Can someone please tell me the differences in a 351w and a 351c, and what are the pros and cons of each? Thanks

 

to my understanding,
351c is on a different block, uses different heads and mounts and virtually everything else, produces a huge amount of torque and were great engines if you fixed the oil issues.
351w is a windsor block motor, smaller and lighter, better aftermarket available. I have read that you can retrofit Clevland heads to a windsor, but never seen it done.
you forgot one too, 351M. Nothing special, an underbored version of the ford 400 (could be wrong there) came in trucks till 83(?) where they switched to the winsor class motor.

 

the cleveland has smaller main journals,different heads,different block obviously , and i have seen some good running clevelands.

but aftermarket definetely favors the windsor side of things..

 

which of the two would be better to use in a race car? It will be very heavily modified to run in the pro stock class at my local strip?

 

You have no knowledge of the cleveland, leave it alone and run a simple bolt together windsor. Unless you are ready to have someone build you a killer cleveland.

 

just run a 351 windsor or a stroked one at least

 

Clevelands and Windsors share the same engine mounts, tranny bolt pattern and bore spacing. The Cleveland has a 2.75 main bearing and the Windsor has a 3.00 main bearing. The Cleveland comes in on a 9.2 inch deck while the Windsor comes in on a 9.5deck giving the windsor a Taller stance and slightly more size.

I have not built a pile of Clevelands but I have done my share. They will run extremely hard if built right. Windsors are easier to build and there is more blocks available as the Cleveland only had a 4 year production run.

As for staying away from building a Cleveland? I am not sure what to say. Had I listened to everyone on my first Cleveland build I would not have learned anything nor would I have had such fun with the build I have done.

Stock ported 2 barrel Cleveland heads with stock crank and rods coming in at 9.8 to 1 compression. NO POWER ADDER. Daily driver that runs 10.74 @128 with 362 cubes. People look it over hard for a hidden power adder and everyone thinks it is stroked.

Sure makes life fun at the track dealing with the non believers.

Joe

 

I think you should build a Cleveland, requires a lot of reading up on them and I'd seriously consider having someone like Woodsy do the shortblock. What kind of rpms you plan on spinning it sort of determine which oiling mods you need to do. I know of several people with @10:1 351C, stock crank/stock rods/stock heads which have been updated with better valves and machined for roller rockers but no porting - stick it in a fox and run mid 10s on pump gas. To me thats a great indication of the power these motors make.

Matt