351 clevor build

[1978 Homebuilt Fords]

Ok, so Im surfing around trying to figure out what parts I need to for my 351 clevor, and Im seeing about 8,000 suggestions and none of them are alike, so can you guys help me out? Im looking to get 375hp out of my 351 windsor. I have 351m heads that are going on, an edelbrock 7183 clevor intake manifold, edelbrock performer series carb 600-800cfm. What pistons, crank and cam should I be running? The stock pistons are dished, so Im thinking I dont need to get excessive with domed pistons, somewhere around 10:1 comp. ratio. If you guys could give me some info on what setup I should be running, Id greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I would be talking to the cam manufacturer.

 

[dvdswan]

copy what they did to this engine...

ATK Engines HP11C: High Performance Crate Engine Small Block Ford 351W / 390HP / 420TQ - JEGS High Performance

 

[don4331]

If you're shooting for 375hp, you need to start with some better heads.

351M was a SMOG engine - the heads made 138hp @3,400 rpm (263 ft lb torque @2000 rpm).

I thought dished pistons were from 400 (400 used same heads, just kept CR down by dishing pistons).​

Note the engine shown by @dvdswan has aluminum heads, 10:1 CR and makes 395 hp at ~5.700 rpm.

 

[19Walt93]

/\ /\ I agree with him, 351 M's weren't worth bothering with. I'd use some decent aluminum Windsor heads and not spend the money making a Clevor, unless that's what you really want.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

+1. Getting properly flowing heads would be the main challenge. Sometimes research turns up too much information, especially when conflicting, at which point I tell myself not to overthink. In this case I think if you choose parts designed to work in same hp/rpm/compression range, you should be fine. Maybe look into forced induction? its come a long way. But if you N/A then your heads and cam will matter most.

 

[G8orFord]

It isn't that hard to get 375hp out of a 5.0. Getting it out of a 5.7 should be cake. The gas won't be cheap though.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

It isn't that hard to get 375hp out of a 5.0. Getting it out of a 5.7 should be cake. The gas won't be cheap though.

Agreed. Under 400hp should be relatively easy. It will be an 6-12mpg rig tho. Paying up front might help with things like a fuel injection, roller valvetrain etc....

 

[rubydist]

I think those guys are right. If you measure the head volume in those 351M heads, I think you will find a lot of volume - too much to get close to 10:1 without some big domes on the pistons which leads to other issues. Good aluminum Windsor heads are going to allow you to select the proper head volume to get the CR that you want, and aluminum heads allow you to run 1 point higher compression on the same gas due to their better cooling characteristics. The combination of those leads to a lot of positives to the aluminum Windsor heads compared to the 351M heads.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

My 351W came factory with a very tiny 2 barrel on it. After the rebuild, compression was around 9.5 to 1. It was 20 years ago....but I remember using Keith black pistons and they were pretty much flat. I have an actual 35mm pic of it somewhere.