Thread: 351 W Overhaul (Where are the Horses)

Tweet

Hi. Just my nickel's worth, but the original post was looking for 300-350HP. Ford rated the 351W in the '69 GT350 at 290, and they underrated things pretty well at that point. I'm guessing the engine is mostly tired - the Shelby came with an Autolite 470CFM according to one of the books I've got (though I suspect an error - that seems awfully small). The heads on the Windsor weren't that great, but were okay. With a budget in the three grand range, a solid rebuild and change back from your dollar could be had.

While I like the big blocks, if the car was an original 351W car, it would be nice to keep it that way. If you swap parts, two comments. Keep the originals - iron intake, exhaust manifolds, carb, all of it. You never know when you'll want to go for the points in a show. And keep the carb and engine tags. Photo the engine before disassembly, to document the paint marks and so on. I've looked all over to get pictures of the engine in my car, so I could get the marks right.

The 351 should be good for some RPMs with a decent balance, so you can look to match components (cam, heads, exhaust, intake, etc) for a desired RPM range. The original 290HP was a 4800, so shooting for something in the range of 6000-6500 as a target top RPM would be good. You don't state trans type, but would want a wider power range for an automatic, just to get the most out of it.

I prefer hydraulic cams. You can get plenty aggressive with them these days, and they are lower maintenance. Just match the cam to the rest of it. First engine I ever built was a 327 in an old El Camino. I undercarbureted it, and it was a dog. Used a 600 Holley Q-jet (spreadbore) replacement, should have gone in for a 3310 780CFM. Heads were too small, too. I spent the money on the stuff you could see, and didn't think about the ability to breathe. It loped and sounded good, and never won a race. My 289 Ford in the '65 GT350 was a different story - but it was a better starting point (things matched from the factory).

Anyway, My opinion is that a 700-750CFM carb is plenty for a 351. A friend runs a 780 on his mild hot rod 350 pickup, and an 850 double-pumper Holley on his very hot 327 Camaro. I think he's over-carbureted, but it must not be too bad - the think has always run great.

Sounds like you've got most of the basics. Freshen it up, get a good shop to clean up the heads, match the components to breathe at the RPM range you want, and you should get your 350HP pretty easily. Just my opinion...

Should be good machine shops all over SoCal. Shelby is in Gardena, unless he's moved everything to Vegas, but he does the FE engines.