351 Cleveland advice

[alwazmt]

Hello all,

A friend of a friend has a 351c for sale and I would like to get some advice on purchasing. It has 4v heads. It appears the block is a 73. It appears the heads are 197p. From what I have read the 1970 heads are good. How about the 73 block? The engine is missing the carb but has a blue thunder intake. Engine supposedly has about 10k on rebuild. It looks clean. What should this be worth? What would best carb and header choice be for this setup? I attached a few pics of the casting dates.

Thanks in advance for any help...


Having problems getting pics up, but date code on block is 3L12....heads show a 0M3. There is a 4 stamped in the corner of the head.

 

[InjectedMach]

The real answer is what is it worth to you....Start low like $250. Its a used engine you dont know if it has good rings or knocks or low oil pressure. Of course you hope its good and of course he will say its good but till you get it running you wont know for sure what you've bought so buy low as possible...my$.02

 

[barnett468]

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those are 1971 heads.

did you see it run before?

any receipts for the rebuild?

any money back guarantee?

how far is it bored?

are you sure he's your friend?

carb depends on cam, and gearing and trans type but if it has a performance cam then maybe a mechanical 680 or a vacuum secondary. demon or quick fuel.

1 3/4" - 1 7/8" headers.

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[mjlan]

It's difficult to estimate value in situations like this. Were the 10k miles on the street or strip? What kind of cam? Who built it: a shop or some guy who may or may not know what he's doing? As was said, overbore on the block, who did the machine work? Compression ratio? Cam type?

What is your plan? Bolt it in and go, or use it as a core to rebuild?

I usually look at the cost of the parts and guesstimate from there. The intake is decent and assuming the threads are ok and nobody has ground on it like crazy it should be ok. The heads should I think be closed chambers, but you would need to pull them and verify, this would allow you to look at the pistons so that you can guess at the CR. Block could be a four-bolt main, which would increase value a little bit if it hasn't been overbored a bunch...

I hate buying assembled motors as there's just too much that can be wrong with them. If you do some disassembly and the parts look ok, I would say that $750 to $1000 is a fair deal, but again, hard to say...

 

[4mm]

Maybe I pay too much but I was thinking $1500 tops.

 

[alwazmt]

Thanks for the advice guys. My buddy has heard the engine run and he knows it did run good. The 351C was in a 1969 Mustang when his friend bought it. His friend wanted a period specific engine, so he swapped the 351C for a 351W. That is the reason it is for sale. My 71 'vert has a 302 that is just about ready for a rebuild, but a recently rebuilt 351C sounds good too. I read that the '70 heads with the closed chamber are probably best, but wasn't sure if the 73 block was good or not since it sounds like the 73 heads were not so good. I am not getting it for $250, but also not spending $1500. I am in the middle there somewhere , so I think its a good deal. Time will tell. Thanks again for the advice. Here is a pic of the heads. They look pretty clean.

 

[jbojo]

The intake manifold is $400.00 new and the roller rockers and the machining work to get them set up is another few hundred bucks. If you are getting it fo say $800.00 you're still ahead. Just my thoughts here.

 

[Omie01]

It looks like it has the crane stud conversion kit in it, so the heads have not been machined for 7/16" studs. With that set up you don't want any more than 350 lbs open spring pressure, or you risk breaking one of the conversion studs. I'm running them too so I limit my RPM to 5500.

 

[barnett468]

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again, those are NOT 1970 heads . . they were cast in december of 1970 which means they are 1971 heads.

most engines are not balanced after they are rebuilt so expect some vibration . . the only way to fix it if it vibrates would be to disassemble it and get it balanced

 

[MotoArts]

Personally, I'd have to see the build sheet on that one before plunking down too many Benjamins.

- Good intake. Actually, very good intake.

- Good distributor.

- Questionable die cast rocker arms.

- Not the best rocker stud conversion (although I do own a used set myself).

- No carb? Hmmmm.

Looks like a potential grab bag of mail ordered parts.

I'd be interested in knowing about what bore size, pistons, crank undersizing, porting, valve job, guides, what quality valves, etc........

Be careful.