When I bought the '64 Ford,...I bought the car, ( as advertised ),...." Restored 1964 Ford galaxie 500 , 2 door hardtop, excellent condition inside and out, true spoke wheels, sound system, 351 Windsor engine ". And that about summed up the entire add.
When I contacted my mechanic ( Pete Vanbrug ) over in London about installing a HEI dist. and the GM ( one wire ) Alternator,..I asked Pete exactly what I should be ordering up to do the swap out, and informed him at the time that the engine was supposedly a 351 Windsor,... I am well acquainted with the old 292 / 312 / 352, and the 390 style valve covers, but personally, I wouldn't know a 351 Ford Windsor block,..from a 255 Ford " boat anchor " block ,...so Pete had me email him a photo of the block, directly under and just behind the existing Distributor,.. he then verified that it was a 351 Windsor. Knowing it actually was a 351, I was happy that I did something right for a change, and that I didn't get taken to the cleaners buying something that wasn't quite as advertised.
Pete arrived to do the swap out on the Dist. for me,..and was surprised to see that the engine was sporting a set of Edelbrock aluminum Performer D-215 -49 heads,..and a Edelbrock, RPM Air Gap Intake,..capped off with a Holley 750 Dual Feed, vacuum secondary carburetor,...8 liter Oil Pan, Hedman Headers, etc. He was getting a little excited by now, and then he went back in under the hood and started rubbing the block just below the left head,...then backed out of the engine compartment, stood there looking at me and grinning ear to ear,..asked me if I knew what I had here for an engine,...I told him that I had felt the " Embossed Casting Numbers " on the engine block, but didn't bother to write then down to check out the engine in any way. He laughed and informed me that the embossed casting numbers that I had felt,...were actually " Embossed Letters ",...which reads " Ford Racing " ,..he went on to inform me that the engine is in fact the new " Sportsman M6010 -B351 Ford Racing " 2 bolt main block. From there he went directly to the right side valve cover,..removed it,. and found that it had Edelbrock ( # EDE - 77780 ) roller rockers,...then he got to wondering if it had a roller cam or flat tappet cam,..so he pulled a rocker, and checked the length on the push rod,..no such luck,...flat tappet cam. Anyway,..got all the parts ordered up and delivered a week ago,..so soon going to have the roller cam installed. Sounds good and works great as is,...but curious to see what the roller cam has to offer. As it sits, it is definitely Not a Fuel Mizer, by any sense of the word...and I don't expect any different / better from the roller cam,..so in the meantime going to get Pete to build me up a " little bit past the mild stage " 302 engine identical to the built 302 that I installed in the model A Ford coach,...and do the engine swap this winter.
Yeah,...thinking I did ok with this one John, but leaves me wondering why one would go to the expense that they did with the engine, and then top it off with a flat tappet cam,...( ?? ) One other thing that's gotta go when I do the engine swap is the rear gears in this thing,... cruising at highway speed ( 60 MPH indicated ) on the OEM speedometer, and it's indicating 3200 RPM on the tach.,..it has a great working C-6 auto ( w / shift kit ) in it, but definitely not a long haul cruiser.
guessing 4;10's or 11's with those #'s which aren't bad if it was an o/d trans. i'd be thinking 3;55 maybe 3;73's depending on what your driving habits are. whoever put that motor, trans and rear in there was probably thinking to be an around town warrior, lots of grins light to light but get your wallet out on the highway.
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"if you are not the lead dog, the view is all the same"
guessing 4;10's or 11's with those #'s which aren't bad if it was an o/d trans. i'd be thinking 3;55 maybe 3;73's depending on what your driving habits are. whoever put that motor, trans and rear in there was probably thinking to be an around town warrior, lots of grins light to light but get your wallet out on the highway.
<<< lots of grins light to light but get your wallet out on the highway. >>> You got that absolutely RIGHT shag !! Pete picked me up a new set of 3: 73's Stateside,...going to leave the existing gears in until we get the cam swapped, just for a road test with the new cam,..and install the new gears at a later date,..but not too much later.
First ....congrats on a great purchase, love the big iron. The car will work nice with a new set of gears ,make way more sense. It is about driving and having fun but nice when something pulls and sucks your cheeks back..+++
The engine build is a bit odd as you say with a flat tappet, maybe it was a cam that was used in another engine. With todays advanced cam grinds and the fact there have been failure rates with flat lobes why not go roller. Install and not worry about zinc etc..
Had a issue with one going bad 2 lobes and have another 2 buddys with the same result...we all have been in the game along time.
Know couple engine guys state side that wont build any engines with anything but a roller...hmm.
When you asked about the car before you made the purchase, I told you then Doug LeBlanc would not cheap out on any of his toys. He's not that type of person.
Yes you did Larry,..as did his one secretary ( Grace ) whom I dealt with through the entire purchase,..and also the two fella's that were working in Doug's warehouse in Brighton that had the car all washed up, and ready for me to view when I got there, and who also took the time to explain to me a few things about the car. They both told me at the time that if ( either one of them ) had the $$$, that the car wouldn't be going home with me,..but I had no idea ( given the very basic Kijiji ad ) what was in it for an engine, other than a 351 W, and the two gents that were showing me the vehicle didn't dwell a whole lot on the engine specs, ( other than the fact that it was a very low mileage engine ), which was understandable. I was just happy that it had a more favorable block than the old 352,..and that the body, paint, and the entire interior was absolutely immaculate.
When the young couple from Midland who delivered the car to me got it here,..the young lady was the first to try and start it, to roll it off the trailer,...not being used to the car, it didn't take much to flood it ( to death ),..and after an hour of trying everything possible to start it,..we gave up and pushed it off the trailer, and into my shop. I let it set for two days,..and then went out to try and fire it again,...but before hitting the key,..I pulled the oil dipstick and checked the oil,..and then smelled the dipstick,...and it was right up there with sniffing the filler neck of the gas tank, raw fuel. I knew I had to drop the oil so I called back down to Doug's office and asked Grace if she would find out from Doug what he was using for oil, but she never did get back to me, so I called Pete, ( my engine guy in London ),..and asked his opinion on what to use,..and he asked if the engine sounded like it had a Lumpy cam in it,..and I assured him that it did,...so not knowing what it had for a cam,..Pete suggested that I use a 10 W 30 oil, with the additive, just to be on the safe side,...thankfully, he was right, as he found out later during the dizzy swap that it is a flat tappet cam.
It's not hard to see that Doug did put some serious $$ into the car Larry,...right up to and including the sound system, which is pretty well hidden in the trunk,...the only thing really noticeable is a box which one loads CD's into,..and is controlled from inside the car, a set of speakers built into the back of the rear seat, facing backwards...and they have the other boxes ( don't have a clue what they are ) all neatly mounted up into the area between the trunk lid and the rear of the back seat,..with the wiring all well hidden. He could have removed all of that, as I don't even use the radio in my daily driver, much less in one of my cruisers.
