351w question

Roller blocks say F4TE on the side of the block by the starter I believe, they were 94-97 only.

Well I guess that answers the question that I had brewing. I picked up to two 351W motors, 1 was assembled but needs work and the other one was in pieces. They are both older, the assembled motor is from a 82 LTD, and the other one is from an older van like the picture from craigslist.
So what is better a roller motor? This is really a learning experience doing this project car and this forum has helped ALOT!
My plan was to drop the assembled motor into my 85 GT while I have the other motor built up.

You can do a roller conversion on the older blocks but you have to run a smaller circumference camshaft and it really limits your choices. Rollers are ideal

tannerc91gt said:

You can do a roller conversion on the older blocks but you have to run a smaller circumference camshaft and it really limits your choices. Rollers are ideal

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or you can run the lifters with the tie bars so no reduced base circle is needed!

you can put a roller cam in any windsor block I dont know what you douche's are talkin about.... might as well throw in some 1.7 rockers while your doing it.http://www.stangnet.com/images/smilies/Smilie_Canada_Flag.gif

Roller cams can use more aggressive ramp rates, which ultimately results in the ability to have a broader power band without sacrificing idle quality. In layman's terms, roller cams are better for performance builds than flat tappet cams.

I BELIEVE the only big difference between roller blocks and flat-tappet blocks is the roller blocks have deeper lifter bores than the flat-tappet blocks, because the roller lifters are physically longer. There are conversion kits out there to make FT blocks work with roller lifters.

I would opt for a 69-74 block all day!!!! They are a lot stronger, the roller conversions are cheap and you can run any roller cam you want. I don't think the roller blocks are ideal, engine builders smile when you bring in a seasoned 69 block, mine did

rbrackin15 said:

you can put a roller cam in any windsor block I dont know what you douche's are talkin about.... might as well throw in some 1.7 rockers while your doing it.http://www.stangnet.com/images/smilies/Smilie_Canada_Flag.gif

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Us "douches" know exactly what we're talking about. You can physically insert the cam into the block, yes. Try to run the roller cam with regular OEM hydraulic lifters, in a non-roller block and the lifters are going to bleed down once the oil hole is exposed because of the shorter lifter bores. You either have to run a reduced base circle cam, or run retrofit lifters. Those are the options. Keep up the attitude though, and I bet you don't last much longer than your whopping 7 posts.

i love my attitude.

Enjoy your stay then, it will be very short lived