whats the down falls to a 351 clevland

All the information you could ever want to know about clevelands can be found on this board:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/119419/

There is a lot of experience in building them strong and powerful here. I don't know maybe it is just me, but as I was looking for my mustang, I found that far more of the 351s used in the classic stangs were Clevelands. I have one in my 72 and it hasn't been rebuilt and it has plenty of low-end. Parts are hard to come by and they are more expensive because of that. It just adds to the fun and the challenge.

brianj5600 said:

And all but one got beat by a Chevy motor!
I wonder why all the hard core racing developement uses cleveland heads and more street oriented developement was on windsor based heads. Maybe a small block running less than 6500 rpms does not need 2.19 intake valves and huge ports. Maybe big valves and ports are best for a street driven car and a more usable powerband would result. I wonder how much torque and hp I would gain if I got rid of my AFR 185s and put on some stock Cleveland heads?

Click to expand...

The Engine Masters competition limited the Cleveland-headed motors to a lower deck height than every other competitor. It's a typical way a competition like this is run - the magazine wants one of their biggest sponsors to win. They wanted the Chevy to win so they allowed the Chevy (and Windsor style Fords) to have the higher decks. Kaase "cheated" within the rules by running a thick copper "head gasket" and equalizing the deck height. This might have had something to do with his winning, but the sponsors changed the rules to make sure the Cleveland wouldn't easily win again.

Comparing new aftermarket heads to 30 year old technology is hardly fair, but I wouldn't be surprised if an engine with stock Cleveland heads made more hp and torque than an engine running AFR 185s. And a little work on the Cleveland heads will get you good gains.

Anyway, I think that running a Windsor engine is a great idea - much better than a small block Chev.