[Daniel Jones]

> The idea is a really good one but I think it came out of necessity due
> to the crappy heads and engines that Windsors were a few years ago.

Yes.

> I had a Cleavor engine for five years. It was a good running engine but
> I don't think it put out the power it should have.

The B&A conversion manifolds were mostly for 2V heads which do not
flow near what the 4V heads do. Most guys ran plain old open chamber
2V heads which flow around 200 CFM. A good home-porter could get the
same numbers out of a set of DOOE 351W heads and save a lot of hassle
but, back then, good 351W intakes were hard to find.

Drag racers in the know would use 4V closed chamber heads, a 351W block,
and one of the Ford Motosport high port intakes which were available for
both 9.2" and 9.5" deck blocks and would bolt up to the 4V heads. 4V heads
with a bit of clean up work flow 300 CFM. That combo still works today.

> The pistons are not custom but are Cleveland pistons and not Windsors.

Incorrect. With Ford Windsor rods Cleveland pistons would be too far
down the hole at TDC due to the pin height and deck height differences
(Cleveland rods are shorter so would be even farther down the hole).
On 302's you could use an off-the-shelf Boss 302 piston (with 289 or Boss
302 rods) but the 351W blocks required unique pistons which were available
as an off-the-shelf item through B&A.

> There are also Australian heads which are a combination of the closed
> combustion chamber of the 4-barrel head with the smaller runners of
> the 2-V head. I've not tried these but think they would be interesting.

I have these on my Pantera now. They work fine on the street and allow
10.5:1 compression on pump gas with a flat top piston. A port matched
Weiand Xcelerator 2V is the intake of choice. Makes a great little
steet package but the Aussie heads still only flow 200 CFM or so. A
home porter can expect 225 CFM and good porter can pull 250+ CFM. For
a light car with some gear or a drag race application, 4V quench heads
are still the way to go. The best heads were the A3/B351/C302's
aluminum high ports which were an evolution of the iron Pro Stock high
ported 4V's.

> Just my opinion but $3750 for a block is extremely high, especially
> when you can buy the new Dart block for just over 2 grand and it is
> bored for about 427 ci.

The aluminum Ford Motorsport blocks are in the same price range as
the Fontana. Both the Fontana and Siamese bore Motorsport blocks will
go out to 454+ cubes. Comparing an aluminum race block to an iron race
block on cost isn't exactly fair but if you don't mind the weight penalty,
the iron race blocks are less expensive. Note that the iron race blocks
come in at 205 lbs (per the Ford Motorsport catalog). My Fontana weighed
in at 116 lbs. That's quite a bit of difference. Aluminum blocks can
also be easily repaird if damaged.

Dan Jones