Posted by Brian in Oregon on Tuesday, January 09, 2001 at 6:50PM :
In Reply to: Past HOTROD mags factory crate engine dual posted by R Davis on Tuesday, January 09, 2001 at 7:36AM :
Which Ford was used - the 351 Windsor or Cleveland? Both 351's are totally different designs. The 351W is not nearly as potent as the 351C. I'll assume for the following that it was the 351W you're referring to, since the Cleveland has been out of production for many years.
Ford heads have good intake ports, and poor exhaust. Very few Ford designs have exhaust ports worth bragging about. Most Fords do better with a split duration cam with the longer duration on the exhaust.
Chevy heads are the opposite, and their intake ports are not as good as the exhaust ports. Be that as it may, Chevy merely needs a longer duration cam and can get away with the same duration intake and exhaust.
Dodge 360 heads breathe well both intake and exhaust.
So, when you take crate engines and run them bone stock, the 360 is going to have a breathing advantage. I think this is more important than the stroke, which while not identical is similar enough between the three designs that I do to feel it is a large factor.
Which has the most potential as a race engine? That gets into variables that start making distictions quite blurry.
For small block drag racing, the 350 Chevy probably gets the nod simply because of the vast amount of speed equipment produced to make it work better. In fact, if your wallet is fat enough, you can replace absolutely everything on a small block Chevy, winding up with a totally non-Chevy motor. It is Chevy only in basic design.
The 360 has never really been a race engine. The 340TA is the ticket. It has done quite well in the limited amount of racing it was exposed to. I feel its potential was robbed by its short life. It is basically a destroked 360 with super flowing heads.
The 351W has never been known as a race engine. It has seen limited success in drag racing, but that's about it. The 351 Cleveland is the star of the mid-sized Ford engines. It has had a brilliant career in NASCAR, showing that a mid-block can replace a big block. However, the Cleveland has always had one serious drawback - weight. Ford's SVO (Special Vehicle Operations) has done something interesting. They have taken the 351W block, designed it to accept the Cleveland heads (similar to how the Boss 302 did), beefed up the webbing and went racing with it. This hybred is a killer combo, but out of reach for most folks. And of course was never available in a factory vehicle, though it is available in a crate (racing) engine. BTW, as a stock factory engine, the 351C fell on its face, because breathing was too good and the cam design and pollution equipment crippled it. The Boss 351 version really shined when coupled to low rear end gears, and that's the only factory 351C that came anywhere near its potential. Unfortunately, most were released with tall gears and it just loaded up the engine.
Bottom line - I'd have to rate the 360 as the best of the stock factory mid blocks for all around use. (And this comes from someone with a fairly extensive Ford background).
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