Is a 700 horse 351w (418) streetable?

  • Sponsors (?)


I have been following for a while. I am interested to see how your results come out. I am hoping to eventually get my 427W combo in the 600rwhp range naturally aspirated. I have run it from 450ish up to around 500rwhp before I needed to address what appeared to be some airflow restrictions on the intake side. Now after having some abdominal surgery I am in limbo for a while since I can't do any torquing.

I think going carb is definitely going to save you a good bit of money and allow you the best chance to feed it the air it is going to need. If you go EFI, you would more than likely have to run a FAST if not for tuning concerns, but then likely so you could run a carb style 4 barrel TB that does not use a mass air meter.

I switched to a FAST bank-to-bank and Accufab 4 barrel Dominator style TB which required having the Super Victor EFI intake fabbed to accept the TB.

DSC08131.jpg

ic, I am going to go with a 4500 series 1050 carb. Sorry to hear about your surgery.
 
Buy a good set of micrometers and a dial bore gauge and hand measure everything, throw the plastigauge in the trash.

The only problem I have here is that I do not know all the allowances or clearances. I'm thinking that .003 is the max, but what do you do if your over the max, have the crank turned? I have read after the fact of buying all Eagle stuff that they have been having problems with the cranks not being perfectly round and having an oblong shape journal. John my machinist is checking all that and if it needs turned, he will turn it to be perfect. He is getting all the bearings and rings that I need. Thanks for any input here.
 
Ok,, just got a call from my engine machinist and he says the block will not work! He said that one end of the side is 10 thousandths lower then the other. He also said that even on the high end my piston would be sticking out of the block 4 thousandths. So now I either have to find another c-9 block or find a 9.5 deck hieght one and hope that it will hold 700 horse. What are you guys thinking?
 
I'm by no means a 351 expert, but would seem that there is a boss 351 block now available from ford and then there are the earlier 351's out of various vehicles.
Some people feel that the early 351 blocks that came out of older vehicles aren't up to holding the high rpm of a NA setup, but will support quite a bit of aspirated power because most SC'ed engines don't require massive rpms.

With your goals, i'd suspect that you will need some form of race block to deal with the higher rpms.
 
Ok,, this was an expensive day! I got the call that my block will not work (-$200+ whatever a new block cost), and then went to take my windshield out to repair the dents due to the hood flying up on the previous owner and cracked it. I had it 90% out and the lower middle section was in a bind I guess. But anyhow, this fox will be done sometime!
 
ok,, I have found a d-4 (74) block for a $100, from the research I have done, this block is as strong as the c-9 (69) but has a 9.503 deck height versus the 9.48. Can someone confirm this to me? Thanks for any input.....I figured if this one will work,, i'll go pick it up on saturday and keep the 69 for a big small block turbo car for the future...
 
I asked if he would refer anyone to build it and he suggested that he would give me all the tools and knowledge to do it myself, so I'm going this route.

I think you're making a huge mistake, but then again it's your engine (see below).

The only problem I have here is that I do not know all the allowances or clearances. I'm thinking that .003 is the max, but what do you do if your over the max, have the crank turned? I have read after the fact of buying all Eagle stuff that they have been having problems with the cranks not being perfectly round and having an oblong shape journal. John my machinist is checking all that and if it needs turned, he will turn it to be perfect. He is getting all the bearings and rings that I need. Thanks for any input here.

This is what I mean. Usually if you're over .003 you take .010" off the caps and re line hone. Turning the crank would make the gap even bigger (unless you wanted to go with an undersized bearing - which means you would be way off). If your clearances are off when you go to assemble, then you need to take it back to the machine shop. When I got my Associates, I had to take a machining class that I spent countless hours just learning to read a micrometer. I had my 347 apart 5 times before it finally ran. And that is coming from an experienced engine builder that has built dozens of Ford strokers, and did Research and Development for an engine building company. When I did the final build, I ran everything by my friend Matt (who has built and dyno'd over 1,500 engines - he's built engines for NASCAR and some of his engines hold world records). I know that there are people out there that literally throw junk together and it starts and runs (don't check any clearances, don't hone or bore the cylinders, don't use a torque wrench), and it lasts a long time. But with a high horsepower high rpm engine you're going to learn where you messed up - and fast.

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer (hey sounds like a **** name lol), and anyone can be anyone on the internet, but I have about 10 years of experience doing this stuff (I built my first v8 when I was 17 or 18 and have been working on cars since I was 15). If you really want to do this by yourself I'd suggest taking an engine building class at a local community college. Unfortunately, I can't show you how to build an engine over the internet. For stuff like this, experience is the best teacher. For example, when I try and help give diagnostic advice over the net, I can only give you as accurate information relative to the information you give me. I remember one time helping a guy with a crank no start situation. After several pages of trying to help the guy, things weren't adding up. One of the first things I told him to check the spark. He "didn't have any". Turns out that I was going around in a loop because he didn't ground the spark plug properly. You're applying for a job as a NASCAR driver before you have a driver's license.

Don't get me wrong, I'll try and help you as much as I can if you decide to do it, but I would seriously consider taking some classes, or having someone else build it.
 
Thanks for all the info Giddyup. So here is where I'm at on my build. I found out that my block would not work with my custom pistons, the block was 14 thousandths off and needed to be decked leaving my pistons up out of the hole, so after a great deal of searching, I found a 74 block. I had to drive 3.5 hrs but we are moving back in a forward motion and hopefully he will get around to getting it done sometime next week.