Boingk

Here we go. Heavy buggers to fit but they're on. Not too much? I think they're just about enough without looking stupid.

I'll look into that mate. Hopefully it's nothing too crazy. Meantime the tyres turned up - 315/75R16 mud terrains. Extractors too. Very nice!

Quick update. I spoke to the fellow who's doing my 302C heads, they came up well with no cracks and already have brass valve guides in them. Beauty. The downside is that the valves are shot, they've been previously machined and then used on LPG so are not good to reuse. I sent him a set of valves from another set of open-chamber 351C heads I have so they should work fine. The new springs and seals are also there, and I've opted to get hardened exhaust seats installed so I won't have to worry about them in the future. He said it'd be for the best as the seats show some signs of wear and after a valve job may end up further recessed. All in all its going along swimmingly.

Indeed they can. So can 351C's... and I just happen to have a few. Mind you the LS's would be much easier to work with. I saw that! I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't watched, but the output with a standard cam is fairly decent. Aussiespeed do a manifold for them and that'd be the way I would go if I were to do it. The stock head can be worked a bit, plenty of info stateside on it. It's no Barra, but it'd be interesting purely from a 'what can I do with it' point of view.

Exactly. I know the benefits from the job would be worth it but I'm stretching expenses at this point. I'll see what its worth but honestly it'll probably just get a standard lapping job and be done with it. One thing I will take my time with is the porting. I have my carbide bit, I have my preferred cordless, I have plenty of cutting fluid (ie degreaser) and I have an esky, a comfy chair, a milk crate and a good speaker system with some tunes. My last combo of this exact comp & cam spec was an absolute hoot so with some porting and springs it'll be even better. I also have a proper carburettor this time - the Brawler 650 - so again it should work a bit better than the old 600 Vac I had on the last one. The only other thing I'd be looking at is using this combo in something else down the line and going to a 300ci 6cyl setup for the 4WD. They're an engine with an amazing history and I'd love to put some effort into one and see what it can do. We'll see how we go on that front, it'll be a long-term project per the aforementioned espenses limitation. Cheers - boingk

Great minds think alike my good man. Great minds think alike.

Just rang him. He said it was 30 bucks a seat, so 8x seats is $240. Geez. Maybe I should just do it and then not have to worry about if I decide to blow it or something later on down the line.

I've got a few 351C 2V heads lying around now so will probably use those valves if they measure up properly. I've used stock valves before with this camshaft and drove it around just fine for ages. Its a gentle profile camshaft, I think its quoted as 292 degrees duration with 219@50 and 262@006 for a max lift of 505. I didn't ask the machinist about the seats, but if they aren't done I don't think I'll bother. I've worked out before that Flashlube only adds about 2c to the cost of fuel per litre, so if I'm using 15L/100km then thats 0.3c per kilometer in Flashlube. To even at a cheap cost of $250 for the seats I'd need to do over 83 thousand kilometers.

Yeah she'll be a 95-octane tune at minimum I think. I don't mind that, but want to stay away from 98 for sure. My last combo of this type was happy using 95 so that's a plus. More news - the machinist likes the heads and has seen they already have brass valve guides inserted. The valves themselves look like they have been over-worked and are sharp at the edges so I will pull a set from another pair of heads. I'm weighing up whether or not to get hardened exhaust seats - is it worth it for occasional use? I have plenty of valve saver so that's not an issue. - boingk

Cheers gents! I'll probably stick with the old pistons if it measures up okay. Plan at this stage is to give it a re-ring and bearing job plus new oil pump while I put a decent clutch behind her. If I can get the lifter bushings I mentioned earlier to fix the oiling issues then I'll be pretty happy as well. I'll probably stay away from absolute zero-deck (depending on how it emasures up) as the heads will need machining and I'm trying to stay under 11:1 compression. From memory my last 351 with 302 heads measured up about 10.7:1 and was pretty happy. gerg, I'll check out your thread for sure mate, thanks for the tip. - boingk

Yeah I'm always happy to have a go at porting. I've got the carbide bit there so may as well. I will probably do some research of the "do's and don'ts" and then go through the lot but if its anything like the GT40P's I did for the Windsor it'll be fairly straighforward - clean up the flash, smooth out where the casting meets the machining and go from there. I won't be expecting miracles but even a small gain over stock would be nice. More good news by the way. Looks like this thing is a stock bore 351. Heads seem fresh, too. We're on a winner so far!

Good news, I got some 302C heads. Nothing flash, they need a hot tanking and resurfacing but were cheap enough to warrant it. Bad news too, I've got one stuck head on the block as I rounded a rocker retaining bolt. Damn thing feels like its made of cheese, I'll have to cut up the rocker to get at the head bolt as easy outs and welding a stud to the rounded bolt haven't worked.

Parts are turning up so time to have the engine apart. Its sludge city in there. On the upside I got the carby off and its in good condition. Not much play in anything and certainly ran quite well. I will likely refurbish it and sell it on, if anyone is keen let me know. The Holley I was going to use to start with I fitted to the 250 crossflow I sold as part of the deal... so I'm rebuilding another. All good so far, fingers crossed. Heads off in the morning, I'll see whether she is a 302 or a 351.

For what its worth my father's 351C stroker (383?) has a pair of AFD's on it. The thing is a monster. With a very streetable 230@50 camshaft and 10:1 compression it has 720Nm of torque with a housebrick shaped curve, and peaks out at 502hp around 5000rpm. It's undercarbed, too, with only a modest Holley 750 on top. The dyno bloke reckoned a 900cfm carb and 650hp would be where the combo was at if it he ever wanted the max out of it. It powers a '78 F350 with 4 speed manual and 'vendors overdrive. The whole thing is massive, about 2.5t static weight. He's had 4t on the back of it, too, and the thing just doesn't care. Huge recommendation for the AFD's. - boingk

Cheers mate! Yeah I was reading up that 37's rub at full lock on an unmodified truck, so 35's it is. It's running 8.25-16's up front at the moment which works out about 33, and I definitely wouldn't want to go smaller. I'll go aftermarket steel wheels. I'm talking to the local place about it, he's getting into his catalouge so should come back with something for me next week. The clutch master and slave I can't remember honestly. I'll look up my ebay purchase from a few years ago and see what I got. From memory it was fairly generic Protex stuff. I made it work with trailer hydraulic line to join them, and used a drilled fishing sinker to make up the hydraulic olive needed for the master connection. Meantime here's my dodgy floor replacement. I'm not a good welder, but managed to make this thing solid. Not pretty, but solid. - boingk

Alrighty, got her running a bit better. Still no fuel tank but everything is sorted more or less. Radiator and thermostat are good, charging system is up to spec and even the power steering works. WTF??? Yeah things work, I'm surprised! The hydraulic clutch looks pretty shot so will go a new master and slave, probably new line as well. Reminds me of my last Effie, it had the same drama. It's only $100 for the new master, slave and line though so thats the good news. Meantime I've chopped rust out of the drivers floor, neatened the hole up to the size of an A4 page, and will try and stitch some new metal back in there this afternoon. And yes she'll be getting 35" tyres as these things look munted (IMHO) with anything less than that. - boingk

All good mate, it's gonna happen sooner or later. Can't port them on the car very easily now, can I? Yeah could be legit, who knows? The ID plate is long gone. Nah, full time. If I did it'd be a centrifugal style.

Ah good stuff mate, glad its done well for you. I certainly wouldn't be going back to it if I wasn't impressed. I remember thinking at the time it was a pretty decent all rounder; sounds good, check. Drives well, check. Good performance lift over stock, check.

Thanks gents, and top illustration there FORD_MAN! Thanks for the numbers also, I don't doubt that this is a total mismatch - a recabbed 4WD with a V8 thrown in for good measure, perhaps? I also go by the scallops and it does look to be a 351... of course, I could also have the rare and majestic performance 302 with 351 heads I'll know for sure once they're off. I'm planning to do similar to what I did with my last build; so resprung and mildly ported 302 heads on a 351 with the Elgin E-907-P camshaft (219@50, 505 lift), plus headers and decent exhaust. I'm weighing up whether to use a generic HEI dizzy or not as I have had good success with them in the past. Cheers - boingk

Yep thats where it's leaking from. Also the heads, I'm pretty sure they're the 351 although I know some 302 heads didn't have their standard scalloping. Seeing as the block says its from an XB pano all bets are off. Like I said, I have no idea of the previous owner's actions, or the one before him or that guy before that guy. I dare say that this was someone's project that got laid up. It was from a deceased estate after all. All I know right now is that it runs and that it needs floors in it. I'll probably do the floors and interior first as then I can actually sit in the thing.

Copy that gents. I'll see what the go is when I pull it off. It leaks like a sieve currently so much rather a rebuilt 500cfm 2bbl that doesn't leak for the meantime. The one thing I've learnt over the years is to assume nothing until you pull the heads. This could be a 351, a 302, open chambered or closed... who knows. There are enough variables that I'm assuming it's a 351 by the heads alone until I can pull them and confirm what the heads are and what the stroke is. If the stroke measures up as a 302 I'll probably leave it that way. It'll still work nicely with the mods I have planned but probably give slightly better fuel economy. - boingk

Yep it's the flat top Holley 2bbl, works but in average condition. I'll be replacing it with a 500cfm unit I reconditioned while I wait for my 4bbl manifold so it can take the 650cfm Brawler double pumped I've got left from the XF. Yeah it's a bit lazy from a long time dormant but I've got new lifters, camshaft, springs, timing and water pump on the way. I'm also looking into the Wyndendorf lifter bushing kit. Has anyone here installed one themselves?

Got her running, first go!

Classic! Funny how everything gets swapped around over the years. Imagine parting out an XB pano today! Yeah they're all like this. Not sure why, but most F-truck stamps I've seen are about the same. Very shallow stamps and all over the shop too. Luckily I'm in NSW and my local bloke is pretty cool with most stuff. If he can do it he will, so long as you've got the right paperwork.

Hi mate, if you look through the driver's side (right side) front wheel arch you should see it on the *side* of the chassis rail forward of the axle. At least, that's where mine was. None of the US-based info (under the cab, on the top of the rail near right side exhaust outlet) seems to apply to our markings.... which is good as this spot is easy to get to and all those ones suck! I had to do a quick wet-sand and spraypaint session to make the number easily readable, before that it was very hard to spot.