I recently picked a 351 Cleveland and don't know much about these engines.As far as I can tell from the casting numbers its a '73 2V engine.The intake decodes '74. So is this worth anything? rebuilding? I have a feeling it's a low compression pig. I think this Cleveland would make my Model A badass..... 351C, T-5, 9''. ModelAMafia
Decent motor, but a little bit of an orphan. They were only built for a half-dozen or so years. The two barrel motors don't have the performance rep of the four barrel jobs, but their heads are very adequate for a street motor. A rebuild and a few ordinary bolt-on parts will give you an adequate powerplant for most any street application. You are correct that a mid-70s motor probably has need for a little more compression.
Not an orphan here in australia, we built them from 1970 untill about 1983ish. We have plenty of speed parts for them and they now make a head called a 3V which is apparently a pretty good thing.
Absolutely true about the 3V head. Some of the top entries in the PopHotRodding Engine Masters deal have been built with that combo. They aren't shockingly expensive, but if I were going to spend that kind of money, I would probably go with a 351W, based on parts availability and growth potential.
Personally I reckon they're too ugly for a hot rod motor, but there's no doubt about their potential to make horsepower. Just about every second hot rod in Australia has a 'Clevo'. Check out my website (link in signature), you'll find a few pics buried in there somewhere.
Well 2V can mean two things, the heads or the carb. Obviously this 2V refers to the venturi in the carb but the stock 2V heads can flow 500hp. 4V somewhere around 750hp. Yup an ugly motor but using the right parts it can be a bit of an animal, my old daily driver dynoed 496.2hp at the rear wheels and was built for under 4 grand. Hide it away and enjoy. Doc.
Not 100% sure, but you're venturing into Ford's worst interchangability arena - front engine dress. For the engine, I'd rebuild it stock with some Aussie 2V heads on it - they've got the smaller ports of the stateside 2V heads, but the closed chambers we only got on the Hi-po versions of the 4V engines. It'll really wake that engine up.
The most powerful non supercharged engine I ever built was a 351C 4v. I was shocked at the cheap power from this engine. It powered my 1956 (very heavy) Ford to 11 flat ET's at 115 mph with a hydraulic cam and 1 4 barrel. Not too shaby.
The C is my 2nd favorite behind the early Hemi. The 2V refers to the carb, intake & heads. The 2V has large ports & valves, the 4V has larger ports & valves. Many say it is a down sized BBC. the combustion chamber is a canted valve set up like the BBC, The 50s Mopar Poly head seems to be the model. They can move a car right along. If you change the intake to a 4V you have to get an aftermarket that will fit the 2V runners. Tom Monroe's HP Book on "rebuild your Ford V8" is a good one. The Aussie OEM heads are considered better than ours &, as said already, the 3V heads are better still.
One of the quickest 40 coupes I ever drove had a very nice 351C in it using 2V heads. It had an Edelbrock intake, tall aluminum rocker covers, big cam, single AFB and a Snowhite short water pump kit that allowed the engine in there without cutting the firewall. It filled the engine compartment, looked great, and ran great. They look a lot like a Boss engine and flow lots of air.
that looks like a 351 modified ,not a 351 cleveland. the modified is a bastard engine that looks like the cleveland but is not the same.not much fits from one engine to the other.check the numbers and see.will save you a bunch of problems
Known as the 335 series (thought to be derived from a marine engine Ford was developing with 335 cu in) the 351C was introduced in late 69 as a 70 model and discontinued in 74. It was replaced by the 351M which was based on the 400M, which was a modified Cleveland design with a taller deck, bigger main bearing sizes and the big block bell housing pattern as versus the 351C's small block pattern. Heads and vlave train compnents interchange between the two but the manifold is wider and the deck height is 1.09" taller so not much else interchanges. The two barrel heads had smaller port and open chambers. The 4 barrel heads had monster ports that were really too big for street use, especially on the exhaust side. 2 barrels also had 2 bolt mains as did M code 4 barrels, Q and R code (Boss 351, HO and Cobra Jet) 4 barrel motors had 4 bolt mains. For a good street motor use the 2 barrel heads (or better yet Aussie heads) with domed pistons to make some compression and then blow away all the belly button SBC's. Personally I think this motor can be made to look great with the right vavle covers in particular. I have a 6-71 Blown 72 4 barrel motor with Hilborn injection that looks totally bad ass! It looks like your motor is probably a 74, not a 75 351M, checking the bellhousing pattern is the quickest way to be sure.
There is a reason the same basic architecture of the 351C is used to this day in NASCAR. It makes big time power. Not pretty to look at, but it's form follows function engine.
The 351M has the wierd split head. where-as the intake is actually part of the the head too. And the valve cover crosses the seam to cover both. That is not a 351M. Most likely the C. Very potenial engine. I've mostedly seen them put back into late 60's mustangs to recreate a "Boss"
Accessories mounts, pulley depths etc are unique to these motors. I went to the junk yard and bought every pulley and bracket i could find when building mine!
What VISUAL clues tell you that? I was trying to positively ID my motor as a 351C and finally, the only way to absolutely ID it after the typical visual traits (like distributor and water neck stand free of the intake, valve cover bolts, etc....), was to measure between the top bell housing bolts. Now that my truck's been gone for a couple'a years, I don't remember what that measurement was. My 351 had 2 barrel heads and an Edelbrock 4bbl intake with home brewed headers, made pretty decent power.
the low CR Cleveland can still rock- and run on regular gas. Reason- it's got the good ports and valve angles. or, put those heads on a 400M, and a 4bbl intake and headers, then it will easily make 450-500 HP with a solid cam
I am amazed at how many so-called "hot rodders" have no idea what a 351 Cleveland can do. There were some VERY fast cars back in the day that ran Clevelands. When I was in high school I knew a dude who wasn't a car guy at all, but he ended up with one of the fastest cars of anyone at our high school (that housed about 3000 students). It was a 70 Mustang with the factory black hood & racing stripes (not sure if it was a Mach 1 or some other performance model), a 4 speed, and the hot Cleveland. The car would absolutely LAY WASTE to the 5.0 mustangs, Iroc Z's, turbo Z's, and just about anything else that other kids at school had. In fact, the only guy with a faster car was a dude with a 57 Chevy with a seriouslty built 400 small block. But it would dust anyone else, and left rubber on the ground in all 4 gears. It was bad ass. I'd take a Cleveland any day. Besides, what are hot rod engines for? Looks or speed????
Thanks for all of the responses, I am stoked now about putting this in my Model A. I am positive that this is a 351C, as I stated in my first post the heads decoded '73, however the intake was '74. It does have the small bellhousing pattern. A 351M/400 won't work for me because I am putting a T-5 behind it. so now you guys have me thinking...... how does a 351C, 5 speed and 4.10's in a 2100lb Model A sound?
Accuracy not important here, eh? Already corrected - only FE had split head. The 351C uses the same bellhousing as the SBF - measurement between top two bolts is around 5" (and a little bit). The 351M uses the same bellhousing as 429/460 and the measurement is around 7" (and a little bit).
OK, now that we have cleared up that it is a 351C (date code on heads and small bell housing pattern) let's move on. Put a good manifold on it, a bit of carburetion, headers and a nice cam and with that T5 and a 4.10 gear in a light car you're gonna have a mile wide grin. Go For It!!!!
that is true, there were some bastard 400M's in 1973. Tall deck 400M block mated to FMX trans with casting number D3AE. Sometimes refered to as the 400FMX. Pretty rare
I hate it when other people leave out info like this & here I did it myself!! Yep, they exist - never seen one in the flesh & to my knowledge, they were all 400s, not 351M, but here's a pic (stolen from the HAMB somewhere): They are rare...
good info to know guys, I never knew there was a small bellhousing 400. So I have looked around a little for intakes, who makes the best bang for my buck? I see Edelbrock has Performers for around $200 and Performer RPM are over $300, thats a bit much for me.
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