Be careful 351c's rev up fast

ashford

Member
Dec 19, 2003
485
0
16
fargo ND
the engine in my pickup(302) spun a bearing the week so i was looking around the garage to find another i could put in it that runs. a guy my dad knows has had a 351c sitting in our garage for a few years, so i called him up to see if he would sell it. he agreed to 300 dollars if it ran(he didn't know). so i pull the tranny of it and set it in the test stand. i hook it all up, dump a little gas down the fuel bowl vent, crank it, and it fires and idles for a while then dies. i do a little trouble shooting and find out it has a bad fuel pump. so i change it out for another, dump more fuel in it but this time i dumped too much in and overflowed it into the venturis. i crank it- flooded. wot it, crank it over and the friggen thing rapped out faster then i can let off the throttle. it went clunkity clunk then siezed up.
i can't recall any point in my life where ive been so pissed off, so beware reving an unweighted engine
 
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pulled the engine apart tonight or somewhat anyway, #5 outside rod bolt broke the cap off of it, looks like the break was old it was stained on about 3/4 of the break. well the cap sepearted and wrapped around to the other sidethe other bolt held, knocked around the block some didn't look like the engine turned much after it came apart, cracked the cylinder bore down the center, but for the life of me i didnt ruin the crank just scratched the bearing surface a little and hammered the counterweight some. i think the crank is still turnable. the piston slapped the head pretty hard though cracked it from the intake vavle relief to the center and bent it down. i looked hard at the head cant see anything wrong with it beside a knicked valve, i hope its not cracked the heads were in excellent condition for a clevland the exhause valves wern't burned down into the head, i set a straight edge across the valve stem tips and are all within a few thousanths. well the block is shot it might take a sleeve but i doubt it. im dammed determined to build one of these engines now. hope my dad has enough spare parts.
 
well i took a piston home so i could take a pic of it
 

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