Holy grail 351c cj ho????

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Casperfast

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Aug 24, 2016
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Location
Monmouth oregon
My Car
72 mach one 351 Cleveland, 95 eagle talon awd 744hp@38psi, 95 eagle talon fwd, is nismo titan.
So a buddy of mine was looking at my recently acquired Mustang and seems to think that I have a very rare version of the 351 Cleveland. He said based on the four on the heads the Factory 4 Barrel and the four-bolt main inside that it is a 351 high output since the car is a 1972, And it is the original Engine with the car, and the car is a Q code. Can anyone confirm this?

 
Photos of my car and engine

IMAG3502.jpg

IMAG3499.jpg

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My understanding was that a 351c 4v with 4bolt mains in 72 was an ho engine

 
They made Q code and R code in 72. Only the R code are HO.

Engine Code 1972

Code Description

F 302-2V

H 351-2V

L 250-1V

Q 351-4V aka Cobra Jet or CJ

R 351-4V HO

John J

 
Hmmm. Then why dont all the 351 4v engines have 4 bolt mains?

 
1972 Mustang General Information

The 1972 Mustang remains relatively unchanged from its older 1971 sibling except for a few cosmetic changes. Most body panels and parts are interchangeable between the 2 years.

Exterior changes:

The decor Group added the honeycomb grille found on the Mach 1 and the sports lamps. In addition, they got the color matching rubberized front bumper, some front hood moldings that were color keyed, as well as front fender color matching moldings. The wheels got a trim ring and center hub cap. The lower body received a paint treatment.

On all regular models the rear deck lid got a script Mustang emblem that attached to the right hand side. The rocker panels as well as each wheel well got a chrome trim piece.

Mechanical changes:

The standard engine was the 250 CID inline six. The base V-8 was the 302 CID and that could be upgraded to a 351 CID 2bbl and then a 4bbl engine. For a short while the 351HO engine was offered. This engine was a low compression Boss 351 engine.

If you ordered the HO package, the only transmission available was the 4 speed top loader. The axle was equipped with a 3.91:1 traction lock differential. Additionally the car received dual exhaust, an electronic rev limiter, power front disc brakes, rear drum brakes and a special handling suspension.

John J

 
Ok, I have power front disc so that must have just been a 72 thing then I sappose

 
So a buddy of mine was looking at my recently acquired Mustang and seems to think that I have a very rare version of the 351 Cleveland. He said based on the four on the heads the Factory 4 Barrel and the four-bolt main inside that it is a 351 high output since the car is a 1972, And it is the original Engine with the car, and the car is a Q code. Can anyone confirm this?
Well the 1972 Q code indicates the 4V engine and while it is rare it is not the HO R code for the same year which is basically a detuned Boss 351 engine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 
Both the HO and CJ came with 4-bolt blocks in 1972. Interestingly, they had different casting numbers for the blocks. This what I came up with:

D2AE-EA were HO blocks.

D2AE-CA were CobraJet blocks.

 
This is a very common mistake. About 1976, a local muscle car guy who had owned MANY killer cars told me that my convertible was a super-rare HO Cleveland. He was mistaken and I was too uniformed at the time to know. Because I had grown up watching him drive some of the coolest cars in the neighborhood, I took his comment as correct. It was a couple of years later - after buying a special license plate "351-HO", I was politely informed my car was not an HO, but a Q code - aka as a Cobra Jet 351 Cleveland. It is one of 201 with its motor/trans combo vs one of the 13 R code 1972 convertibles. I still like it! LOL

Ray

 
I am amazed how little people really know about the 72 R Codes. I guess I spent way too much time as a kid researching this stuff. LOL

 
if i remember from years ago. i'm sure it is not correct.

in 71 V4s got 4 bolt mains.

V2s got 2 bolt mains.

in 72 early was similar to 71

72 late started to mix in more 4 bolt mains even on the V2

73 somebody told me pretty much all the engines had 4 bolt mains for the 351C

i have an early 72 V2 which has 2 bolt mains.

the mains being 4 bolt tell you nothing as you need the rest of the engines information to see if it is a higher end cleveland.

also over the years many people converted 2 bolt mains to 4 bolt during rebuild.

it requires extra work but many people wanted to feel secure that they had 4 bolt mains.

the cleveland is super chunky on the bottem end as is so i never converted to 4 bolt i stayed 2 bolt.

on the heads if the 4 has a dot next to it then they are open chamber heads lower compression.

Ho would of had closed chambered heads.

 
Ok, I have power front disc so that must have just been a 72 thing then I suppose
Huh?!

Confused.

'71s also came with power front discs from the factory as well - my '71 H-Code has 'em.

 
I am no expert on these but grew up with them. I would say that all 4-V factory equipped 351-C had 4 bolt mains. The statement that 73 model had four bolt in 2-V is not so. ALL 351 blocks except the Boss carry the same casting number. Boss is DOAE-605-L or DOAE-L and the cast date must fall in the realm of the Boss production.

It is very confusing on the blocks having the same casting number. D2AE-CA. They were all cast with the provisions to have 4 bolt mains but were not machined or drilled unless for 4 bolt mains. You can machine a 2 bolt block and add the 4 bolt mains but not needed unless you intend to punish it severely.

You have to pull the pan to know for sure you have 4 bolt block no external identification that I know of. You can look through the oil plug with bore scope also.

The term CJ or Cobra Jet looks to have been dropped somewhere in the middle of the 72 model year. It might have coincided with the government catching Ford with the un certified 351 4-V ram air. My 72 351 4-V vert has CJ on the Marti and some do not. Same with the air cleaner decal early ones say CJ and later 72 and all of 73 say 4-V and no reference to Cobra Jet on Marti or Window Sticker or air cleaner decal.

You did get the NASA hood when you ordered the 351 4-V but not the locks or black out or argent they were extra cost.

Disc brakes were standard on the 73 verts and so was the deluxe door panels. Might have been in 72 also Ray probably knows for sure.

I probably miss stated something but I believe this to be correct.

Came back and did an edit. The statement that if there was a dot beside the 4 on the head shows open chamber is not correct I have a set with dot that is closed chamber 70 date code.

 
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