OT Ford 351 windsor engine....

All,

I am at a loss. I have a friend that's trying to put together a 351 W.

I have an understanding of small block chevy.

Do the 351W have adjustable valves like the chevy? How, while it's being built or running? Do the 351W engines have something special about them? He's looking at bearings/rings/bore/hone/cam.

I don't know the intricacies. I have a few engines that I had built for myself. I do nt know why there's little info about this particular engine available on line. I am talking of a mild to warmed up rebuild, nothing monstrous. I am hoping to help him put it tgether and run it within stock parameters.

Thanks in advance,

D.
 
351W as from the factory do not have adjustable valves. The rocker studs are shouldered and the nuts run down tight. They do not use a locking nut as a Chevy would. You can make them adjustable by using poly locks on the stock or aftermarket rockers. Nothing mysterious about the 351W, should be plenty of info around, it is a tall deck block in the 289/302/351 family. Things get weird with the 351C and the 351M, totally different animals.
 
I might add, though, to keep all the engine parts with the same engine. There was a balance system change that affected the balancer, crank, and flywheels/flex plate in the late 70's. I believe there was also a firing order change at one point. Moral of the story, don't mix and match rotating components without research or asking a reputable machine shop.
 
Do a search on the net for "small block ford forums". One I like is http://www.network54.com/Forum/119417 . Network54 has forums for several different engines and transmissions. Another I frequent is the FE Forum for the older big block Fords (332, 352, 390, 406, 410, 428, 427). (Prior to the 429/460)
 
Just like the late small block chevy, they have positive stop, shoulder rocker arm studs that are tightened until the nut hits that shoulder. Look up the correct torque for those Ford nuts, tighten them too much and you will split the nut. Seems I remember it being very low ft/lb or possibly even inch/ lb.
 
Valvetrain is NOT adjustable, likely different length pushrods are available to correct valvetrain "error" beyond the travel of the hydraulic valve lifters.
 
I remember when a shade tree mechanic convinced a friend that his small-block Ford needed a "valve adjustment". The friend let Shade Tree do the "adjustment"; by the time the friend drove a mile home, half his rocker arms had fallen off!
 
Lots of speed parts for those . Edelbrock even makes an aluminum head. Use a windage tray and a nice Isky cam. Those motors work quite well. There is a book titled something like " Small Block Windsor Motors " 16.95
 
As others have said not adjustable, just be sure to put the same push rods back where the came from, I use a screw driver and poke 16 holes in a box, draw an arrow in it *(front) and put the push rods in the respective holes.
 
It is done when required by different length pushrods. I've only had to do it once - on a 460. It was a very tired old engine and had some serious valve recession problems. All new, hardened exhaust seats were installed, all exhaust valves replaced and some of the intakes as well. I was replacing everything else, so pushrods were replaced too. I went through the whole procedure and was glad I did. Things weren't quite 'stock' anymore. I had to buy three different lengths of pushrods to get back to specs. NAPA got them for me. I can't remember the entire procedure ( I've slept since then ), but it's in the 'book'. I don't have a Ford manual, so it was probably a Chiltons manual. That was a lot of trouble, but worth it, that is still one sweet running, hard pulling old gas guzzzler.
 
One more thing to watch for--There was a 351W in mid 80's that has a different firing order. Makes the cam different and I don't know if crank and flywheel are different but I would expect it to be. The flywheel is part of the engine balance system, unlike many of the GM engines. It is called HiOutput 351. Got one in an 85 F150, a real runner. HP Books had a soft cover book covering the Windsor engines.
 
As I remember the W used 2 different timing gear sets. I think the later were retarded a few degrees.
Use the earlier set from 69 or so.
 
My last farm truck was a '91 460 with 4 OD on the floor, dually, one ton, flatbed with hay spike. First stickshift truck/car I ever had that I could let the clutch out and not worry about killing the engine, squeaking the tires, or chug-a-luging. I really liked it and was sorry to see it go. But I didn't need it any more and it got to be a problem finding a TX. inspection station that would inspect it.....live in a emissions testing county.
 

I don't know where some of this misinformation on here came from the 351 Windsor has always a 28oz balance motor. It never changed. The 302 changed the balance in 1982 and the 460 in 1979 but not the Windsor. The 351 Windsor firing order has always stayed the same. It's 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8. The 302 changed firing orders depending on the engine. When the 5.0 HO version of the 302 came out in the mustang it used a 351 Windsor firing order, while early on the truck 302's used the old 302 firing order
1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8 then later as some trucks got a hydraulic roller cam some had the 351 Windsor firing order and some used the old 302 firing order. It really doesn't matter though because the cam determines the firing order and whether it's the 302 or a 351 Windsor cam, either one works fine in those engines. Now onto the rocket arms. Early 351w (1969-1973) used bottle neck positive stop rocket arm studs. Starting in 1974 the 351w used the same head casting as the 302 which had bolt down rocker arms. You don't have to buy different length pushrods for the bolt down rocker arms. Crane cams and Ford Motorsport offer a rocket arm shim kit to allow you to set the lifter preload using the stock style rocker arms. I've done it many times.
 

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