Helping a buddy build a 351W up and we are looking at different options to get about 425 - 450 HP. The motor is out of a 1991 F350 dually that was used as a catering truck and is going into a '29 Ford Pickup that he is building. It is going to get a complete rebuild as the motor was running on propane and has about 120,000 kms (75,000 miles). Playing around last night on the Desktop dyno and just for the hell of it, I threw the 4-valve with polished pockets and large valves on it. The HP just went nuts, so I was looking around on the net to see if anyone makes 4-valves heads for these motors. Guess what I found ... Arao Engineering

Then the only problem would be to find someone that makes a lower intake for it as we like to stay with the EFI. So, looking around I run into this (351W parts) Very Cool Parts

Not sure if they would go together or not. Does ANYONE know of this combination or some other ideas if we stick with the 4-valve heads?

Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean

 

HI!... DEAN : I was going to go with a set odf 4-valve heads for my 409 stroker from DOMINION. The heads were extremely expensive. but were designed to be used with the factory intake manifold. I had a ton of info on them. I'll see if I can find the info for you.

 

Damn all of you....I want an engine project.......grrrrrrrrrrr.......

 

You could always come here to help us but this is going to take a long time so you may want to find another job too !!! LOL !!! Don't worry, your time will come and your world will spin again !!! Just pray that it isn't your current motor that you have to do a project on.

Neal: Don't know if we are even going to do this option or not. The one place so far wants like $5000 US for a set and I don't think Jamie really wants to spend that kind of cash for heads. I did show him the Stacks (Very Cool Parts) though and he really like the look of it. I thought they were cool because it gives you that old engine look but still has the reliability of a fuel injected engine. And it could save us alot of money too because it could incorporate alot of parts that we may need for this much horsepower.

Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean

 

problem with a head that flow that much is were do you get an intake that will keep up? even with a head that flows above 275 cfm, you will be looking at race peices and are really better suited to a big ci motor and even that motor would make power very high in the rpm range with a head that flow over 350 cfm. read high stall heigh rear end and a very well bit shortblock to spin a stroker motor to 700o rpm.

give me a set of airflow heads (185 or if you want a bigger cam the 205 or 215) and a holley or trick flow intake. 400 to 425 easy horsepower with 10 to 10.5 compression. bigger is not always better and for a efi street head 250 to 270 cfm on the intake is plenty, while still having good velocity. its all about matched parts, good heads with low compression and a stock intake or one that wont keep up will never relize there potential. if on a budget get the iron gt-40 heads for around $600, they offer a 25 to 35 hp gain over stock. or go with the airflows in the $1400 range.
no reson to have a head that flows 300 cfm and and intake that only flow around 180 to 210 (most stock or lightly modified stock intakes) i know that my chevy tpi intake flowed 180 stock, professional porting with bigger runners got you to 210 to 215 and an aftermaket shortened runner with brand new intake flows around 270 which is perfect for my heads that flow 262. now holley makes an intake that flows 300, lower end suffers et is the same but mph goes up. more hp but higher in the range (not good for a street race)
some will never admit it but the 2 best part of a build up are all the planning and options and what if's. the second best part is when it starts. the actual work and unpreditable things is the "grind".

 

Many moons ago (1980), I had a 351W built with 10:1 compression, flowed heads (2 valve), windage tray, tunnel ram w/ 2 Holley 4 barrels, etc... The engine was balanced/blueprinted/tuned by a now defunct shop in Jacksonville Florida. I put about every trick of the time that I could afford into this engine. After getting it together they ran it up on their dyno - it was tight but they ran it up and told me it put out 460 HP.

The idea was to put this engine into a first generation Mustang fastback but one thing led to another and it finally ended up in a first generation Cougar after spending some time in a 72 F100. I sold the truck to a friend who put it in the Cougar. While it was in the F100 it would top out before a quarter mile. I never ran it on a legal strip but I could outrun any stock Corvette and mildly modified 6.6 TA's or Z28's of the time by five or six car lengths.

When building up a 351W, keep in mind there is a mutitude of aftermarket performance parts in marine applications as well as the traditional hot rod sources. Don't forget to beef up the breaks,transmission, driveshaft, and rear end - the weakest link will break first. Good luck and have fun.