question about a 351w

[Dusty Rhodes]

I have found a 1996 351w FI motor with 60,000 miles for $1500. My question is. Does that motor have the good heads on it, and or would I come out better to buy a creat motor. I aalso found a 351 race engine 500 plus HP for $6500, but I dont want an all race engine. some feed back on this will be a lot of help guys.

[LwCwb]

A block with a 1996 Casting may present problems when it comes time to register. I am assuming this motor came out of a F-250/350, and if my assumptions are right, the motor has more torque than horsepower, I would say get the 385 horsepower 351 from Ford Racing, it would be a better buy in the long run in a Cobra (and save some grief later on)

[NMattison]

Hi dusty i have an d4 block which u can get at a junkyard for 200.00 put on some good heads intake and have a pretty good motor i built a stroker 392 and have around4000.00 in it but its all what u want for power good luck Neil

[Jack21]

The advantage of the '96 block is it's a roller block with a stock hydraulic roller cam. Any late roller cam will work without going the retrofit route. Headwise, they're the same old crummy Ford heads that, until aftermarket heads began showing up, made Ford Windsor motors such great boat anchors.

As stated above, you'll have headaches galore getting the car registered without emissions requirements.

[brainsboy]

The only advantage I can see with a 96 and later block is that they are easier to find. The castings are not as good as the older blocks. If you can find a 69-74 that would be the way to go, they have a higher nickel content and although you may not make enough hp to break one, they have less chance of distortion under power. I have ran these blocks at around 550hp without girdles and never had problems. As far as using a hyd roller, the only thing you need to do is drop in a new set of lifters crane part # 36532-16 and a 7.790 length pushrod and your all set.

[cobrabuilderI]

Dusty, I bought 351W crate motor from Ford for about 5k 385HP. Runs perfect. Will need to take it to the dealer to retorque the heads after a few more runs. But it came packaged, already runned for 20 minutes at the factory. Put the carb on it, had a little trouble finding the firing pattern, but once I got it- it fired BOOM after sitting for a year in my garage. Would highly recommend it, if you want problem free motor with some kick. But if you like building motors, go for it.