302 to 351 is the swap worth it?

[UNTCHBL]

good deal. I may have some questions for you in the future. :)

Brandon

[Doug]

Its not worth it. I here all of the 351 based motor cars slow.

Wanna race???:D

[regattacoupe]

LOL well said!

[UNTCHBL]

lol doug! I've heard that too. It's still a small block though! :)

Brandon

[Blacktop]

Whats a good cam to put in the 351w with a novi for the street and occasional track?

[UNTCHBL]

I say get somthing custom from bennett, ed curtis, larocca's, or TEA.

Brandon

[novi408]

I got one from Cam Motion, of the places I talked to, they gave me the grind with the best powerband/most power in Desktop Dyno, so I gave them a try.

[Blacktop]

What if I went with the ford motorsports f303 cam? Any good?

[fanglemeister]

The 351W is much stronger than the 5.0 but as usual there is no free lunch.

1st is the new parts, in addition to intake & dizzy, rear sump oilpan from an E150 van, you will have to modify the fuel rail crossover to make it wider. You already know about the headers & hood clearance issues. Don't forget that the crank balance for a 351 is 28oz rather than 50oz so you will need a new flywheel / flexplate and a new harmonic balancer. While on topic of crank, the 351 has larger diameter main bearings, which don't do as well at high rpms, if you are planning on building a motor that will be spun up above 6500 rpm plan on spending some time massaging the crank and bearings and oiling system to make them live.

Next is bulk, the 351 is a much heavier and wider lump than a 302. The 351 is stronger but at the price of bulk. You can get as much strength out of a Sportsman 302 block - i.e. fully capable of handling 650-700 hp.

I've given the 351 swap alot of thought; if I were going n/a I would go with a stroker 351 or 460, but with enough boost you can make enough power from even a lowly 6-cylinder to overpower any street tire and run single digit 1/4 mile times. Since you will be adding boost, you might as well do a cost analysis of a Sportsman buildup vs a 351W buildup, if you have a 351W core handy you are a couple hundred ahead already.

oh yea, the F303 cam would be a fine pick in a 351, as long as your block is an F5TZ or newer roller-compatible block, otherwise stay with a flat tappet cam because the roller conversion hardware is quite pricey.

[novi408]

Don't forget the new Dart blocks and FRPP blocks can be had with the smaller main bearings for a little bit of extra rpm potential. The cost difference really depends on how much you were going to put into the 302 in the first place.

[Blacktop]

Good info. Thanks

[fanglemeister]

Originally posted by novi408
The cost difference really depends on how much you were going to put into the 302 in the first place.

Exactly; it all comes down to money! You really have to see things through at the beginning & have realistic expectations, for instance once you break into the low ETs one expects from a boosted 351, you need to do some safety work on the rest of the car to run at most tracks, not to mention keeping the rest of the driveline alive for more than a few runs... but that goes for any combo that more than doubles the stock horsepower levels ;)

[UNTCHBL]

Thanks Chris! I am not a fan of the 302 sportsman blocks. Imho ford had a chance to do a good thing, and blew it! I'm thinking bang for the buck here. I don't think I could get the same reliability and hp/torque out of a stroker 302 like I could even just a 357 windsor buildup. Since I'll be hydro roller, I won't have to worry about revving much past 6200 or so. And it will be a complete motor buildup, so I won't have to reuse alot of stuff. Anyway.

Brandon

[fanglemeister]

Originally posted by UNTCHBL
Thanks Chris! I am not a fan of the 302 sportsman blocks. Imho ford had a chance to do a good thing, and blew it! I'm thinking bang for the buck here. I don't think I could get the same reliability and hp/torque out of a stroker 302 like I could even just a 357 windsor buildup. Brandon

As they say, different strokes for different folks...:p Why do you feel Ford blew it with the Sportsman? Seems like a nice 700hp stepping stone between the 500hp stock block and the 1000+ hp R4 & Dart blocks. No, it doesn't have 4-bolt mains but it still adequately addresses the only real achilles heel of the stock block - the thinwall webbing and strap cap main design... Sometime in the distant future my plan is to build a quality long rod 306 in a Sportsman block, something that can rev quickly and safely to 7k rpm or so.

[UNTCHBL]

I've talked to two different people that both decided not to use the sportsman, and instead save the extra and do the r block, just from the way it looks. It may be somthing that I need to look into. I just haven't seen enought 600rwhp cars with 15 pounds of boost that where built with the sportsman.

Plus anything you do in the small windsor isn't going to have nearly the same (read: good) rod ratio as the large windsor. I'm basically looking into somthing with a stock production block and minimal money into the rotating assembly since it seems they almost always outlast the actual block. Plus, I want tons and tons of torque! Then I'll just pulley the novi to make unbelievable top end power.

Brandon