In honor of the swift progress made on Zeke's War Wagon at HAMB Gas recently, I figured the least that I could do would be to honor his request for one of my engine overview posts dedicated to the all-mighty Ford 351 Cleveland engine! I tend to regard these things as "my" engines...being that I've been hooked ever since my first eye-opening ride in a 351 Cobrajet powered Mustang at the tender age of four. Being slammed back into the seat as my Mom mashed the pedal down the freeway on ramp on the way home with our 'new' car...and the SOUND that motor made was enough to hold me in awe for life! Considered a member of the small block family in the very loosest terms, the Cleveland is actually it's own animal. It shares many physical characteristics with its 351-400M cousins, and are often lumped into their catagory, but they are not exactly "M'ers", either! To start off with, identifying a Cleveland at a glance is pretty easy, and there are a few quick clues that will help you pick them apart from their 400M counterparts at boneyards and swap meets. First off, count the valve cover bolts per head. This will get you close if you have any doubts about what you're looking at. I can spot a Cleveland 100 yards away, but if you ain't sure...here's the breakdown once again: 5 vc bolts per head = FE series (352,390,406,427,428) 6 vc bolts per head = Windsor series (221,260,289,302,255,351W) 7 vc bolts per head = Lima series (429,460,370truck) 8 vc bolts per head = Cleveland/Modified (351C,351-400M) Notice that both the Clevelands and the "Modifieds" have eight valve cover bolts per cylinder head. To distinguish Cleveland heads from "M" heads, look at the upper left hand corner of the head as you're viewing it from over the fender, or looking straight down at the valve cover with the exhaust ports pointed at you. Cleveland heads will have a "2" or a "4" cast into that small corner area to identify them as two barrel heads or four barrel heads. "M" engines will be blank in this area, although the heads will are physically the same as far as external dimensions. In addition, Cleveland engines employ a small block (289, 302, etc) bellhousing bolt pattern, and small block motor mounts. The 351-400M uses the Lima series bellhousings and motor mounts. A Cleveland will bolt up where a small block went, and a 351-400M will drop in place of a 429-460. 351-400M engine are vastly more plentiful, as they were produced in mass quantities up until the very early 80s. Clevelands enjoyed a very short lifespan, only seeing factory installation in the United States from late 1969 up into the early-mid 70s. Despite that, the 351 Cleveland is the basis for the engines still in use by Ford powered NASCAR teams today. It's a stout and powerfull design that has more than proven itself over the years! There are essentially three versions of the Cleveland. Starting with the two barrel passenger car vaersion, it will be distinguishable by the factory installed two barrel intake and Motorcraft two barrel carburetor. Moving up the ladder, we get to the four barrel variants. These engines will have the four barrel heads, and a factory 4v intake, often with a Holley four barrel carburetor. The Cobra Jet motors fall into this catagory. The top shelf belongs to the Boss 351. Produced in 1971 only, it saw installation in some Mustangs, and was the hottest Cleveland offered from the factory. In stock form, it beat out both the Boss 302 and Boss 429 Mustangs at the dragstrip, despite the fact that it was in a longer, heavier body! Ford held out for 1971 while GM and Chrysler dropped their compression ratios across the board, even on their musclecar engines. Ford kept the compression up on it's 1971 offerings, giving them the edge in performance over their rivals for that model year, with the 429CJ and Boss 351 powered Mustangs taking top honors in the quarter mile, matched only by the ultra rare 1971 Hemi Roadrunners! The Boss 351 was a beefed up four barrel Cleveland with high compression, hairy cam, ram air induction and the best rods, pistons and other internals. Rare and expensive, it is the top of the heap as far as factory Clevelands go, but most often snapped up by restoration buffs. For the street, the more commonly available two and four barrel engines will work just fine! In all honesty, the two barrel Cleveland is the better choice for the typical street-driven beater/rod. There are several aftermarket four barrel intakes available for the two barrel heads, and the smaller ports give it more velocity...making for better throttle response and lower rpm performance around town. Headers, distributors, cams, and other speed parts all interchange between two and four barrel engines, so building a strong running "two barrel" Cleveland is easy and nearly foolproof! Run with a dual pattern cam to help offset the restrictions found in the exhaust port design, which was neccessary to allow these engines to fit into cars with tight shock towers. A dual plane intake works best with a 700-850cfm rated carburetor, more ignition lead and faster advance, Headers are strongly recommended to help expel the gasses through them ports, and that's all that a decent warmed-over two barrel Cleveland really needs to come alive and strut it's stuff! Four barrel Clevelands have HUGE intake ports that kill velocity at lower rpms, but they also have better combustion chambers and they can make power to higher revs than the two barrel heads will. That said, you really need steep gears (like 3.90 or higher numerically) and a loose converter or a manual trans are a given to keep the motor from "bogging" below 3000rpm. Also, single plane intakes and tunnel rams work best on 4v heads with the appropriate corresponding cam and other mods. The cool alternative is the "Aussie" head. It's the Austrailian Cleveland head that features 2v intake ports, but also has the 4v combustion chambers! If you can find a set, they really offer the best all around option for the street! If you're going to spin a Cleveland up over 5500rpm on a consistent basis, you may want to look into an oil restrictor kit. They pump LOTS of oil up to the valvetrain, and without the restrictor kit, you'll fill the valve covers after a sustained high rpm pass! This increases the possibility of sucking the pan dry, and also tends to force oil out of the breathers, creating a violent smoke show or potential fire hazard! The restrictors will also increase oil pressure, naturally, so keep that in mind when selecting a pump. Running the restrictor kit with a high volume and or high pressure pump will give you too MUCH oil pressure...plan accordingly! On a warmed over "two barrel" street motor, the oil restrictors aren't needed. Just make sure the drainback holes in the heads are free from flash and sludge. You'll be shifting at around 6000rpm at most, so eccessive oil in the valve covers shouldn't be an isue! Back in the early 80s, the hot set-up for a Cleveland was to machine the rocker pedastals in the heads to accept adjustable rocker arms. I remember doing this chore very well in high school auto shop, using a hnad drill and a special guide and cutting tool! (The angle of the rocker stands made using a drill press impossible for our crude operations!). Once the rocker stands were cut down the specified amount, the holes could be tapped for conventional screw-in studs and big block Chevy rocker arms (aftermarket rollers, usually) could be used in place of the stand-mounted Cleveland rockers. Again, such practice isn't really required with street cams on 2v based engines, and Boss 351 engines came from the factory with adjustable rockers. In short, the Cleveland is the ultimate small block Ford, even though it's harder to find, more expensive to buy and costlier to build than it's more commonplace Windsor brothers! It still offers the street hero a hell of a performance package just waiting to be tweaked! With good ports, canted valves, beefy blocks and a host of aftermarket goodies still available for them, they make an attractive "alternative" powerplant for Ford guys who don't want to be lumped into the same crowd as the late model Mustang guys! There are many subtle details to take note of, and folks more qualified than I to walk you through them. Roush has been building hot Clevelands for the track and street since the first ones rolled off the lines in 69, and others such as Racer Walsh and Total Performance know a thing or three about Clevelands as well! I've just tried to give yo a general "walk-through" tour of these often mysterious mechanical marvels! But don't you go building one...they're MY motors...just get you a small block Chevy or a 302 Ford and stay off of MY turf, will ya?!?!
[ QUOTE ] But don't you go building one...they're MY motors...just get you a small block Chevy or a 302 Ford and stay off of MY turf, will ya?!?! [/ QUOTE ] Uhh sure whatever you say Fat Hack... Thanks man, good stuff!
FatHack, Thanks! I'm saving this for future reference. I've been a Ford fan all my life and have heard all kinds of stiries about the Clevelands. If I ever build a rod with a "modern" overhead valve engine the Cleveland will be a strong contender. Thanks for clarifying some of the mysteries. Ted H
To bastardize a Drew Carey expression "Clevelands Rock!" My Granada was slated to get one out of an early 70's LTD my aunt wrecked... til Dad caught wind of that... he wouldn't let me buy the car from her. My how times have changed, now he's looking for cars like that for me to steal engines from! Great Job as usual, Hack. Jay
If I remember correctly, I think they share some of there parts with the mighty Lima family (429-460) like distributors and rocker arms.
Awesome post - couple of (hopefully) helpful expansions: [ QUOTE ] In addition, Cleveland engines employ a small block (289, 302, etc) bellhousing bolt pattern, and small block motor mounts. The 351-400M uses the Lima series bellhousings and motor mounts. [/ QUOTE ] The rough WAG (wild assed guess) for junkyard spotting is look at the distance between the top two bolts: ~5" = smallblock & ~7" = Lima [ QUOTE ] factory installation in the United States from late 1969 up into the early-mid 70s. [/ QUOTE ] 1973 was last production installation in factory chassis [ QUOTE ] In all honesty, the two barrel Cleveland is the better choice for the typical street-driven beater/rod. There are several aftermarket four barrel intakes available for the two barrel heads, and the smaller ports give it more velocity [/ QUOTE ] Smaller being relative - the 351C-2bbl ports have a larger cross sectional area & volume than most any other stock small block engine regardless of brand. Consequently, the 2bbl engines are more than adequate for all but dedicated racers. [ QUOTE ] Run with a dual pattern cam to help offset the restrictions found in the exhaust port design, which was neccessary to allow these engines to fit into cars with tight shock towers. [/ QUOTE ] A dual-pattern cam is a MUST. If you feel the need to port-match or clean-up the ports, don't touch the bottom of the exhaust port at all. In fact, a couple of companies offer "torque plates" that have "tongues" that stick into the bottom of the port to help direct the exhaust gasses. If you must, work on cleaning up the top of the exhaust port only . [ QUOTE ] The cool alternative is the "Aussie" head. It's the Austrailian Cleveland head that features 2v intake ports, but also has the 4v combustion chambers! If you can find a set, they really offer the best all around option for the street! [/ QUOTE ] These are, by far, the best "production" head for anything that will see street duty. They are becoming much more readily available - I've seen several sets on eBay over the past few years for reasonable ($350/pr). As usual, another great Blue Oval post from Fat Hack!
My dad runs a 4v Clevland in his 68 Mustang. It is 375cu. and runs like a bat outta hell. The extra cubes help the bottom a bit. He runs a 5 speed (1-1) with a 3.0 gear in the back, super fun to drive. It sounds great over 5000rpm!
Fat Hack I have a 351clevland with the 4jet heads.These heads are closed chamber resembles the 2jet heads,Most 4jet heads i have seen are open chamber.Wonder what year mine could be?
Thanks FatHack, For as long as I've owned this engine I did not know, for sure, if it was a 400m or 351c or.... I had heard all the normal tell-tale indications for spotting a 351c, the sheet metal front cover, the distributor and water neck directly in block, and had even heard the smaller trans pattern but didn't have a reference. Appx. 5 inches apart is the spacing of the two top bolts on the trans and little number "2"s cast in the top, left corner of the heads tells me, without a doubt, I have a 426 Hemi. err, I mean, a 351c 2bbl.. Again, thanks for the info.
Damn, that is information overload,,,,,,,now that i've read this that 289 might just stay in the corner! Ya thing it could push the 54 ford wagon down the road?HRP
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