351m

[Coyote50]

Is the 351m a worthwhile motor? Can they be woken up affordably?

[basketcase0302]

Is the 351m a worthwhile motor? Can they be woken up affordably?

As my username implies I'm partial to my Ford engines LOL. The 351M and 400M were always consider the "red-headed step-child" of Ford powerplant's of the 70's as far as I'm concerned. There are so...few aftermarket parts when stacked up against the SBF or the BBF engine family.
I can take a SBF which weighs almost 200 pounds lighter than the 351M and punch it out to this:
https://www.ebay.com/i/132285840321?chn=ps&dispItem=1

And the 460 can get you axle twisting torque as well. But will it need to run on pump gas / is it a daily driver / city or country driving (gearing).
There's a lot of variables that only you can answer but if I had to choose between the 351M or the 460 the 460 would get my vote everyday because I've driven a few that left me shaking LOL!

[farmallmta]

I enjoy reading Jeff's posts and nearly always agree with him, but have to disagree with him on this.

The 351M/400 is based on the 351C architecture, one of the very best engines Ford produced until the recent OHC engines. So the lineage is there. The reason the 351M/400 is greeted with yawns is that it was introduced into the teeth of severe power and emissions restrictions courtesy of the EPA. So Ford took the engine in an emissions direction rather than in a performance direction. Couple that with the de-emphasis on splashy performance in the 1970's and the insertion of the 351M/400 in exceedingly bland cars and workaday trucks, often with power robbing slushboxes behind them and horrible rear end gears for maximum fuel mileage, and you can see how the engine never generated much excitement.

Now for the good news: good heads and intakes and cams are available that can really wake up this engine series. Put a 400 crank into your 351M, good pistons for higher compression, an RV cam and the EXCELLENT Edelbrock heads and intake, and let 'er rip. And get rid of all the emissions garbage that chokes it down into dogturd territory. You'll be impressed at how good an engine the series really was. And you'll use way less fuel than you will with the 460.

[basketcase0302]

"farmallmta"]I enjoy reading Jeff's posts and nearly always agree with him, but have to disagree with him on this.

The 351M/400 is based on the 351C architecture, one of the very best engines Ford produced until the recent OHC engines. So the lineage is there. The reason the 351M/400 is greeted with yawns is that it was introduced into the teeth of severe power and emissions restrictions courtesy of the EPA. So Ford took the engine in an emissions direction rather than in a performance direction. Couple that with the de-emphasis on splashy performance in the 1970's and the insertion of the 351M/400 in exceedingly bland cars and workaday trucks, often with power robbing slushboxes behind them and horrible rear end gears for maximum fuel mileage, and you can see how the engine never generated much excitement.

Now for the good news: good heads and intakes and cams are available that can really wake up this engine series. Put a 400 crank into your 351M, good pistons for higher compression, an RV cam and the EXCELLENT Edelbrock heads and intake, and let 'er rip. And get rid of all the emissions garbage that chokes it down into dogturd territory. You'll be impressed at how good an engine the series really was. And you'll use way less fuel than you will with the 460.

Run an airboat for a few years and you'll quickly learn the metrics of how important weight to horsepower ratio is.
I'll smoke past your heavy boat anchor 351M, (which the bare block weighs in at a whopping 575 pounds!) all day long in my "little 302" (that weighs in at a mere 460 pounds) that I've stroked out to 450 big block eating ponies.
Just the price of a 351M build alone dwarfs a SBF build by double in any kit you can readily purchase from Summit / Performance or any of the other big box engine companies. Honestly you could not give me a 351M or a 400M unless I knew I had it sold already.

https://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/ ... hp?t=57402

[tsherry]

Makes me wonder what my 3.5L Ecoboost would do in an air boat...

[farmallmta]

Run an airboat for a few years and you'll quickly learn the metrics of how important weight to horsepower ratio is.
I'll smoke past your heavy boat anchor 351M, (which the bare block weighs in at a whopping 575 pounds!) all day long in my "little 302" (that weighs in at a mere 460 pounds) that I've stroked out to 450 big block eating ponies.
Just the price of a 351M build alone dwarfs a SBF build by double in any kit you can readily purchase from Summit / Performance or any of the other big box engine companies. Honestly you could not give me a 351M or a 400M unless I knew I had it sold already.

https://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/ ... hp?t=57402

The OP's questions posed were not "which Ford Engine is best in Jeff's opinion", "which engine can yield the most horsepower gain for Jeff's money invested", "which engine should I put in Jeff's airboat, according to Jeff", "which engine is Jeff's very favorite", or "which engine does Jeff like before noon on odd numbered days of the month" but "Is the 351m a worthwhile motor? Can they be woken up affordably?" The answer to both questions ACTUALLY ASKED is: yes!

You're ,,,,,

[Jacksdad]

Anything with Cleveland heads has potential. Lots of parts interchange within the family, and aftermarket parts can be made to fit. Using manifold spacers means you can even use 351C intakes on a 400. More cubes being fed by a Cleveland top end is never a bad thing.

[jamesdfo]

Where in the world did you get this 575 lbs for a bare block number from??

I guess me and my buddy are two bad dudes, because back in the early eighties, we loaded a COMPLETE 400M shortblock into the back of his F150 SWB 4x4 without an engine crane!!

....a quick google search shows a number of places showing a complete assembled engine @ ~ 575 lbs

....if you look at any of the engine masters competitions, the M engines have done quite well, and made some impressive numbers

As was already mentioned, completely stock, as delivered, they were hobbled by the emissions and CAFE ratings of the day, but I knew plenty of guys with dentsides/bull nose pickups, and an RV cam, aluminum intake and a 4 bbl holley, headers & dual exhaust, and they were a completely different animal as compared to their "as delivered" former selves

Run an airboat for a few years and you'll quickly learn the metrics of how important weight to horsepower ratio is.
I'll smoke past your heavy boat anchor 351M, (which the bare block weighs in at a whopping 575 pounds!) all day long in my "little 302" (that weighs in at a mere 460 pounds) that I've stroked out to 450 big block eating ponies.
Just the price of a 351M build alone dwarfs a SBF build by double in any kit you can readily purchase from Summit / Performance or any of the other big box engine companies. Honestly you could not give me a 351M or a 400M unless I knew I had it sold already.

https://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/ ... hp?t=57402

[basketcase0302]

"jamesdfo"]Where in the world did you get this 575 lbs for a bare block number from??
I guess me and my buddy are two bad dudes, because back in the early eighties, we loaded a COMPLETE 400M shortblock into the back of his F150 SWB 4x4 without an engine crane!!
....a quick google search shows a number of places showing a complete assembled engine @ ~ 575 lbs
....if you look at any of the engine masters competitions, the M engines have done quite well, and made some impressive numbers
As was already mentioned, completely stock, as delivered, they were hobbled by the emissions and CAFE ratings of the day, but I knew plenty of guys with dentsides/bull nose pickups, and an RV cam, aluminum intake and a 4 bbl holley, headers & dual exhaust, and they were a completely different animal as compared to their "as delivered" former selves

Run an airboat for a few years and you'll quickly learn the metrics of how important weight to horsepower ratio is.
I'll smoke past your heavy boat anchor 351M, (which the bare block weighs in at a whopping 575 pounds!) all day long in my "little 302" (that weighs in at a mere 460 pounds) that I've stroked out to 450 big block eating ponies.
Just the price of a 351M build alone dwarfs a SBF build by double in any kit you can readily purchase from Summit / Performance or any of the other big box engine companies. Honestly you could not give me a 351M or a 400M unless I knew I had it sold already.
https://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/ ... hp?t=57402

Already posted one link above with the engine weights exactly how many more would you like dude-PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR...



http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/engineweights.html (same 575 pounds).

http://gasalley.thetumbleweeds.net/tech ... eights.htm (SAME 575 POUNDS)

http://www.strokerengine.com/engineweights.html (SAME 575 POUNDS)

YEP YOUR PROBABLY ONE BAD...DUDE BAHAHA!

[basketcase0302]

"tsherry"]Makes me wonder what my 3.5L Ecoboost would do in an air boat...

There were guys yanking the Ecoboost's out of brand new trucks to put into "blow boats" the very first year they came out-
They are very popular in the airboating community.

[basketcase0302]

I answered the OP's question in my very first post here "farmhead", I just missed the memo about all the folks here who want to deny the M series is a boat anchor.