A Salvage Yard Find

Ghost Magnum

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I went to do some early Christmas shopping today at a mall. Had some time before I had to my parts guy. I decided to make a random trip to a salvage yard to kill some time and maybe find a gift for a friend.

Found a falcon, Ltd, galaxy, some mercs. There some cars with that still have their engines. But nothing useful for me.
I spotted a striped F250. Looked under its hood. Found it's 351W that's mostly stripped. I checked it's bed on a hunch and found this little beauty. It's a diamond in the rough. I will polish off it's lid, clean and paint the housing later. I paid next to nothing for it.
Factory 351 Cleveland air cleaner sells for 200-350 dollars. This serves the same purpose. I'm happy with it!
 

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I forgot to mention the new carburetor! A friend of mine told me another friend of his had a brand new Holley he was willing to sell. I took the deal. It's a 750CFM 4160. Came with the fuel rail! I still have the old one I was going to rebuild. I haven't decided on what to do with it yet.

I am reusing the original valve covers. And I'm painting all aftermarket parts to look factory. So at first glance this Cleveland will look like a boring old engine. That truck 351 H.O air cleaner will make my Cleveland look like a F250 engine at first glance. Most people wouldn't know it's a modified Cleveland underneath it all lol.
 
Years ago I flew into Cleveland for to interview a father and son, at the airport I asked the Avis counter guy where the engine plant is. He looked at me funny for a second and realized I knew about the 351. Said " it's on your way out of the airport, big gray building on the right". Drove out and sure enough there it was. Had a small sign in front but that was all. Sad. Had a good friend that had one in a Torino, that thing would fly.
 
Years ago I flew into Cleveland for to interview a father and son, at the airport I asked the Avis counter guy where the engine plant is. He looked at me funny for a second and realized I knew about the 351. Said " it's on your way out of the airport, big gray building on the right". Drove out and sure enough there it was. Had a small sign in front but that was all. Sad. Had a good friend that had one in a Torino, that thing would fly.

You should check out my other threads about my Cleveland.
I'm going to make some of my engine work as the factory wanted it to. My 302 out of my 68 and my 66 Chevy took forever to warm up. But the 302 in my 1971 Torino didn't. I found out the snorkel actually had a practical purpose. It sucks in warm air from the exhaust manifold to assist engine warm up.
 
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I dated a girl that had The First Z-28 in our area back in 70. She and the car were Very nice. Then a good friend had a Z, never forget, we went from where we lived to a place in Va Beach in 12 minutes. Drove it many times and took 20-30 minutes. Speeding, whats that? LOL…
 
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That is going to look sweet. I never owned a 351 Cleveland, but had a Mercury Cougar with a 351 Windsor in it. I honestly bought it from a little old lady who drove it very little. That thing would just light the tires up and burn them to the rim if you chose to.

That is one car I wish I had been able to hang on to. Bought it for $350.00 in the early 80's and I think it was a 68.

Looking forward to seeing the end product.
 
Had a truck with a 351Windsor. Bottom line...what's not to love?:)

I love the small block fords. I wish I kept my 302 I took out of my car. They are practical little engines. There was a few 302s there and a few 351. If I had a truck I would have pulled them. Lol

I love the sleeper look... intake & carb looking sweet...

Sleeper look wasn't my original attention. But it's turning out awesome!.

Looking forward to seeing the end product.

I kinda hit a slump with my build. I got hit with several repair bills on my daily driver right after I bought my CZ hammer. Now I got to catch up on bills. The machine shop hasn't got around to my heads yet either. If I was able to keep pace I would have it running by now.

But I also picked up some parts from a buddy. I got some leaf springs, pressure plate and a fly wheel.

Edit: 99.9% of hot rodders would have gone with the cool looking open elements air cleaners. So finding people who know how these things work was more difficult than y'all would think. I figured it out with a diagram and some guys on Facebook. The unused vacuum line goes to a vacuum switch behind the carburetor. That's it.
 
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