Need advice on what to do to this car.

[71grande]

Hey I just got a completely stock 1971 Mustang Grande with a 351 Cleveland 2v engine. I am thinking of getting a Edelbrock performer intake and a 500cfm 4barrel carb and switching it to dual exhaust maybe 2.5inch or 3 inch. I really am not looking to be having to stop at every gas station, but I dont realy want a slouch either. I am thinking that 250HP or maybe push it to 300 willbe sufficient. I want it to look good, sound great and be able to lay rubber If I am so inclined or provoked. (yes I have a temper.) this car is my daily driver now, so it has to remain streetable.

Can any of you reccomend any thing? hints tips tricks free parts?

Mike

[Metal396]

does your car have the stock cam? the stock cam may be efficient with the 500cfm 4 barrel, but it would be best to get a more powerful cam to control it. thats exactly what im dealing with right now, i have a 351c-2v as well, and an "rv" cam. Not strong enough of a cam to support the 625cfm 4 barrel that im going to get. As for dual exhaust, i will look up what system i have, cause it sounds great, even without headers.

[rbohm]

i would use a 600cfm 4bbl and 2.25 dual exhaust. unless you are planning an 11 second car that is all you need. the clevelands like airflow but a 2.5 exhaust is too much for a stock or mild motor.

[71grande]

yep I got the stock cam. So what vendors would you all reccomend? I dont plan on this being an 11 second car. Heck I realy dont plan on dragging with it. I just dont really want it to be a total slouch. yet I dont want to always be wondering about where the next gas station is.

I like edelbrock, I have used thier intakes on other cars, but I dont kow if they offer much for this engine. They have the performer intake that I like, but they dont offer a cam to go with it. a 650 carb sounds a bit bigger than I had planned. what type of cam should I look for? I normally work on motor bikes and imports. this whole Ford V8 is a bit new for me. Please bear with me for my seemingly stupid questions.

Mike

[rbohm]

i would say go with a comp cams 260 or 268h high energy grind cam. they give good power and fuel economy.

[Rev]

My advice is to keep the 351C 2V heads but get them pocket ported and gasket matched. Use an Edelbrock performer or Performer RPM (possibly a Weiand Stealth) intake. A Holley or Demon 750 with Vacuum secondaries should work well for a 351C.

1 5/8" primary long tube headers (even Tri-Y's) work well to 6000 RPM. I use a "muffler shop" custom 2 1/2" exhaust with 3 chamber Flowmasters. The CC 268 HE cam (as previously mentioned) is a good choice. Mine works well to 6000 RPM.

A good electronic ignition would round out the engine. There are lots of other little fine tuning things to do, but these are what I consider the main things.

Rev

[Metal396]

This post is helping me with my choices of parts too. i have the exact same engine, i plan on getting the weiand x-celerator intake, and carter afb 625cfm carb. i think 750cfm is a little to much for the 2v heads, but if you port them, maybe it wouldnt be. http://store.summitracing.com/partde...67&page=2&av=3 here is the cam i plan on getting, it has close to stock duration and higher lift. Then finish it off with some headers and some dynomax "hemi" race mufflers. By the way i have electronic ignition do you "71grande" ? If i get the money im going to put in a msd 6a ignition unit. I hear they help out quite a bit.

[Vishnoff]

Use the Edelbrock intake, cam kit and crburater, if you think you can do more drop some edelbrock alumnium heads on that baby. (remember use the performer series). Hell you can even stroke the engine out to a 427 or a 454 if you want to. Hows that for a power upgrade.

[rbohm]

vishnoff, i think you are confused. mike has a 351c NOT a 351w. there are no aluminum heads for the c, and while the c can be stroked, it cannot go out to 400ci as there is not enough deck height to do that.

[71grande]

Im trying not to break the bank here...

Cams.... If I do this I have to pull the heads right? I was hoping I could pep this sucka up with just a few bolt ons.... I have a budy that has the ultimate bolt on he is trying to talk me into slapping on her for a night. 150 shot NOS. I dont think so.

as to my igniton, I have the pertronix doohicky installed in the distributor. MSD is definately in the future for this toy.

Im also thinking about droppong a manual tranny into the car. I really hate autos, and my current auto seems to REALLY hold back the car. It will pull great off the line (after I get it past the off Idle hesitation it has...) but then it wont come out of first untill the tranny has sowed the car quite a bit. second is nice, but then third just stops at 75. it accels nice untill it hits 75 and then it just seems to hit a wall. If I stay on it I can coax it to 80, but it just seems to REALLY be struggling.

Here's my list so far...

Edelbrock performer intake
Demon carb 650. (I like the way they look and the name.. )
Headers (dont know whos. Possibly edelbrock..)
2.25 custom exhaust with Flowmasters.

Now im looking into Cams. Ugh. Unknown world to me here. expect MANY stupid questions from me on this prior to me buying them, and MANY more in reards to install.

Any one in SoCal San Clemente area wanna help when I get them?

Mike

[Rev]

You won't have to pull the heads to install a cam. There must be something wrong there somewhere if the car struggles to reach 80 mph. Start with basics to check things out. Compression, vacuum, timig etc. Speed parts won't help much unless the basic engine is OK.

Rev

[71grande]

hmm. I dont think that I wanted to hear that Rev.


I dont know that anything is wrong with the car... I have been around the past 3 owners for the last 8 years. Its always run the same. slow. Thus the want for speed parts.


Like I said, the engin pulls nice, but it feels as though the Tranny is holding it back.

How quick should a 3 speed 2v car go?

ok, so I dont have to pull heads, but what about the lifters? Or are they accessible by pulling the intake? any one know a good site that has a How-To on swapping Cams? Im clueless here, but wanna know. Seems like Ill be doing this soon. well with in the next 3 months...

MIke

[Metal396]

i have pretty much the same engine as yours, 351c-2v . except for mines a 73. But there must be something wrong if you cant go above 75 mph. In my car, all stock, ive gotten up to 120 (nobody has to tell anybody about that one hehe) but ive gotten that fast, and could probably go a bit faster. What transmission does your car have? c-4? FMX? What differential ratio do you have?(curious)

[66StangGuy]

this might make my car sound like crap but i have the same problem on the freeway. my car dosnt like to go above about 80.
i know everythign with the engine is right. I have a c 4 tranny and a 2.80 gear ratio. when i go 80 im at about 5000 rpm. isnt that kinda of high? and im sure im in third gear. I listen to it shift and i know it shifts all the gears. Any reason for this? also did the gear ratios for the c4 ever change for different years or were they always the same? When i bought my stang it had a mid 80's block but i didnt check the tranny. thanks

[Rev]

Could be the tranny slipping. Either the torque converter, clutches, or bands could cause this. You said it seemed like the tranny holding you back. 71grande, that could be the cause.

66StangGuy, if you have a 2.80 and a C-4 and you're turning 5000 RPM at 80 in 3 rd gear, then it's almost for sure that the tranny is slipping.

Rev

[66StangGuy]

what can i do to fix this? i dont think its the stall becuase its pretty new. installed about 2 years ago its a 2200 stall converter but i dont know the brand. would the slipping be related to the bands? I hooked up the kickdown and fooled with the adjustment so it went on really early and i noticed a lot more power when the kickdown cable was pulled. should i tighten my bands or what? what exactly happens when you pull the kickdown cable? thanks for your help.