BOSS 351 MY WAY!!!

HERE ARE THE LINKS TO MY OTHER PAGES FOR MORE INFORMATION

WHY I DID IT!!!

Well, I Was Finishing The Mechanical Power And Technology Courses At My Local Community College - NORTHEAST TEXAS COMMUNTY COLLEGE, So I Enrolled In The Engine Repair Course. As A Requirement Of The Course, I Had To Re-Build An Engine From Scratch. So I Thought, Why Not Build Myself An Engine For A Race Car Instead Of Working On A School Engine Or Someones Piece Of Crap They Wanted Fixed. I Had Already Re-Built My 88 5.0, So That Was Out. I Didn't Want A Chevy 350, We Had Built One In A Special Class To Go In The M.P.&T. Camaro Circle Track Car (APPEARS IN FEB. 97 CIRCLE TRACK MAGAZINE) And Because It Was A Chevy At That. So I Asked My Instructor, Dan, If He Knew Anyone Who Might Have Any Fords They Wanted To Sell. He Told Me That Another Student Had Come To Him About Some Engines She Had And Wanted To Sell Them To Clean Out Her Garage. So, I Went To Talk To Her One Afternoon And She Said She Had A Race Prepped 390 And Another For Parts. I Really Didn't Want a 390, So I Asked What Else. She Went On To Say That Her Old Boyfriend Had An Engine He Tore Apart And Didn't Put It Back Together. She Said It Was In So Many Pieces That She Couldn't Tell What It Was. We Went To Look At It That Afternoon After Class, But It Was Scattered Everywhere. It Was Mixed With Chevy 350 Parts And A Few Others I Couldn't Recognize. The Block Was In Decent Shap With Little To No Rust. She Went In The House And Brought Out A Book He Was Using To Re-Build It. It Was Named "How To Re-Build Your 351C, 351M, 400, 429, And 460." It Was A Cleveland!!!!! I Had Found Gold Scattered In Someones Garage!!!

I Have Used These Particular Books Because They Contain Lots Of IMPORTANT Information About The Cleveland And Other Ford Engines. This Ford Performance Book Is One Of The Best I Have Seen.

HOW I DID IT!!!

I Sorted Out All The Chevy Parts And Other Junk To Find I Had A 71 Cleveland. Lots Was Missing Though. We Could't Find The Distributor, Engine Brackets, Accessory Brackets, Water Neck, Or The Crankshaft. Oh, Crap I Said. How Am I Going To Build A Cleveland With Out The Crank? The Lady Said She Would Look At Her Parents House Because There Were Parts There. Sure Enough It Was. My Buddy Dave And I Loaded The Buckets Of Parts Into His Truck And Left For The College.

The Next Day I Found I Needed Some Machine Work Done So I Loaded The Heads And All Into The 88 Stang And Headed To The Machine Shop. G & G Machine Had Done Our Work On The Chevy 350 For The Race Car And I Knew They Did An Excellent Job. The Parts Looked Like They Had Just Arrived From GM. I Met Joe And Eric Green For The First Time When I Took Some Of The 350 Parts To Them. They Know Their Stuff. I Told Them I Wanted A Race Motor And They Told Me No Problem. It Took Me A While To Pay The Work Off But It Was Well Worth The Wait.

Machine Work

Along With The Standard Machine Work, They Balanced The Rotating Assembly And 2 Flexplates For Me So I Could Use Any Automatic Transmission I Needed.  I Used The 2-V Heads Instead Of The 4-V Heads For Low End Torque And So I Didn't Have To Spin The Motor At Around 8000 RPM's To Get Power.  They Were Open Chamber Heads So I Wouldn't Have A 12.5:1 Compression Ratio With The Keith Black Pistons I Was Going To Use.  Instead I Figured That The Minimum Head cc To Match The 11.0:1 Stock Compression Ratio Of A BOSS 351 Would Be 70.5 cc's.  They Then Ported And Polished The Exhaust Ports But Just Ported The Intake.  They Said That It Would Work Better On A Carb.  Engine Because The Fuel Will Puddle At The Bottom Of The Intake Port If You Polish It.  They Also Angle Milled The Heads From Almost 80 cc's To The 70.5 cc's I Had Requested.  They Angle Milled The Heads Instead Of The Standard Mill Job So The Intake Ports Would Match Perfectly. I Had To Have The Valve Guides Replaced So They Put In Bronze Guides Then They Performed A Standard Valve Job.

What I Did

I Took The Block And Polished The Lifter Valley Instead Of Painting It To Promote Oil Flow. I Went In And Opened The Oil Drain Back Holes At The Bottom Of The Valley Then Ground The Heck Out Of The Large Drain Back Hole Behind The Distributor. This Hole Wasn't Cast All That Great To Begin With So I Didn't See Oil Flowing Well Through It. I Ground It Down Even With The Valley Floor And Smoothed It To Perfection. I Took The Crank And Chamfered The Oil Holes Diagonally So The Oil Would Cover A Bigger Area On The Mains And Rod Bearings.

I Decided On Using An Electric Fuel Pump Instead Of The Old Style Cam Driven Pump Both For Efficiency And For Durability. I Had To Fabricate This Block-Off Plate Because I Couldn't Find An Aftermarket One. Note The Hydraulic Line Connected To The Oil Port Next To The Block-Off Plate.

WHAT I USED!!


Click on One Of The Underlined Parts To Go To The Manufacturer's Page.

351 C BLOCK
351 C 2-V HEADS
ARP ROD BOLTS
FELPRO RE-RING KIT
FELPRO INTAKE GASKETS
FELPRO EXHAUST GASKETS
WEIAND X-CELLERATOR INTAKE FOR 2-V HEADS
CAM THRUST PLATE FROM FORD
FORD SVO CAM (M-6250-A341)
COMP. CAMS ADJUSTABLE PUSH ROD
FORD SVO ANTI-PUMP UP LIFTERS
CRANE 1.7 ROLLER ROCKERS
CRANE ROLLER ROCKER STUD CONVERSION KIT
ARP MAIN STUDS
KEITH BLACK OEM-TYPE POP-UP PISTONS (KB-149)  
MELLING HIGH PRESSURE OIL PUMP FROM FORD POWER PARTS (FULLY BLUEPRINTED CLEARANCES)
FORD POWER PARTS OIL PUMP SHAFT-LIFETIME WARRANTY AGAINST BREAKAGE
ARP CARB. STUDS
FORD VIBRATION DAMPNER
3' HYDROLIC HOSE-RAN FROM LEFT FRONT OIL PORT TO REAR TOP OIL PORT (BETTER OILING)
FORD SVO DOUBLE ROLLER TIMING CHAIN
FORD SVO CHROME WATER OUTLET
WOLVERINE PUSHRODS
AUTOZONE LIFETIME WATERPUMP
160 DEGREE THERMOSTAT
GRADE 8 WATER PUMP BOLTS(FROM LOCAL PARTS HOUSE)
CORE PLUG FOR OLD DIPSTICK TUBE HOLE(CANTON OIL PAN HAS A DIPSTICK)
HEDMAN HUSTLER 1 7/8 ENGINE SWAP HEADERS
MSD BLASTER 3 COIL
MSD 6-AL IGNITION BOX
STANDARD COIL BRACKET
MSD DUAL PICKUP DISTRIBUTOR
FORD FL1-HP
GLASS FUEL FILTER W/ ELEMENTS
EGR BLOCKOFF PLATE(MADE IT MYSELF)
FUEL PUMP BLOCK OFF PLATE(MADE IT MYSELF)
AIR CLEANER ASSY.(USED 85 FORD TRUCK DUAL RAM AIR ASSY)
MOTORCRAFT AIR FILTER
AUTOLITE 8.5 MM SPARK PLUG WIRES
MOTORCRAFT CRANKCASE FILTER
MOROSO SPARK PLUG WIRE BRACKETS
CANTON ENGINE SWAP OIL PAN FOR FOX CHASSIE
CANTON OIL PUMP PICKUP
CANTON OIL DIPSTICK

These are the ENGINE ANALYZER 3.0 hypothetical results.

I use this program when testing parts like camshafts, intakes, and heads among other items.  Some data has been taken from actual flowbench testing where other data has been taken from the exact measurements of a part.  Many manufactures provide the specifications for you at request and in many cases they are included in this particular program.

Click This Link To Download My New TEXT Zip File Containing PARTS AND MACHINE WORK.

If You Have One Of These Manufacturers Links That I Don't, Please E-Mail It To Me.

Note Again The Hydraulic Line At The Back Of The Engine And The Port Block Screwd Into The Rear Oil Port In The Top Picture. This Is A Simple Hydraulic Hose Found At Most Farm Equipment Or Heavy Machinery Shops. I Had 90 Degree Ends Pressed Onto It So I Could Route The Line As Needed. I Used A 3-Port Block To Accept The Oiling Line And A Oil Pressure Gauge Line. Notice The Line Routing At The Side Of The Engine In The Lower Picture.

Here You Can See The MSD Dual Pickup Distributor.

These Are Keith Black Pistons. I Used The OEM Boss 351 Replacement Piston On The Right. The Left Is A Standard Replacement Piston For All Other 351 Clevelands.

Here You Can See The Weiand X-celerator Intake, Crane 1.7 Roller Rockers, Crane Roller Rocker Conversion Kit, And The Ford Motorsport SVO Water Neck.

This Is A Nice Shot Of The Mains. I Used The ARP Stud Kit For The Mains And ARP 180,000 psi Rod Bolts For Strength. Also, Notice That You Can See The Motorsport SVO Double Roller Timing Chain.

WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY!!
(And Still Might!)

I have not installed the engine yet so this portion probably will be short for a while.  Well, it was....

--  Ok, I screwd up #1.  I had the heads angle milled too damn much resulting in piston to spark plug clearance problems.  Idiot me forgot to put a spark plug in when I clayed the engine.  With standard Autolite BOSS 351 plugs, the ground electrode is hitting the piston and closing the plug gap.  Argggghhhhhh!!!  I will be trying some sparkplug indexing washers to move the plug out then I will go searching again for some nonprojected sparkplugs.  Someone suggested some real short antifowl  plug adaptors.  

-- Ok, I screwd up #2.  Two times.  I should have gone ahead and had the heads machined for screw in studs instead of using the Crane conversion kit.  Possibly, I could go with a stud girdle to remedy the problem by tying all of them together.  Also, I should have had new valves installed with new springs.  

-- I wish I had used Zero Gap Rings from Childs And Albert. These were available at the time but I didn't know about them. They offer greater ring sealing than standard rings by not having a ring gap.  ** Maybe not!  I hear these rings are not that great and can guall the cylinders.  Anyone had good or bad experience?

-- I Most Likely Will Have To Replace The Valve Springs, Keepers, And Spring Retainers. The Factory Equipment Is Fine For Basic Everyday Driving But Not For High Performance Use. My Friends Cleveland Failed At The Track While Racing But He Spins His At 8000 RPM's.

-- I Used A Factory Vibration Dampner (Cast Iron) Because It Was The Only Thing I Had When I Got The Engine Balanced. I Should Have Spent The Money And Bought A Fluid Damper.

**-- I Am Thinking Seriously About Installing A Crankshaft Scraper For My Cleveland To Keep The Excess Oil From Sticking To The Crank At High RPMS. I Have Not Found One In Any Magazine Or Catalog Yet So Ill Probably Have To Make It Myself.

**-- I Have Looked At Buying A Windage Tray For My Cleveland To Prevent Oil Splash. I Have Not Bought One Yet Beause I Do Not Think That The ARP Main Studs Are Long Enough To Bolt It On. Also, Since I Have A Swap Pan And Pickup I Don't Think That The Tray Will Clear Them Either.

** I have been informed that MPG Head Service offers both the windage tray and crank scraper I have been looking for.  Thanks goes out to all the guys who have written me with this information.

Heres the contact info:

MPG Head Service

3881 S.Jason

Englewood, CO 80110

(303)762-8196

WHAT IT'S GOING IN!!!

I Am Currently In Search Of An 87-93 Mustang GT To Put My Cleveland In.  I Really Don't Want To Swap It Into My 88 GT Because It Is All I Have To Drive Around In.  I'm Looking For A Good Car With No Accident Damage Or Repairs.  I Would Like To Find A GT With No Transmission Or Engine, But I Don't Think I Will.  I Figure My Cleveland Will Run 11's - 12's In A GT That Has Been Properly Outfitted With The Right Equipment.  Or At Least I Hope So!!!  Hell, If My Buddy In His 72 Mustang Can Run A 12 Second Quarter With His Cleveland Then I Should Just As Fast Or Faster With A Lighter Car.

PEOPLE HAVE BEEN HERE SINCE 7/31/97!!!