351w In An 87 Gt?

[ratio411]

Who here has an EFI 351w variant in their Fox?

I have not lifted a finger on my 87 GT since I put the gas tank in it.
It runs, but it's a bit rough and smokes.

I am thinking of my options, when I finally do something with the engine, and I have 2 options.
I want to do something fairly simple, mild, and with budget in mind.

I have the stock 5.0 in the car that I could just pull out and 'refresh', and throw on some simple bolt-ons that I have laying around. Maybe even as far as a set of D0 351 heads I have ported out.

Or... I have a 97 5.8 roller out of an F350 that needs rebuilt.
This is a bit more expensive though.
I have to come up with an oil pan, distributor, intake, and specialty headers.
(Oh, and an A/C bracket because I want to keep the car a nice driver and relatively stock appearing.)
Might be worth it though.

What do you think?
I'd love to see examples of similar swaps.

Another concern, I'd have to swap to MAF without question with the 351.
With the 302, I could probably skirt the MAF issue for a while, but want to do it sooner or later.

 

[f8tlfiveo]

It will be expensive to do the 351..I had decided on doing a 351... Started collecting parts...then decided against it because the expenses just kept adding up.. But I had to buy the whole motor and was putting aftermarket parts on it. If you already have the motor it will be cheaper. But the 302 will still be the least expensive.

 

[StreetsideStig]

What do you want to use it for?

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Go with the 351. Yeah it's more expensive to install the engine, BUT with the more cubic inches you have, that's less money you would have to put into it to reach X amount of power vs using a 302 to get X amount of power. Plus it's a much stronger block and if you ever decide to build a stroker later in life, you can have even more cubes than what the 302 can offer.

 

[hoopty5.0]

Find a deal and go with that. I built a 408 a while back and it cost roughly $4k and it wasn't even done. Then I ran across a deal on a carbed, built, and running 427W with a built C4 for $5k. The car was done and running within a couple of weeks.

There are plenty of places where people are trying to offload their abandoned projects for cheap. Call it a "fringe benefit" of a crappy economy.

 

[ratio411]

What do you want to use it for?

Fast, yet comfortable street driving from time to time.

 

[ratio411]

Fun... Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[StreetsideStig]

Well heck. If you're not going to daily it, I'd say go big.