351C Rebuild

Hello:

I own a 71 Mustang Mach 1, just recently lost oil pressure and is knocking. Local mechanic said more than likely bearing is shot on crank shaft. I am going to pull out and completely rebuild it. I would like people opinions on what to do/not to do to motor. I plan on using the motor for street driving, probably no drag racing but will get on it here and there. Want it to sound like a mean motor with a good sounding cam but also don't want a motor this will over heat around town. What's the advantage of roller cams verses mechanical? I plan on buying all the kits through local machine shop that is very knowledgable on the motors but just wanted any extra feedback from people that have been through it and wished they would of done something different. Thanks for any advice!

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Welcome. How well does your local shop know the Cleveland? While basically the same as any other v8 pushrod engine of the era there is some differences that need to be considered when looking for performance.

You can see my sig for my build. It is by no means rowdy at idle but it still gets up and goes. When I get to do it over again I will go for a roller cam vs a flat tappet. Both come in hydraulic vs solid designs. The two main advantages of a roller cam is the speed at which the valve can be opened and the slightly less resistence the valve train has. Do a seach on google to get an idea of why the roller cam is better.

They do cost more and the rollers on the lifters probably won't last as long as a flat tappet cam but there is a definite performance advantage. Also, roller cams do not require a break in procedure.

The other basic question you want to ask yourself is what heads? There were several configurations available and a few aftermarket options as well. You will want to match your cam to your heads and overall compression.

Some head swaps will require changes in intakes and exhaust/headers. What version of the Cleveland do you have?

Welcome from Denmark Northern Part of Europe [WINKING FACE][THUMBS UP SIGN] Regards Lars DK73

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Greetings from Tucson Az.

Seems we are in the same boat. As the combined wisdom on this forum ask me 'what exactly to you want your car to be?'

I'm about to pull my 351C V2.

I've decided I want something I can do some spirited street driving and take to the drag strip once in a while. That's going to be my build.

What I need to accomplished that will be determined by what the block looks like when I get the engine torn down. I think it's smart to have a shop to do all the measurements and help you determine what components you need, based on what you need.

We need to know what heads you have and your budget.

The easiest way to increase the cars rate of acceleration is to install numerically higher gears, so you kind of need to determine the tire size and gear ratio you are going to use first.

I rebuilt my 351C-2V from stock & seized conditions, and based on the CompCams CamQuest utility [used when selecting my cam] I should be good for about 400-ish at the crank. I also went complete restomod on mine, but with the factory Ram Air still intact, so it's mostly go-fast goodies under the hood - lots of Edelbrock and CompCams stuff - roller everything.

Go to my Garage for a run-down of everything I stuffed into it.

The advantages of roller everything is reduced friction. By itself really won't equate to much, if any, noticeable power gains using the Seat-Of-Pants Dyno, but IMHO it offers peace of mind knowing that I've reduced some internal friction (along with potentially some temperature and wear & tear issues). Used with other performance parts will help quite a bit.

Budget-wise - it won't be cheap. The old mantra "Speed costs - how fast do you want to go" is very much in-play. I'm over $10K into my engine (including the EFI system I haven't installed yet), and I didn't even go crazy on the really good performance stuff. :whistling:

+1 on Mike's and Eric's comments. I would also add that with a roller cam you can use any good quality oil and not have to worry about if you have enough, or too much, zinc in your oil to break in and maintain a flat tapet cam. You will also get better performance, for a given lift and overlap, than a flat taper cam due to the steeper ramps and subsequent longer valve open time.

Welcome from Minnesota!! I just got done building a full roller cam engine, My biggest hurdle was finding a competent shop for the machine work. The Cleveland does need specific machining for valve train upgrades if you stick with iron heads, and up here that kind of shop is not plentiful. But as others have said, although all the same rules apply, just do a little research to find out specific needs for a Cleveland. If I had to do it again, the only thing I would change is to maybe go with a set of modern aluminum heads. The iron 4v's I have were expensive to properly rebuild and don't seem to really wake up until about 3500 rpm, don't get me wrong, she is a tire burner, I have no regrets, but I am now curious what a good set of aluminum heads would do for my bottom end. Living in the cities stoplight to stoplight driving does not allow me to see my top end very often!! Good luck!! Have fun!!