I have a '65 and I was looking into putting a 351w and have stumbled onto someone in my neighborhood with a 69 cougar, which has a 2bbl 351w he's willing to sell for $225. It comes with with everthing from intake to pan. Is a '69 351w a good year? Can I still use my power steering?
My plan is to get a 351w, master rebuild, GT-40 heads, mild cam, I cant find any intakes, carb. and MSD ignition system, Hooker LT headers and Flowmaster exhaust. What would be a good hp estimation?

 

With GT40 heads and the right cam and intake selection you could get 350hp without any problems, and it'd drive real nice. Invest in some good heads and a roller cam and you can put out over 400hp

 

From what I remember reading on the '69 351 blocks is that they were some of the best blocks until the sportsman blocks came out. Not counting the expensive race blocks like Dart etc.

I have a 69 block and crank in my garage that I picked up years ago and plan on using it sometime.

Edit: can't find any info to confirm the strength of the C9 blocks but plenty of references to 69 head being better than other 351 heads but I don't know if they are any differences between 2V and 4V heads on those windors. Found some info on the 69 4V heads saying they have 2.1" intake valves which maybe true for clevelands but not W. Either way GT40 irons will be fine.

 

The 69 and 70 blocks have a slightly shorter deck height than the 71 and up blocks. 9.480 as opposed to 9.500 so when you buy your pistons make sure of what you are getting as the last thing you want is to run out of clearance between the piston and head.

I have data on the heads that I can pull out for you but I will have to dig it up, but from memory the earlt 351w 4v heads were used for performance enhancment because of the bigger valves (a 1.84 intake I think). Any of the newer performance heads will outperform those early heads and have hardened valve seats in them to boot. If you keep your heads you can have a 1.94 intake and 1.60 exhaust put in them and you'll need hardened valave seats installed to live with our unleaded gas.

 

69-70 blocks were the strongest, heads were the same in 2v-4v but 4v engine had flat tops, valves were slightly bigger as well as intake ports. You can have those heads ported and install 194 160 valves and they will perform better than iron gt-40 heads, make sure and install screw in studs and guideplates as well.
add comp cams 268h cam and a perfromer rpm or stealth and it will put a big smile on your face. I used to run that combo with a holley projection tbi 670cfm. It ran great and pulled 19 mpg's on the hwy with a c-4.
You can run your ps, depending on water pump outlet you can use the 69 brackets or as I did adapt the 289 brackets to it using the 351w's adapter plates and a pass side wp.

 

The best 351W blocks were produced from 69-71 when they had a higher nickel content.

The best performing 351W heads were produced from 69-76.

 

For that price,assuming you get all of the brackets, and the seller lives in your neighborhood, you can't go wrong IMO,

And yes, 69 was one of, or arguably the bes year for 351s.

To put that in your 65, you will need some swap headers, and even at that we had to modify our swap headers a little with a hammer....

If you decide to do this I have a brand new set of long tube swap headers (budget headers) that I will sell you cheap,, we ended up using ceramic coated shorties, otherwise these are identical to the ones we used with regard to tube shape, tube size,etc, albeit the quality is not as good.

I am talking like $30.00 + shipping.... but they really are cheap Headman headers, I think I paid like $130.00 for them.... They will not bolt on without mallet work, and if you do this, you will want to have them bolted up to another head while you bend them so the flange will not bend.....

 

I don't know if the 351W can be put in the '65 bay area, but it is adjusted perfectly in my '67. Beware nevertheless with the height under the hood, and ensure that your coolant circuit will be sufficient.

 

351 will fit in 65, kind of tight around the headers but it will fit, height can be an issue, but if one keeps away from tall manifolds it will be ok.

It is tight, but not as tight as GM F bodies IMO....

 

the best performing heads are the gt40's used on the lightnings then the 69-70 heads anything other than that they are just the smae as 289/302 plain jane heads