I finally got the 69 351W engine torn apart and to the machine shop for cleaning/evaluation. I have an Edelbrock Performer RPM Engine Kit- Al. heads, cam,lifters,intake,etc and am looking for ideas/recommendations for the short block rebuild. I was considering a stock rebuild with some small upgrades such as pistons and timing chain as engine will see a lot of street use and I want a long life out of it. Any advice on specific parts/vendors to use or stay away from is appreciated.
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351W Engine Build Advice
- Thread starter bergner76
- Start date
I would call Edelbrock about the recommended compression ratio for there cam is it will probably be around 9.5 to 1. The RPM cam is a little big for a bronco unless your running low gears and small tires you may want to get something a little smaller it will run better and live longer if your cam is matched to the rest of your bronco try calling a cam manufacturer and get there recommendation. As for other parts brands any of the major brands will be fine just stay away from the noname brands if your unsure about a particular brand just ask us here before buying.
Broncobowsher
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- Jun 4, 2002
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With that ’69 block you will have to watch your piston height. I didn’t and found myself with pistons that stick .013” above the block instead of .010 below the deck. Great for a race car wanting to build ion but not great for a street engine trying to run pump gas. I just found that someone makes a .063 thick gasket (instead of the standard .039~.041) that should take care of that problem should it arise. Think it was in the Summit catalog. It was a normal gasket, not one of those copper shim ones. Try and keep the compression in the 9~9.5:1 range for that good cheap pump gas. It really sucks to build a high compression engine and not be able to run pump gas in it.
If you have the ’69 heads and they are in good shape, great. Use them. Best of the production heads out there.
Intake. If you have the stock cast iron 4V, it is actually a very good manifold other then being real heavy. Not worth searching out, but good if you already have it. The classic Edelbrock Performer works very will. I am not even going to start with a carb recommendation. Do a search or start a new thread for that flame fest.
Cam: RV cam works very good in a stockish engine. Summit has one of there house cams with .448//472 lift that if you read the cam card is exactly the same as sold by at least a half dozen different cam companies. Very popular because it works very well in the small block on the street. Duration at .050 is 204/214. Good vacuum and idle quality. Small enough cam to be gentle on parts, big enough to wake it up.
Exhaust: headers, pick your own poison. Try to avoid the stock bronco manifolds. 351 moves a lot more air and those logs are a major choke point. If you have an automatic and want to run manifolds, look at the k-code manifolds. Really nice flowing manifold (you can even port match them to aftermarket heads) that is low maintance like stock, but flows much better. I just didn’t like dealing with the headers anymore. Call me lazy, but I still pulled the best HP and torque numbers on the dyno on our club day.
Crank: If you find yours needs work, check into the stroker kits. Simple 393 stroker with a brand new crank for about the cost of getting a stocker reworked.
That is a basic, little better then stock rebuild for a few bucks more then a stock rebuild. Maybe even better since you can often find aftermarket parts at better prices then stock replacements. If you can spring for some nice fasteners, start with rod bolts. Spend a few extra bucks and get nicer seals. Modern gaskets seal better then the old cork.
From there you can always spend more money on things like better heads, fuel injection, roller cams…
Not sure what your budget is, but a lot of the advise you will tend to get will be for people with deep pockets. Unless you plan to beat this thing into the ground, you can avoid the expense of forged pistons, H-beam rods. Also avoid race parts that will be difficult to get parts for later. That is don’t get a Unilite. The corner parts store doesn’t carry caps or modules for those.
That’s my experience. Most of my problems I have had are from trying to do it cheaper then what I have listed.
If you have the ’69 heads and they are in good shape, great. Use them. Best of the production heads out there.
Intake. If you have the stock cast iron 4V, it is actually a very good manifold other then being real heavy. Not worth searching out, but good if you already have it. The classic Edelbrock Performer works very will. I am not even going to start with a carb recommendation. Do a search or start a new thread for that flame fest.
Cam: RV cam works very good in a stockish engine. Summit has one of there house cams with .448//472 lift that if you read the cam card is exactly the same as sold by at least a half dozen different cam companies. Very popular because it works very well in the small block on the street. Duration at .050 is 204/214. Good vacuum and idle quality. Small enough cam to be gentle on parts, big enough to wake it up.
Exhaust: headers, pick your own poison. Try to avoid the stock bronco manifolds. 351 moves a lot more air and those logs are a major choke point. If you have an automatic and want to run manifolds, look at the k-code manifolds. Really nice flowing manifold (you can even port match them to aftermarket heads) that is low maintance like stock, but flows much better. I just didn’t like dealing with the headers anymore. Call me lazy, but I still pulled the best HP and torque numbers on the dyno on our club day.
Crank: If you find yours needs work, check into the stroker kits. Simple 393 stroker with a brand new crank for about the cost of getting a stocker reworked.
That is a basic, little better then stock rebuild for a few bucks more then a stock rebuild. Maybe even better since you can often find aftermarket parts at better prices then stock replacements. If you can spring for some nice fasteners, start with rod bolts. Spend a few extra bucks and get nicer seals. Modern gaskets seal better then the old cork.
From there you can always spend more money on things like better heads, fuel injection, roller cams…
Not sure what your budget is, but a lot of the advise you will tend to get will be for people with deep pockets. Unless you plan to beat this thing into the ground, you can avoid the expense of forged pistons, H-beam rods. Also avoid race parts that will be difficult to get parts for later. That is don’t get a Unilite. The corner parts store doesn’t carry caps or modules for those.
That’s my experience. Most of my problems I have had are from trying to do it cheaper then what I have listed.
