SadbutTrue

Nope, am I supposed to? lol

Did you modify the main butterflies? MSD rocks!

MSD 6a, Holley Street Avenger (670)

Good to hear. What kind of carb & ignition are you running?

Welp, got her fired up today. For some reason its having issues starting but once its going it sounds mean. Definitely looking forward to getting her on the road. Pics should be up soon.

I see no reason why you shouldn't be in at least the low 12s...

Here are my specs:
289 (306ci), Ford Racing forged crank, SCAT H Beam rods, 4-bolt main cap conversion, Trick Flow Twisted Wedge (with some crazy flow numbers), four Weber IDA two-barrel carbs, Roller Crane cam, Roller SVT rockers, Diamond custom domed pistons for 12:1 c/r.
Rearend: 9" done up early Shelby style. Small axle tubes, 28 splines, 4.11, small bearing. I'm going to swap it out completely so I can get the goodies: later style bearings, larger tubes, stronger 3rd member and 31 or so splines.
Trans- Just a beefed up AOD.

I can't imagine your T5 being a weak link. You should consider a scatter shield though.

Like I said, low 12s should be a good minimum even with your rear ratio. Devote a lot of time to tuning your carb- which is something most people don't do.

Mine runs in the 11s without the NOS.

Let me know when your pics are up, I'm anxious to see em.

Thanks,
Chris

Looks like you're shooting a bit higher than me, haha. My car should be done tomorrow, hope to break in the cam tonight (I keep saying that though, gotta temper my enthusiasm some haha). If everything goes well, maybe some track time or dyno time in a few weeks (unfortunately, there are no tracks within 2 hours of me that I know of, so it might take a while to get an ET). I figure it should be good for something in the 12s. If I can drive and get decent traction (neither of which I'm counting on), maybe low 12s. Theoretically high 11s might be possible, but we'll see.

As far as traction, I'm not planning on running slicks or even drag radials (that'd just be asking my T5 to snap in half, and my 9" is using 28 spline axles so its not invincible either), but I do plan on getting som Cal-Tracs (they have an amazing rep on stangnet) this fall, along with some softer rear shocks. I'm running Kumho Ecsta ASXs now, they're fairly sticky but obviously not slick/drag radial territory.

That 427 ought to be a beast, let me know how it turns out. Some AFR 205/225s... maybe ask about those Vic Jr setups or at least some sort of single plane. Mmmm...

Ben

Good stuff!

Have you taken your car to the track yet for an ET?

Yea, I'll be swapping pistons & heads, along with rods and crank. Going for the 427 stroker kit, if i decide to do it. Thing is that I cannot figure out how to get more traction. I currently run 8" slicks but that's about the limit for the strip. I'd like to finally break that pesky 10 sec barrier though- keep getting close but no cigar yet ;)

Good to hear about the 4 barrel fitting in there too, this is the first time I'll ever run one (or two). I know they tend to sit up high...

Thanks again,
Chris

I'm running a stock hood, and that works fine with standard dual planes (ie Performer) and some single planes, and with really low profile air cleaners and/or custom motor mounts (65 motor mounts are lower than 66, so you might get lucky there) will fit Performer RPM and Weiand Stealth manifolds.

With drop motor mounts AND an itty bitty air cleaner, one guy got a Vic Jr in there, but I wouldn't plan on that.

Im currently running into this problem at the moment... I have the stealth and my air cleaner (which is 'low profile' but there are much lower profile ones) won't fit. So I'll let you know exactly what works when I find an air cleaner that fits. I do know its possible though, and I'm not getting a hood scoop (only ones that I think look good are the shelby style ones anyway, and they don't really help much).

Did not need to modify the heddman headers, they're made specifically for 351w's in 65/66s.

The best 351w's are 69 and 70 (because of the stock heads and flat top pistons which yield higher compression), and then the mid 90s roller blocks (94-97) b/c they come with roller cams. If you're planning on changing the heads and pistons anyway, just about any 351w will work fine, and you'd probably want to get one from the 'era' your 5.0 is from so you can swap stuff back and forth.

If you use a 50 oz flywheel/flexplate, I'm pretty sure you can run your 5.0s 50 oz balancer, but you would want to double check that.

I have a ton of pictures that are gonna be going up in a few days too, stay tuned :)

Excellent info. Here are some random questions:
Are you running a stock hood? I'd like to avoid a scoop. Which year 351 should I be looking for? Did you have to modify your Hedman headers for spark plugs? If I'm using a 351w harmonic balancer and flex plate, couldn't I just keep the later 50 oz units? And finally, would you mind sending some pictures of your car? I'd just like to see how your 351/TFS combo fits. My email works best, I can get that throughout the day- but this web site is blocked from work :( (cgilbert37@yahoo.com)

Thanks!
Chris

The vast majority of your stuff will work. Intakes, cams (only because of firing order) and distributors (and headers, if you are planning on using them) are different. Just about every other SBF part can work on both a 302 or a 351. Transmission bolt patters, motor mounts, timing covers, balancers, valve covers, etc etc... all the same.

One thing you want to put thought into before you buy is the accesory bracket/balancer issue. Early SBFs had 28 ounce imbalance, later ones had 50 ounce imbalance; beyond that, there are a number of different balancer sizes/configurations and accesory bracket layouts depending on the year and vehicle your 351w (and 302) came from. If you get the right year 351, you may be able to use your 302 stuff, but to be safe I'd recommend getting a 351w with all of its accessory brackets/timing cover/balancer/pulleys in place. Much easier than sifting through books and web pages trying to match everything up.

Beyond that, its pretty much plug and play. The 351w is a tight fit in 65/66s, so you either have to get clever or your intake/header choices are a bit limited, but then again there's a guy running a 408 stroker with a Vic Jr. intake under a stock hood in a 65, so it can be done. And in a car as light as these, the 351 might as well be a big block :)

Let me know if you have any other specific questions i can help you with, I'll do my best.

Hi,

I have a '65 Mustang set up similar to yours with a TFS-TW 306 powerplant. Am currently looking to try a 351w swap but am concerned that it may be too difficult. Would you mind my asking about the swap, how it has worked out, and anything I should watch out for?

Thanks,
Chris
cgilbert37@yahoo.com