I got my new to me 351 Cleveland torn down. Every single part still had ford part numbers and stamps on them. Even the bearings. The water pump was never removed. The timing chain was worn out. Let’s just say it put up a fight while taking it apart. I don’t know how other than God that I got my hands on a unrebuilt engine. I dropped it off at the machine shop today.
He was kind of a jerk. But I understood what he is trying to say.
He believes anything other than a good clean up and 30 over bore is a waste of money. Since the engine has never been apart before and I’m not running nitro or a power adder. Replacing the main bolts and rod bolts is not needed. I’m going to follow his advice
I guess the post Fast and Furious and power block TV age has given kids a unrealistic expectations in engine building.

I found metal shavings inside the front of the engine. I think it added up a lot of miles, jumped time a destroyed the distributor gear. The past owner simply parked it and the car it came out of just sat for decades. I’m bring this old man back to life.

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Fear only God

fantastic news about it being an unmolested engine! The downside is getting the exhaust manifold bolts out. I have found them essentially crystalized metal from all the super heating/cooling cycles.

last motor was 13 of the 16 broke and the machinist had to drill them out when doing the heads. Order some high temp nickel-based anti-sieze from Amazon. I also use it as a slide lube on my 5906 pistols.

not sure if those water pump bolts run into the water jackets, but if they do, loctite makes a teflon paste for sealing fittings that works great on Buick or Chrysler water pump bolts.

I'm getting ready to swap a 4bbl intake and correct Quadrajet on my survivor car 72 Skylark droptop.

I really need to find a GM rear end expert though. Need to find the most bullet-proof 71-72 differential for my GSX. If I bust the 10 bolt again, I'm building a Ford 9". But this is a really rare car IO want to try and keep it as original as reasonably possible.

Hey, cheap power can come from eliminating parasitic power losses. A crank scraper and windage tray are cheap and the scraper alone is about 10 horsepower ( at least in a Buick 455)

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NRA RSO

glad the Cleveland is a diamond in the rough...
hey RacerX... took my drivers test at 16 in a 1972 Buick Skylark custom convertible... was my mom's.. then mine... now my sister's...

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One of the best V-8's I ever ran (drove) was the 351 Cleveland. Mine was in a 1973 Mercury Montego. Kind of a butt ugly car but man could it run. Basically that motor was a rock. I really, really should have kept the motor on a crate and scrapped the car, but it wasn't possible at the time. To this day I still wish there would have been a way.

Have fun with it!

I'm the second owner of mine. It was in the neighborhood I grew up in, and have seen it repeatedly over the years. She got it in '72 as a 50th birthday present. My old room mates older brother was the mechanic for it from day 1. I bought it in 2004 when she quit driving. She wouldn't let her son have it as he wouldn't take care of it. I drove over to see it in my '69 GS350, and that sealed the deal.

New bench seat cover this summer, and I'm adding seat warmers while the cover is off. I already have a 2 switch panel to hide the switch below the power top switch. You know the one.

My GSX has the switch pitch switch there, below the rear window defogger switch.

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NRA RSO

I agree with machinist. Don’t over think it and don’t over do it.

I’m not over doing it. I told myself after selling the 427 not to go insane with my next engine. No multiple carburetor set ups. No rare or exotic parts. I told him this is going to be a performance build. But I’m not running nitro or power adders. It’s a street/strip build. I called it a weekend warrior engine. Well behaved during the week. Chuck Norris on the weekend. But I’m more interested in the motor being well built and reliable than anything else.

There is a early 70s Buick skylark in a town nearby. It’s beat up and rusty. It would be nice if someone breaths new life into it.

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Fear only God

unless it is something rare, like a '72 Sun Coupe, a droptop or a GS, it would have to be a real labor of love. I have seen some loaded Customs with buckets, console, guages and tach and rear wing. Everything but a GS hood from the factory. Unless it is a stealth GS or something, just might be a parts car.

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NRA RSO

I don’t know it’s trim level. It’s yellow and black

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Fear only God

My dealings with the Ford 351 Cleveland engine was a love hate relations ship. In the 1980s I bought a used 1974 DeTomas Pantera L Type. I loved the 351 Cleveland engine plenty of horsepower and goops of torque. The ZF transaxle was rock solid. Besides looks they were the only decent things about the Pantera.

The Coolings system sucked, the electrical system was garbage, the gated gear shift was a pain in the neck, both rear lower control arms broke, the electric window motors died often and even the darn clock didn't keep time.

When it ran it was fun. It was the reason I met my much better half, almost to the day, 43 years ago and I doubled my money when I sold it. So it wasn't all bad.

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Bill Bates

Ghost my friend at the gun club has a 72 Panthers that he bought in 73. I believe it had a blown head gasket and he replaced the engine with another 351 keeping the original engine. He let the car sit for something like 40+ years.
A while back, he took the original engine to a mechanic and had it rebuilt with 4 Weber carbs and got it to 600 hp. It is back in the car and he is having another mechanic get things back together.
The only thing I don’t like about it is the amber color.
Some time ago, I went to the Ford car show in Ocala Florida. There were a lot of beautiful Pantera’s there.
ETA @Bill Bates


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalkh

I remember one guy on Facebook swapped 427 FE into a Pantera.

Considering the bizarre jump of progress in the Cleveland. I think the 427 was holding me back.

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Fear only God

great find on the 351C. Two versions of this were a 2V and a 4V. the 2V was much more streetable and the 4V loved nothing less than 3k rpms.....

I transplanted a 1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland into my first vehicle, Ol Redd. (a 1968 Ford F100 with a 4spd) My late dad and I (mind you, I was 15 y/o) fabbed up some engine mounts, a radiator and the engine bolted right onto that 4 speed using the Clevelands bellhousing/clutch.

I've rebuilt many FoMoCo engines from 3.8liter V6 to 390's and 429's. What I find to be true is that if those engines did not have a billion miles on them and were serviced even close to regular, you could throw rings and bearings in them and gaskets, torque it all down and you are ready to go again. The 2V Cleveland has GOBS of low end torque for an engine of that size. Glad it's getting a 2nd chance!

J

Can’t wait to build my engine. I’m trying to carefully plan my build. I have factory exhaust manifolds. But I do want headers. But there is no guarantee anything will fit. But there is one company that does make headers for my swap… for 1000 give or take. I might play around with shorties. Or run the factory exhausts. I just ordered a entire camshaft kit. Camshaft, lifters, springs and timing chain. The machine shop agrees that new stronger studs is a good idea for this new kit. Otherwise any other then necessary work is a waste of money.

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Fear only God

Many years ago I looked at a clean 1970ish Cougar with a 2V 351C and 4 speed.
Stupidly I thought the 2 barrel was a deal breaker. I now wish I had that car.

Engines are like puzzles. If you change one piece, you need to change several to get the full benefit. If I was going to do headers, I would also change the cam and possibly the carburetor to get the maximum gain. When the camshaft in my 1978 1/2 ton 350 wore out, I replaced the cam and lifters, added an high rise manifold and headers and had the local carb experts re-jet the quadrajet for me. The local muffler shop built a custom dual exhaust for me. I was going for mid range to top end power. From a standing start, it wasn't too impressive but after the rpms increased, it was very noteworthy.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!