of the car, just to get the covers off! Shaved towers don't do much for improving exhaust clearance as the pipes point downward on a Cleveland, but shaving the towers goes a long way to saving your sanity. Fwiw: 351c uses pretty much all the 302 Maverick mounts, tranny, pulleys, flywheel/flexplate, balancer, etc... When you do a 351c, all you need to bring to the party along with the short block is: Front sump car oil pan Distributor (if you want to keep Duraspark, use a 351m/400/460 distributor) Exhaust, of course... 351c water pump And you will have to make some allowances for mods to the accessory drive mounts if you intend to use anything other than an alternator. Some iron exhaust manifolds will work if you want, but you have to grind all the excess bumps and knots off them to get them in. I don't know exactly which will fit and which won't. I had 2 sets when I did a swap, one set 70-71 Torino, and one 70 Stang... I forgot which I used. They needed ground smooth, and the driver's side had issues with clutch linkage interference. If you are using a manual tranny, I highly recommend a hydraulic throwout. That way you can do away with linkage issues with headers/manifolds. If you are going automatic, that's easy. Just use a cable shifter and your done. Edit: I forgot that the 351c uses a different fuel pump than the 351w/302 as well.... It's in the same place, so no issues beyond that.
That FMX is gonna be TIGHT. We put a 351W/FMX in my brothers Must 2. I THINK the mustang is a larger platform than the Maverick. I dont remember what bellhousing we installed either, so this maybe for naught. GETTING OLD! Just wish all the junkyard items we had then were more available today! We lived in Flint, Michigan, a GM town. EVERYONE blasted us for driving Fords. Hence, cheap parts nobody wanted. Now all my old chevy buddies have 50. mustangs!
Al, I was thinking the same thing. The FMX has a large bellhousing at least as big as a 164t C4 bell. It is also VERY heavy, being cast iron instead of aluminum like the C4. I swapped a car from C4 to FMX once. I want to say it has a different rear mount placement too. If so, you will have to make a custom crossmember to fit it. Most Fords were available with C4, FMX, and C6, depending on which engine you ordered. So the tranny crossmembers had 3 mounting points on most cars. It adjusted to fit, to put it easily. The Maverick was only available with the C4 (and C4 dimension standard tranny), so the crossmember is fixed to C4 specs and no adjustment. I did the swap on a 71 Torino, and it had 3 slots. IIRC, the original C4 was in the first slot, the FMX was in the second, then when I swapped to a C6, it went into the 3rd slot. Easy cheezy. On a Maverick, you have to make a crossmember to work with anything other than C4 specs.
Another thing, is you could convert a 79 and up 351 auto crossmember. All 351s in the 79 t-birds had FMX's. Granted its a full-frame type, but you could probably shorten and notch it like a mustang, Maverick style one. Another thing if you are gonna run it hard, go with the 1350 series yoke for the driveshafts,cheap insurance Can get theese from any good aftermarket driveline supply outfit. I can hear those RPMs now!!
hey Al, yea i can hear those rpms too. shes gonna be 4 bolt, solid roller, .650 lift 1.8 rockers bring the lift up yo .688, steel crank, 6.2 steel rods, aluminum pro comp (yea i know, china) heads, ross .035 over flat tops, roush 351B intake, stroke is yet TBD gotta have some grinding done. should run good! but i like a car that handles a few curves so shes not going to be set up for the best hook up at the track.
