i don't remember all your goals.
i think u got a 351w?
i looked into roller lifters; spider and linked.
cams; solid and hyd.
i decided to go w/ hyd flat tappet again.
pros and cons to each setup.
on a budget?...build a 5000rpm 351W... you can save a lot of money and have a durable torque beast... smoke them tires off idle.

 

btw
does that engine work?
your not rebuilding a good engine?
don't forget that many things can go wrong during rebuild.
sorry i'm to lazy to read all.

 

I think you're the right guy to ask, haha, seeing as you're running a similar setup.
Do you have stock heads?
I'm looking at link bar lifters. Will they be cheaper than all the work it takes for spider lifters?
And with linked I could go with a roller cam right, even though I have a non-roller block?

And yes, I'm definitely on a budget.


Edit: Is this a good set of link bar lifters? I've heard of Lunati before:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LUNAT...Q5fAccessories

Oh no no, it hasn't run in years, haha. I can't blame you for forgetting, but one of the biggest points I made was that I paid $200 for the engine. A working 351w for $200 would be a steal!

Haha yeah it is, I think it's cause of all the accessories it had on it. There was AC (already removed when I got it) and power steering on one side of the engine, and it's hard to tell but the power steering bracket is custom fabbed, it looks awful, haha.
Btw those are all 302 kits, don't forget I'm building a 351w, haha. Can't blame anyone for forgetting, I've switched motors so much.... TOO much...

But now I'm here to stay with this 351w.

 

where are you at in GA? i wuold have suggested an explorer 5.0 from a pick and pull wouldhave run you 200$ and you could have sold the intake and throttle body for more than that to a 5.0 mustang guy and then you would have had a roller 302 block with gt40 heads all you would need is a cam and some roller rockers and it would have been the same as a 5.0 cobra motor

 

I have aftermarket heads.

i don't know why you want roller lifters; won't see much (if any) HP increase w/ mild build.

there are risks associated w/ installing roller lifters on non-roller block.

If i wanted rollers i would start w/ a taller lifter bore roller block.

 

I'm in Madison, 60 miles east of ATL.

And I guess there's a next time for that, haha, wish I had known that in advance...
There's not much I can do now though, what are your thoughts?

I was actually planning to get the gt40p heads from a pull-a-part place off an explorer. I might just ****** the whole engine and save it for a later project.

Hmmm, okay I didn't know that, thanks for the heads up. What should I throw in there to make it a mild performance build?
As some of you have suggested, there's a point where you're not getting much for what you spend, like in between a mild and high performance build where whatever I might do isn't exactly cost effective.
I'm more inclined towards the "bang for your buck" kind of build.... Hope that makes sense, and is possible, haha

Again, I'm a newbie to performance engines, but I'm more than happy to learn.

 

from what little i know i will place a preliminary vote:

pick a reputable engine remanufacturing factory.

strip accessories off your 351W.

trade your core for a OEM spec rebuilt short block as a minimum, maybe even a long block.

those machine shop bills add up fast!

good chance a factory warranty engine will be cheaper than DIY.

i like 351W because even oem spec has more low/mid torque than a pretty healthy 302.

 

Hmmm, well that's not the route I expected to take, but I'm not opposed to it. How much do you think that will run me? Seems like it would be easily over $1,000, and I really can't afford that... Just looking at a few now, that's what they run, but that's not including my engine's trade in value, which I honestly wouldn't expect to be much at all...
Again, I'm not opposed to that route at all, just wondering if I can afford it...

 

when i was doing my 351w i did all the leg work.
planning a diy.
i listed all the required machine shop tasks.
got quotes from local machine shops...sticker shock.
ended up w/ performance crate.
oem 351w dyno curves blow oem 289 out of the water.

in other words a cheaper oem 351w is competitive w/ a very expensive high performance 289 build.

what is wrong w/ your 351w? maybe u can just repair what is broken?

 

Oh yeah I dont doubt a 351w stock would beat a 289, that's why I'm not messing with the 289 I have in my other mustang.

I'm not sure exactly what's wrong with my 351, the previous owner mentioned there was a problem with the lifters on one of the cylinders.

However, I bought this engine with full intentions of completely rebuilding it. I wouldn't consider putting it into my mustang without doing so. Not only do I want it externally spotless (which is certainly is not, haha), I want it to run like a charm and not have to worry about major problems down the road.