Need some schooling on 351 Cleveland ID

[moparbrian]

I have 2 Cleveland motors near me for sale. Both are marked D2AE-CA. One seller swears it is a cobra jet engine. The other seller states it is just a 351 Cleveland no CJ.

I am now confused as my book states the D2AE-CA is a CJ motor.

Please help my confusion and school me about this.

Thank you

 

[Don C]

They both may be correct. The D2AE-CA was used in both 2-bolt and 4-bolt (CobraJet) configurations. The only way to be sure is to check whether or not the blocks are 2- or 4-bolt blocks. Are the engines complete, or just the blocks? If they are complete the CobraJet engines will also have the spreadbore carburetor and intake manifold.

 

[moparbrian]

Both are complete but have 2V heads and intake manifolds.

 

[Don C]

In that case my guess is that they are both 2-bolt blocks, and neither are CJ. Tell the guy that says it's a CJ engine to prove it by taking off the oil pan so you can see the 4-bolt main bearing caps. It's possible someone degraded the engine, trying to make it more economical. It's also possible that a 4-bolt block found its way into a 2V engine at the factory.

 

[moparbrian]

Will do. Thanks for the info.

 

[basstrix]

As Don said, Ford used the same D2 blocks for either 2 or 4 bolt mains. I've read a lot of interesting posts (on the Clevelands Forever page) on the 4 bolt blocks...some say the main webs are actually weaker on a 4 bolt block due to the reduced section area (from the tapped outer holes). I'd have to, at least, see engineering cross section, and likely run a finite element simulation before I could decide for myself. Just passing on the info.

That being said, unless there's a specific reason you want/need a 4 bolt, I'd be more concerned with the cylinder bore size. .030 over should be considered the limit of overbore for the D2 block and even that can be sketchy.

 

[moparbrian]

This is great information. Thank you

 

[mjlan]

some say the main webs are actually weaker on a 4 bolt block due to the reduced section area (from the tapped outer holes

This sounds like something the guy without a 4-bolt main block would say!

As others have said, D2AE-CA is the block casting number, the same block casting could be finish machined as either a 2 bolt or 4 bolt version, so there is no way to know which externally. You could make a semi-educated guess by comparing the block data code to the head(s) date code- if they are close then probably the 2V heads are original and its a 2-bolt block.

If you are just shopping for a core, I would be more concerned about what the bore size was (virgin vs. already oversize) as I would prefer the candidate with the most 'meat' left in it. The 4-bolt mains *might* be a benefit if you are abusing the engine with a lot (7k+) of RPM. Otherwise you are just paying extra...

 

[c9zx]

+1 on what milan said about the bore. The 4 bolt mains are more of a bragging rights thing for most applications. Chuck