351 Cleveland

[santor2]

Looking for anyone who has put a 351 Cleveland in their FFR Mk III.

[Gordon Levy]

There are a couple of those that have. The biggest issues is having to build a custom exhaust system.
Then comes the question of why a Cleveland. There are much better and more cost effective power using windser based engines.

[RuffusMD]

Gorden
I had a Cleveland 351 4 V in my 1970 Torino GT , at that time it was considered the better of the two engines , so why / how did the windsor win out as being the best ? Do you have / know the story ? is the 351 just a 289 that has been bored and stroked? I think I know where the car is , I would love to have that engine again in something , it was a blast to drive .
thanks for your answer

[Gordon Levy]

For it's time it was a very good engine. Where the cleveland had it's advantage was in the heads. The heads available at the time were very limited. The Boss 302 which is one of the best small blocks ever built was a 302 w/4V cleveland heads.
Jump 25 years and technology has taken over. The cleveland was heavy, that's why Ford discontinued it in favor of the Windser based engine. With computer design and CNC machining aftermarket aluminum heads have become plentiful, inexpensive, and will out perform anything that was produced yeas ago.
The 351 windser is a 302 with a 1" taller deck height.

[WAYLAND]

I have A 68 MUSTANG COUPES.A 351C COBRA JET,AND A 302 5.0 HO, TRAYING TO SEE WHAT ENGINE TO USED, WHAT IS THE BETTER ENGINE AS FOR SPEED AND POWER.

[Steve]

I'd build a 331 with the 302HO and put good heads on it. As was mentioned above, the 351C was a good motor in it's day, but it's outdated and the exhaust mods make it a hassle to use it anyway.

[DFWTexasCobra]

I agree with Gordon on the Cleveland motors. They were great in the late 70's and early 80's because the factory 4V heads outflowed almost everything. In fact, I know builders who considered the ports too large to achieve good velocity until they were turning 5000 rpm. If you had a 351 4v sitting around the garage, it would make a great powerplant, but it's just too easy to find the late model 5.0's.

I built a mild cam, 9.0:1, 351C 4V in 1982 that turned 330 RWHP with the factory Autolite 4300 carb, so it was possible to make good power.

[gus351]

Hi guys,
I own a Cobra in Australia and use a supercharged 351C. In Australia, Clevelands are wayyyyy more common as hotted up engines than Windsors. The ratio would be like 10:1, despite Clevelands ceasing production here in 1983 and Windsors running right up to 2001.

There are some stunning aftermarket heads and manifolds available for the Cleveland here. It is the mainstream engine for Ford enthusiasts!

Check out www.chiheads.com if you are interested. Flow figures of over 350cfm are standard and low lift flow under .400" actually outperform 2V heads! So. i guess you can have your cake and eat it too.

As a point of history, Ford actually gave away the Cleveland due to the oil crisis in 1970/71 in the USA. This restriction saw our most powerful prodcuction car, the XY Falcon Phase 3 GTHO with 380hp with 351C 4V drop to a measly 250hp shortly therafter, and drop to a tiny 165hp at the end of its life in 1982. At the height of its power, the mighty Phase 3 cut the quarter mile in under 14 and ran on to 145mph with a 4 speed toploader.

The 4V Cleveland was never going to meet impending emission standards of 1973/74 due to the quench area in the combustion chamber. The quench area actually leaves fuel unburnt after the combustion process which escapes during the exhaust phase. (damn environmentalists...)


Cheers
gus351