I was wondering if anyone on the hamb has put a 351w in their 63 fairlane. If so, what kind of modifications needed to be done?
If the car was a V-8 the 351W will use the same engine mounts but you need a 6 bolt bellhousing.Exhaust will be tight but doable. ROY
Crites.com Has a lot of stuff just for this kind of swap. ****** 6134 headers and Doug's Headers make sets to fit.
The 260 has different motor mount locations (1 inch narrower) than the 289/351. You will have to use later mounts.
I used maverick cast iron exhaust manifolds in the ranger swap. In the info from the swap parts co they said they were narrower than other stock manifolds
The extra width of the 351W is going to make this a tough install,a 5.0 roller motor would be a better fit.As for the exhaust one of the best solutions is the 65-67 Hi-Po Shelby manifolds they flow well and will give you much needed clearance,these are available from some of the Mustang restoration sites and sometimes on ebay for less.Here is a pic of the restrictive early Mustang and Falcon manifolds compared to the Shelby.
JeffB2 is right the 351 Windsor is too wide for the early Fairlanes. For a Windsor to fit you have to modify the shock towers. Crites make theses kits but if I had to to do that all that work I would install an FE Block 390-406-427-428. The easiest route is a FF Block 221-260-289-302. FF for Ford Fairlane.
I put a 74 pinto front crossmember/suspension in first then put the 351W in, it was a whole lot easier without the shock towers in the way, rack n pinion steering, disk brakes, and far superior handling at 140+mph.
I have a 351W in my '65 Mustang. Previous owner did the swap and everything bolted in and worked ok but the cast iron exhaust manifolds hit the shock towers and the steering box. Saw some headers are made for this swap but I can't justify the money they want for them. Hood clearance is tight too.
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