A guy I work with just picked up a '72 Cougar. He is more of a Chevy guy, so he asked me about the engine. I assumed it would be a Cleveland in '72. I checked it out and it is a 335 series block, but was no numbers in the corners of the heads. Wouldn't that mean it is a 351 M. Wasn't the M first introduced in '74?

I told him it was a 351 Modified and he thought that was good. I didn't tell him it probobly wasn't the original engine.

The car looks pretty good. Some rust around the wheels, but not too bad.

This guy likes to buy cars and then sell them a few months later. Maybe when he decides to sell it I will make him an offer. It would make a nice cruiser, and it's all black like my Mustang. They would look good together.

 

The intake manifold front mating surface is almost an inch above the distributor mounting hole on a 351m/400...that's a more disguinishing way to tell what 335 it is.

If you want to tell if its a 351m or a 400 you need to check the crank numbers or the stroke through the spark plug hole.

If you eventually buy and want more performance out of go towww.TMeyerInc.com

 

Thanks for the info. He says he is going to keep this one, but he has said that before. We will see what happens.

 

the 335 was a nice engine overlooked by many since it was a truck engine.but can be a nice torque monster with the right parts.

 

Actually, they were used in cars long before thay made it into trucks. The 400 was first used in full sized cars in 71 and the 351M was used in cars starting in 75. They didn't make it into trucks until 1976.

 

The 335 was introduced in the Mustang as a car engine. The architecture of the engine indicates its intended use as a high RPM engine. The Cleveland is a 335. The M is the same family, with some changes to help with emissions standards.

 

Absolutely. I should have specified that I was talking about the 351M/400, not the 351C even though they are in the same family.