Hey guys, I'm one of those whipper snappers with his new fangled over head cams and fuel injection. As such, I dont know much about the cars from the actual muscle car era. also, its been my experience that alot of the older guys seem to be a little bit more into the classic cars than alot of my fellow college friends, so here we go....

What are the differences between the different 351s out there? I know you could get the 351w and 351c, and I had always been told that the windsor was the better motor if you were into performance. I also just read a thread where some guy said there was a boss 351 (I had always thought the old boss mustangs came with the 351w while the 289 was in the intro model).

If u guys know some of the fundemental differences in these motors Id like to know. Did one have better heads, or a more agressive cam, block differences, fuel management, whatever. Id like to know it.
Thanks

 

More aftermarket parts for thw W, but that is probably because most Cs dont need new heads, and they had good rods stock. The Cleveland was the performance engine where as the W was more of a basic pedestrian type. Windsors are far more readily available, and they fit quite easily in late models.(especially 5.0L powered Fords) The bottom end is more forgiving but the stock heads suck on Ws.

The Cleveland is the basis for the Yates head, if you dont know what that is, think NASCAR. They have some issues with oiling, but they can be fixed. Mainly its a high rpm issue, not a daily driver issue.

There are quite a few differences and similarities between them. the only CIDs to have BOSS added to them were 302, 351, and 429. Im working on posting some info showing the differences in W and C engines, its easy because they are both in the shop with a 302 beside them. Its not ready yet though.

more to come

 

A 351W is in the same family as the other ford small blocks (260,289,302) It just has a slightly higher deck heigth. The 351 clevelend is in the 335 series family (351C,351M,400) The 351C is a physically bigger engine than the 351W. Internet Quote: "Besides the special cylinder heads, camshaft, factory aluminum intake and forged pistons, the BOSS also came with a dual point distributor, shotpeened and magnafluxed connecting rods forged from 1041-H steel and equipped with 180,000 PSI 3/8" bolts and nuts, hardened and ground pushrods, special valve springs and keepers, 4 bolt main caps selected for hardness, specially selected magnafluxed crankshaft for hardness (902 nodularity) and the cast aluminum finned rocker covers with special BOSS 351 insignia." I believe the BOSS was built on the cleveland engine

 

ya it was, and i know where one is.

 

The BOSS was 4V Cleveland, the only one with an adjustable valvetrain from the factory. The only things the C and M share are heads and valve covers.

come to think opf it, there is an M sittin here too... might as well include it huh?

 

there are 4 (FOUR) Ford engines with the same stroke and bore
The 352 came first, it is a FE big block, and looks like a 390/428
the 351W was released in America in 1969 (68 in Canada) and is basically a big 302
the 351C was built between 1970 and 1974, does not have an aluminum timing cover, the thermostat is in the block.
the 351M was built from 1971-81 and was slightly wider and taller than a C and had a 429/460 bellhousing bolt pattern. About the only things that work on a C that don't on a M is the intake, distributor and pan

 

So the cranks are the same between the C and M? And the rods/ pistons, timing chain, etc?

 

whoops, the cranks are different, so are the rods. The timing chain is the same, and so is the cover

 

Here is some tech information regarding the 351C and the M.
http://phystutor.tripod.com/stang/en...cleveland.html

 

um, while it is a good site, that guy does not know flatheads that well...he completly missed the 122 cubic inch, 1937-40 V8 60