by Ryan King
Edited by Patricia Kalin
9/05
With the Project LX nightmare, I’ve had a few financial set backs that are going to really curtail what I can do with the Project 351 Mustang in Stage 2. For certain this stage is going to produce a very nostalgic experience...in fact, a bit more authentic than I’d like to have.
Before I get into where I’m at in Stage 2, let’s take a detailed look at what I have planned:
This car is all about the 351 engine, specifically a 351W, which is its namesake.
The 351 will be built to the old one’s specs save for a few minor changes. It will have a factory ‘66 289 air cleaner in place of the ‘73 Crown Victoria LTD air cleaner on the original, the original 350 cfm Motorcraft 2-barrel carb will be used along with a ‘77 Windsor cast iron 2-barrel 12-bolt intake in place of the original ‘73 16-bolt intake. The long block is out of a ‘95 E250 Van which replaces the ‘73 351W out of an LTD that was in the original. The big differences between the two being engines are smaller valved heads on the new one that flow less, but the factory hydraulic roller truck cam that came with the engine will be used instead of the flat tappet in the original.
Oddly enough, the two cams have the same lift numbers, if not different timing events.
The exhaust will exit out the 289 exhaust manifolds that are already in the car (just like the original) and through a 2” factory-restoration dual exhaust which will differ from the original car in that it has an H-pipe.
That engine will more than likely be backed by the 3-speed manual that is in the car now (that will be freshly remanufactured), which is different from the original’s C4 automatic.
The amazing power, which I’m estimating to be about 170 net flywheel horses, will be channeled through the original open 2.80:1 rear end, just like the original, but this time put down through a set of 205/70R14 BFG Radial T/As (which are much stickier and slightly shorter than the original 205/75R14 Fisk’s).
The wheels, which are 14”x6” Cragar S/S look exactly like the 14”x6” American Racing knockoffs that were on the original.
I will be doing other minor touches to the car, such as removing the remaining California emissions components, replacing the cooling system, flywheel and clutch, installing some missing interior hardware and getting a spare.
The “nostalgic” part I don’t relish revisiting from the old 351 is the crappy, worn out suspension and weak brakes. There just isn’t the money in the budget for such “luxuries.” Thankfully, this suspension and these brakes are better than what was on the “old” 351.
Speaking of luxuries, I had hoped to install a Custom Autosound stereo system in the car...but I won’t be able to afford that either, which is another thing Stage 2 will have in common with the Original 351: no radio.
Since I don’t have much money to start assembling Stage 2 right away, I decided to start with disassembling the new engine to see what I’d gotten my hands on.
Before I get into it though, let me bring you up to speed with this engine’s history:
I got the 351 Windsor from a junk yard in California and it came complete from throttle body to oil pan and water pump to flexplate. Since the plan I have for Stage 2 means re-creating the old car there are a lot of parts on this engine I won’t be using. These parts include induction, accessories, water pump, timing chain cover, oil pan and flexplate.
Basically, all I need is the long block (bottom end plus valvetrain and heads).
When I purchased the engine, I wasn’t told how many miles were on the engine (apparently that isn’t a practice used by junk yards), just the compression specs. Since they were good enough I took a chance.
I found myself pleasantly surprised after the “new” 351 arrived. It appeared to be relatively unused...complete with factory stickers with assembly line scanning bar codes.
My first step was to clean off the engine.
Although it appeared to be surprisingly “unused” there was still quite a bit of grime built up on the bottom half of the engine. That warranted a quick trip to the local coin-op car wash to blast it clean with some engine degreaser and a pressure washer.
Once I got the engine cleaned off, I had to immediately tear it down, because a couple of cylinders got some water in them through the open spark plug holes in the heads.
After disassembling the puzzle that is the top-end of a ‘95 Ford 5.8L van engine, I was able to get to the lower intake off and was shocked to see that the lifter valley was completely clean of debris and varnish...the push rods, lifters and lifter hold down bar were spotless.
Next I popped the valve covers and discovered they too were completely clean inside...and the rocker arms, springs, valves and tops of the heads were the same. At this point, I began to gesticulate wildly and shout to Patty, who was there with me, about how amazing this was and the implications this might hold. She looked at me with a strangely perplexed look on her face and I could tell she didn’t understand what I was talking about and turned back to my task of tearing down the engine: I had to see if my hopes were true.
I got underneath the engine and pulled the oil pan to discover the bottom side of the motor was just as spotless.
By now I was jumping inside and I cranked the head bolts off.
After I wiped out the water that was sitting on top of the pistons from the degreasing, I was greeted with the sight of pristine cylinders. The cross hatching on the cylinder walls was still deep and there was no carbon build up.
My hopes were realized: I had a nearly new motor!
Looking ahead to the next step, I will need to install the exhaust with the 289 still in place (it is custom fit for a factory 289) so that it can be fitted correctly to the car and then adjusted for the 351.
There’s more on the way in January!
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