Awesome historic episode! Thank you Andy! Absolutely love this stuff! Brings back fantastic memories from my early days as a Ford parts guy(1970-2009) and the beginning of my enthusiastic following or drag racing. I loved pausing the vid and reading each the article screen shots! Your vids have come a very long way, the editing and historic content on this one are absolutely pro quality. More like this please!
What a gutsy move on David Pearson’s part, deliberately giving up the lead on the last lap, so he could slingshot past at the finish line. I don’t think Richard appreciated getting schooled in front of so many people.
The Boss 351 Mustang was one of the fastest 1/4 mile cars of the era. It had ETs close to big block Mopar territory. I always wonders what a 351 boss would be like in a much lighter 68 Mustang.
@@UnityMotorSportsGarage in the 80s i put my rear grand national eagle gt 215 60s on it which are tiny and in heat of day best of 4 runs was 13.56 106 mph. It runs strong.
Had a 1974 mercury cougar, 351, bad ass. Didn't know what i had. New driver. Spun out in the rain, middle of a busy intersection. Made a complete spin. Made my turn. I'm sure people watched with open mouths, wide eyed! Holy sshh
In 76/77 timeframe, a friend of mine stuffed a highly modified 351C 4spd into a 65 mustang. That was the sketchiest, fastest mustang I’ve ever ridden in. It twisted the unibody so hard that it ripped the headliner. That’s when I was introduced to the concept of subframe connectors.
This particular engine appeared in our most famous, most valuable muscle car ever, here in Australia. In the 1971 Phase 3 GT XY Ford Falcon. With the Boss 351 engine in it. That year, it smashed the lap record of our most famous touring car race by 12 seconds. Huge leap forward in speed.
@@rodneyjones4890 The engine in the Xy Gtho phase three was very similar to a Boss 351 though.Solid lifter etc.Nothing like a normal Gt which used hydraulic lifters,etc.
You do these history video's very, very well, Andy. I spent a lot of time in the 70's behind clevelands. Always loved them. I owned a Boss 302, Boss 351 and had driven a Boss 429. The 71 Boss 351 was the fastest and although large, the 71-73 Mustangs were great drivers with a good ride and handling. Kudo's to Tim Halstead and all of our Aussie friends for keeping them relevent.
Yes. The 71 Boss 351 Cleveland equipped Mustang was a 13.70 performer in the 1/4 mile . It was faster and quicker in the 1/4 than the Boss 429. The Boss 429 didn't have enough camshaft or gearing from the factory to spin the Boss high enough to take advantage of those enormous ports. The first 429 Bosses came with the hydraulic camshaft which was used in the Cobra Jet. Its specs were something like 216 intake duration at .050 lift and 220 degrees exhaust @.050 lift . Ford then utilized the Super Cobra Jet solid lifter camshaft to improve the performance; however, the SCJ specs are pretty anemic when tasked with filling those giant 429 BOSS ports. The SCJ solid lifter cam produced 228 degrees of duration on both the intake and exhaust @.050 lift , with approximately .515 lift at the valve for both the intake and exhaust valves. Even its SCJ camshaft was down 20-25 degrees of duration @.050 lift compared to other high performance motors. It merely needed lower rear end gears, a warmer camshaft and an 850 CFM carburetor to awaken the Boss 429.
The worst part of it is that Ford ended production of that greatest of engines after only 4 years. It did live on being produced in Australia, and that is where the CHI heads come from. It technically lived on in the United States as the 335 series 400 and 351M mostly in trucks and big cars. The 400 had a taller deck and larger mains. Making it to a less suitable high RPM engine. The 351M was a destroked 400 with long rods. Thanks Andy for that piece of winning history for Ford.
It was further developed in Australia for its race program. Unfortunately, the high performance development ended in 1972, when ford was about to release its Phase 4 Falcon. The motors that were going to go into this car were hand built from the factory, and would have been good for 160 mph off the showroom floor.
Actually I'm machining and rebuilding two of these motors now, from what I see the crank does have .500" less stoke on the 351M compared to the 400 it's seems that the rods arr the same length it's just than the wrist pin sits lower on the 351M piston, unlike a 289 Ford compared to a 302 Ford in that case because of the shorter stroke 289 that motor ran the same piston but did have a longer rod because of the shorter stroke crankshaft.
It's interesting how few people realize that the Cleveland style heads were used in NASCAR all the way up into the early 2000s. When NASCAR ruled out canted valve heads, Robert Yates and a few others realized that the Fords using Cleveland style heads couldn't lose that design. Yates developed an inline design based on Cleveland technology. I was the engine man for a small NASCAR truck series team, with yates C3 heads on a 351W style short block we were pulling 780+ hp from 357 cubic inches. That's well over 2 Horsepower per Cubic Inch - because of Cleveland technology. The Cleveland wasn't overlooked, it was under spoke of - The Fords ran that Cleveland based technology well into the 2000s, it just wasn't spoken of. My avater is one of my 357" engines. It still made over 780hp when it needed new rings, a freshened valve job, and new valvesprings - that pic was snapped the day it ran on Roush's dyno and made those numbers before it came to me to be torn down. Point is, Cleveland Technology wasn't under rated, it was under spoken of. Andy, thanks for another great video!
The Cleveland is probably one of the most handicapped and restricted engines in racing. Even to this day one of my local race tracks say in bold lettering, no Cleveland heads period. So of course I’m going to use my set of Aussie heads. To just see if they even remember what they look like.
@@mikeadams42 The best thing about the Cleavland was the heads cause there was nothing impressive about the rest of the motor and there is ways to fix the problems that Clevelands had. They had poor cooling features. No water passed through the intake at all and they had poor oiling features as well and the cylinders was extremely close together so if they were bored 30 or 40 thousands over then they had heating issues and already had poor cooling circulation and the oil pump shaft was about the same size as a 289 so there was another problem and everyone talks about Rouch and Yates but nobody has said anything about Bob Gliden. There is performance head manufacturers still copying what Bob and his wife did to Cleavland heads today. Bob built a oven to heat the heads enough so he could weld up the combustion chambers and intake runners so he could port and cut the heads how he wanted them and that was a extremely amount of work doing that to cast iron heads
@rickkowalske4116 never said that he didn't. Robert Yates didn't buy Ranier Racing until 1988, long after the record setting run. After Yates started building his own engines for his race team, they were tough competition. Even Dale Sr said he hated seeing that Texaco sign in his mirror because he knew it wasn't going to stay there long
Robert Yates Rocketships were engineering masterpieces. Bill Elliot later said they kept tearing down Ernies engines looking for the advantage when in reality it was the windtunnel work that body man Johnson did.
Disagree with that statement.robert Yates has cylinder heads named after him.ever hear of rousch yates?the Yates part is Robert Yates engines,who merged in with rousch to keep ford nascar engine development.
Over 4000 revs ! Boss 302 s with similar 4v heads could not pull the skin off custard at the lights , those massive valves and ports just lost all flow speed , untill 4000rpm., they would back fire , stall, fart around till the revs got up , plus Ford learned a lesson on port air flow from the 4v heads , must be remembered the 302 Boss had two X 1250cfm dominator Carbies that did not help low end air flow !
I worked in an autoparts store machine shop doing valve jobs mostly for a few years back in the 70's, and we got every engine in the shop. The 351C-4v were the best most impressive heads we ever saw. We basically said they were big block chevy heads but for a small block and even better. Unfortunately, they were not common to see, few people raced them at our local socal dragstrip, the FE engines also had excellent heads.
Thank you Andy for the history lesson. When I think of the 351 cleveland.i think of Bob Glidden! When you have to change the rules, that's all you need to know. Mr.Glidden doesn't get enough credit. I was a Lee Shepard fan, but had much respect for Bob Glidden and his family!
NHRA bent their rules to allow Glidden to use raised port plates even though the rules clearly stated internal modifications only. If the Cleveland abided by the rules they wouldn’t have been very competitive.
That Talladega race is still the most impressive show of power in automotive history. I can remember it like yesterday. Oh, and yes, I still have my 351C with 2V heads (modified) putting out nearly 500hp built back in the 1980s. I love the Cleveland engine and I will NEVER understand why Ford dropped it. It's also Richard Holdener's favorite small block too.
I have a 351 4bolt main block (supposedly from a pantera according to my machine shop guy) with modified 2v heads in my 71. I love it and still surprise alot of these modern muscle cars. I tell them it's a 2bbl small block they Straight up don't believe it!
Cleveland?? Poor oiling, poor cooling, big heavy cranks and rods and what could be a very good cylinder head except is was stupidly big. Looking at those Nascar heads and drag race heads they were NOT Clevo heads but loosely based on them.
I graduated from high school 1979 my friends sister had Mach 1 with 351 Cleveland stock, and 4:54 it ran 14.10 in the 1/4 mile which was as fast as her brothers 1971 LS -5 454 /365 hp Chevelle. I Love all you and David Vizards videos keep up the good work
Those 351 Cleveland were absolute terrors when built right and just 1 good running well tuned Cleveland car could put every other car in that class on the trailer...they would absolutely beat a lot of big blocks in the 1/4 mile chevy,dodge or other fords...they were the most powerful small block from the muscle car era and i can only imagine where they would be if they weren't outlawed and outright banned to usher in different rules and engines by several racing organizations...
I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Glidden at a late 80's Ford Motorsports Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway Park, I liked him before that but was a major fan afterwards. Just down to earth and a really nice person. On the topic of the video, I had a hand in tuning a 351C in a 71 Torino Sportsroof street racer and that high power small block took many by surprise in the big intermediate, far more then my big block 68 fastback Torino ever did.
I love this video Andy❤. Thanks for the inclusion. You pulled a 0.00 on me, 😳, thanks for getting me back on track. Mine is a different perspective, they will compliment each other. Appreciate the shout out. 👍🏁💯
@@UnityMotorSportsGarage right on my brother. Hope you like mine, finally have a new program Appreciate our friendship, inspiration and love of Ford’s 💯🏁
I drove Alan Kulwicki's first race car before his dad purchased it. Early February 1972 I performed the dealer PDI on a blue '72 formal roof GranTorino equipped with a 351SCJ 11-1 premium fuel only solid lifter , H/D C6 ,3.91 nodular locker heavy duty everything. Summer of '81 I borrowed Alan's tire groover at his dad's garage in Greenfield,Wis. In the garage was a tube chassied "72 granTorino maxed out Cleveland , C6 ,5.13 geared locker equipped screamer.Two weeks later,Alan first drove his Cleveland at Hales Corner's 1/4 mile dirt oval sounding like a Grumpy Jenkins smallblock wound tighter than Dick's hatband. Our 427 '70 Cyclone front/'70 Torino back half racecar, Alan's GranTorino and the "67 Fairlane 427 of a guy named Jimmy Hendricks (white dude) were the only 3 Ford's running Hales that year, everything else was Chevy's. Thanx for waking my good memories...
I was impressed with the 351c. I had a 74 Pantera for a long time. That 351 was warmed up a bit and put down 521 whp on 91 pump gas. I never had a problem with it, it just ran. Good low end power with a real hard pull up top. I miss that car.....
@Fred_NaughT Thank you. It was a dream of mine ever since I was a bus boy and saw Rod Stewart come in to have coffee with some babe. The car was amazing, the woman was beautiful, and Rod was just cool as ice cream, lol.
I was there. My buddy had a 69 Mach 1- 351 Windsor 4V. All we did was make sure it had the right tune. We would take on 396 Chevs and 383 Mopars and kick their ass and or they could not run away from us. Ford blue here, great video. Thanks Andy.
@@danmyers9372 I know that and have always known that. I was just saying the 351W could hold its own against the competition. I am a Ford performance historian so I know a thing or two.
Had a few 69 4v Windsor's back in the day. Just a flat top piston, a weird split cam, heavy on exhaust lift. It was a decent street engine, but a glorified grocery getter engine.
Great show Andy, Cleveland’s were popular in OZ, we ran then in 302 and 351 displacements. Pete Gheoghan ran his Falcon down conrod straight at 183 mph when it was literally a country road.
Bob Glidden was undefeated with his 351C powered 78 Fairmont and never lost a single match, round, or event with that combination. He later performed the sane magic to the BOSS 429 after the Clevelands domination in both NHRA and IHRA forcing the move to 500 in³. Long live FoMoCo 🤴 👑
@danmyers9372 and the others weren't built to the hilt? It's a fact that no in-line valve head can outflow a canted/splayed valve arrangement and no matter the excuses from Ford haters.....the Cleveland and BOSS 9 dominated at his hands until GM made a race specific DRCE. Fords oem engines were/are superior
@@danmyers9372 - fact is Ford used engines that came in factory production vehicles such as 335 and 385 series. Gm needed to build complete aftermarket engine never offered in any production vehicle to try and beat Ford interesting to note the DRCE has exact port layout of Cleveland Ford engine, they needed to build Ford engine to beat Ford engine ..
The ford 335 & 385 series engines had great aspirations & potential baked into the architecture. There’s a reason we have Mountain Motors, Ford was planning some insane power, it’s why the Mustang received a large platform to handle stock 500 cu. plus engines & huge power that were anticipated from the 385 & 335 series. Both the 335 & 385 series engines just barely got that first gasp of High Performance versions of themselves, then immediately crippled by fuel crisis, insurance premiums and changing market. Wicked video, thanks for sharing.
I fell in love with the cleveland back in the 80s when I was in high school. I was amazed at how much a standard 2v cleveland would wake up from standard bolt on stuff. I run 1 in my street car as well as my foxbody dragcar..been asked many times why I don't run a windsor or (gulp) an LS...if I had to explain they couldn't possibly understand.
@@vadenk4433 I'm using 2v AFD aluminum heads on my dragcar and I've been knocking on the door of 11.00 this season. When I tell people what I have in it they're pretty amazed..suffice to say it was more than my stock internal C4 trans could take.
This is some bizarre thing that I've been hearing from young guys about 351 Windsor being the really good ones. I'm 59 years old and I can tell you back in the day nobody would prefer a 351 Windsor over a Cleveland. It was always the stronger engine. This was common knowledge.
In the 80's i street raced a 72 Torino sport with boss 351, once we stopped thinking too much carb, cam or gear and cut the rocker pedestals and put a big solid cam, more compression, good headers , 900 cfm holley and free flowing exhaust it woke up big time, it was a bit tricky out the hole with a coil rear suspension but once it hooked and settled down mid and top end it was a best.
When we were kids we used to live in Englishtown Raceway in New Jersey. Every weekend we go down with our cars let's get to know everybody in the pit area, brings back so many fond memories. Only if we can go back in time!
I raced a version of a Boss 351 that I added all the boss parts to a 1971 4V motor in my 73 Torino that I ran in the figure 8 class at Evergreen Speedway in the late 70's and through the 80's. This was a great motor other than the oiling system sucked. From the factory the Cleveland oiled the cam bearings before the main bearing, and that is a major problem in a racing motor. I cured this problem by drilling through the main oil ports into the intake valley there I tapped the holes and built a manifold (out of copper pipe) to route oil from the oil gallery plug on the side of the block near the oil pump up through a hole drilled in the back of the intake valley and ran a hydraulic hose from the oil gallery up to my homemade manifold under the intake, that feed oil straight to the mains. With this set up I turned my Boss 351 Cleveland at 7200 RPM's all day long with no oil related failures in all the years I ran it. This was the only motor I have owned that was powerful enough to twist off the drive line yoke on a ford 9" rearend pinion shaft.
I had several Clevelands in the big body 71-73 Mustangs, and I always loved them. I have the last one I bought in 1994. I am still awe-struck at the performance of these engines. I also appreciate the gentlemanly courteous sportsmanlike conduct of the men who drove in these great races.
Had one! Came stock in a 1970 GT Torino Ranchero. Massaged it just a little wee bit...kept destroying the FMX automatic it came stock with. Solved the problem by installing a small block C6. Bingo. I swear that motor made 400 plus hp. It terrorized the freeways on Oahu once in a while. Never found that cars top end. Kept running out of road.
Being 70,your video brings back some great memories Andy! Going to the US NATIONALS for many years,i was able to watch Bob,Dyno,G&R win so many races in P/S! Watching on TV or listening to the NASCAR races on the radio, i got to enjoy all those races the different Ford teams won! The late great "Silver Fox","Alan Kulwicki,Davey Allison. Listening to that race where Bill made up 2 laps under green to win,which was unheard of! I'm so thankful i was around at that time,when the Fords were winning so many races. Thank you again, for bringing back many great memories of my younger years!❤
Great video. As a long time cleveland guy, I appreciate you making this video. I am one of the very few cleveland racers at my local track. I have done well with an iron headed pump gas cleveland. Even took out some stroker big block cars. They can’t believe that an iron headed small block Ford can run like that.
I’ve got an Australian ‘79 F100 with an Aussie made 4V 351C and she’s a fast truck , 351C in Australia are legendary engines ! All the best from American 🇺🇸 River, Kangaroo 🦘 Island 🏝️ South Austrália 🇦🇺
Bill didn't just pass them for the lead, making up nearly 3 laps; he kept the hammer down and won by a country mile AFTER gaining the lead. I was one of his adoring fans at the OAKWOOD HOMES 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway '87, watching him come through for the win !!
Haha my grandad had Ford put one of those 351c 4v in his f100. I got to drive it for 2 years after he passed away when I was 17. Wish I had known how rare that truck was. it got sold after the rear main leaked.
I've a 351C in my '72 De Tomaso Pantera, built to about 500hp. The roar emanating from just behind your head is ferocious and is always an adventure driving. Great engine!
Back in the late 90s I built my own Clevor.. 302 roller block with 351 2v heads and I fabricated a tunnel ram sheet metal intake.. still have it! Hey Andy give a shout out if you're in the Sherrills Ford area and great content as usual. Dean
Interesting. If I can get my garage cleaned out and remember how to do anything, I thought a faux Boss 302 with budget 2V heads would be a head-turner. Don’t know how well it would actually run….
@@sombra6153 2v heads have 76-78cc chambers. I thought about using a 3.25 stroke to gain compression after clearancing the chamber for piston intrusion....but I think 289 rods and milling will do the same trick and get about 10:1. Even with stock 302 pistons the exhaust valve has over .200 clearance and the intake has about .090. It is certainly an abnormal combo.
You should have mentioned the success of the Cleveland in Australia where they were developed for the Falcon GTHO & it’s success in Touring car racing & the Bathurst 500 & were exported from Australia for use in the De Thomaso Pantera.
I built a Pinto back in the 90's with a Cleveland my brother and I pulled out of a truck one of his friends said we could have....just laying out in field. Took it to a machine shop, and had it bored to clear wear, TRW 11.25 pistons, balanced with the stock rods, put a GM trans plate on it for a Power Glide. The car weighed Pro Stock when we got it all together....2200 lbs. The cat at the machine shop told us if we turned it past 6k, it would give problems.....and he also said said there ain't nothin' special about them heads, you know that right? Lunati Bracket Master cam with the rear Ford 9 inch gearing at 4.56, it would turn 1.6 at the 60 foot......32 inch MT 14.5 slicks it could melt all the way through the eighth. Never got the car sorted, my ex began to think I had too much money I wasn't spending on her.....before it's end, it was only turning 5k at the lights in the eigth mile, but I scared the shit out of quite a few high dollar cars with it....narrowed rear end we did, with wheel tubs.....it was not a rag.....4 link suspension. Imagine pulling your 80k plus eighth mile killer beside a primered Pinto, and watch it cook 14 inch slicks half way down the track, then back up and dare you to stage.....it was funny as hell!!....yeah, even the 2V Cleveland was no joke!!
What timing, I just had this same conversation with a couple Ford guys at a car event last night, the 351C seems to be largely unknown, and perhaps just too uncommon or exotic for guys to consider using. I did see a Pantera though, so there was one there.
Nice Andy! Back in the day, I got too chat with Jon Lingenfelter, he had installed a Cleveland in his Chevy Monza. He told me that his first Cleveland engine made 70 hp more than his best Chevy small block, he had built. The NHRA, took note and quickly factored the Cleveland to non competitive, status.
I grew up when the Cleveland’s were still common. The performance versions just didn’t get a lot of attention. Over the past two-three of seeing YT features on the 351C, especially the folks who are helping keep Bob Gliddin’s memory and work alive, I am surprised how much more impactful the Cleveland was. I started reading Hot Rod and other performance car mags in the late. 70s and it was a bow tie world. Bob Gliddin, Dyno Don, and Gap and Rousch got some attention here and there, but editors and publishers were more interested in Chevrolets. Productions like this and Drag Boss Garage, for example point out that the Cleveland more of a force to be reckoned with than the glossy magazines ever suggested. Then when Ford products got a new lease on life, it was with the Windsor 5.0. I do recall Bill and Ernie Elliott getting spanked because their 88 T-Bird went 212 in practice and resulted in the prompt imposition of restrictor plates…. Again, love this history.
This is a fantastic video. I really like the 351 Cleveland but we don't hear about them much. Andy is doing great work here, I can't understand why this channel isn't at least 10 times bigger. It's not for a lack of quality content.
What a great video!!!! My neighbor growing up and still today has an original 351 boss 71 mustang and yes its yellow with black stripes. I have ridden in the car and it runs crazy good. The thing has its own sound Also. The 85 Talladega race, I remember watching the race with my grandfather that day. I can remember how happy he was to see Bill be so dominant. Still today if I mention Bill Elliot to my good chevy friend Mike, he tells me Bill really didn’t make up two laps. Its hard for the chevy guys to take such a spanking. Bill will be remembered for ever for being the fastest car in Nascar. You gotta love that. Thanks Andy for helping us remember.
Thanks Andy, I love my Cleveland in the 68 I own. It's all iron and sporting Aussie 2v quench chamber heads. Xcelerator intake and it runs on 93. When I get a pass down the track I will post it.
I built my first hot rod engine in 1976. It was a 351 Cleveland 4V that I took out of a 1970 Mach 1 in the junk yard. Had it bored .030 and added TRW forged 11 to 1 pistons and a pretty big hydraulic cam, a 780 Holley from a 429 SCJ, headers, intake etc. I removed the 289 from my 66 Galaxie 500 2 door hard top and installed that engine along with 4:10 gears and a built C4. I drove that car for many years and raced it regularly with 6500 RPM shifts more often than I could count. No one ever saw it coming and even though it was a big car it won a lot more often than it lost on the street. Drove it in all types of weather cold or warm. Took it on camping trips fully loaded with a boat tied to the roof and an outboard in the trunk on a few occasions. Slept in it a few times with and without company wink wink. One of the best cars I ever had and one of the greatest engines ever made. Eventually blew the 4:10 gears and installed a set of 3:25's. As time passed on I eventually sold it to my brother and he beat on it for years before selling it. An amazing engine that 351C. It still ran perfect when he sold it around 1990. My collection now is mostly GM cars but I will own another 351C 4V or Boss before it is all over.
I put a 351C in my 68 Mustang. It's such a beautiful engine. You don't see them much anymore. When I pop the hood at any car show, people rush over too see it.
Remember watching this my older brother had a 71 boss mustang he unfortunately wrecked it but the engine lives on in my 72 mustang had to make changes to make it more streetable even with a miled build stilk runns awesome
Let me start out by saying I'm a huge Bill Elliott fan. Ernie did build a good engine, but they were so dominant because that Thunderbird body was smaller and narrower and, slicker. Aerodynamically, it was no contest. Between the the good engine and the arrow advantage, nobody else had a chance against Bill that year.
Always love the 351 Cleveland in our Aussie Falcons and I love the gutsy 351 Cleveland in my Australian built Bronco. Lots of grunt and wonderful sound.
great documentary,im a fe guy but i had a 351 cl 66 comet when i was a teen and i did not no what i had at the time or i might have ended up a 351 cl guy.
Good informative piece. Even though the Cleveland was available for only four years in domestic production vehicles, the engine has experienced a resurgence. In Australia, the Cleveland was available to the public for a longer period of time and has seemingly never grown out of favor there. There was also a 302 version of the Cleveland available in Australia. I've owned and raced Windsors and Clevelands in factory- stock and full-race configurations. They each have their place in history and today are both highly regarded by Ford and many non-Ford supporters. The Windsor had a much longer production run and took longer to find off-road success and acceptance. It remains a popular powerplant today. The Cleveland became a star almost immediately, faded a decade or two later and has found a following once again. Yes, check out Dragboss Garage for everything Cleveland and more. B.T.W. The Elliot dominance in the '80's cannot be credited solely to the 351C...😉 Helluva engine, though. Thank you, Andy!
I've never considered the Cleveland to not be a well known motor, I guess the phase 3 and then local casting helped that. And then ford dropping the v8 in 82 made a huge difference too.
The Cleveland engine was well known from the '70's until the early-mid '80's. It's noteworthiness came from its cylinder head design. Overall, the Windsor series was far more prolific. In fact, nearly all those Ford NASCAR victories seen here were accomplished with competitors utilizing Windsor-type cylinder blocks. It is in Australia where the Cleveland design consistently endured. @@Low760
Im a Ford man, grew up as a teen in the 70s. my best friend had a 5yr old 70 boss with a modified 351 clevland. my other friend had a 69 mustang 351 windsor big cam 2brl holley 500. 3 speed on the floor multi angle valve job. that thing screemed on the street also 411 gears.
Had a 351 Cleveland in a 72 mustang,grand-a. Never really pushed it (wish I had now) the ass end was kinda squirrelly,especially when it rained. Still was privileged to own one
Love the 351C, had a '73 Gran Torino Sport I bought in 1976, drove wheels off it , and built it up in the mid 80's with a four bolt main block and 4V close chambered heads. Fast forward, I now have a '73 Mach 1, with 351C 2V, looking to making some mods on it the first of the year. 4V closed chamber heads are hard to find these days, but we'll see what we can come up with.
Had a 351cleveland in a 71 Torino GT. Exceptional pickup with just a stock 2 barrel carb running Regular leaded gas. Best engine I ever had and I've had all the Ford V8 engines from the 60s and 70s.
Awesome historic episode! Thank you Andy!
Absolutely love this stuff! Brings back fantastic memories from my early days as a Ford parts guy(1970-2009) and the beginning of my enthusiastic following or drag racing.
I loved pausing the vid and reading each the article screen shots!
Your vids have come a very long way, the editing and historic content on this one are absolutely pro quality.
More like this please!
Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm still figuring it out as I go! Thanks for watching
Andy
@@UnityMotorSportsGarage Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I sure miss those old races.
i have a running 351 cleveland from 71 mustang and tranny automatic wonder what its worth and if anyone would be looking for one car is shot
I was done by the F9 year also… if you know you know
@@1967wazzy Not worth much because there are huge numbers of them that still exist.
What a gutsy move on David Pearson’s part, deliberately giving up the lead on the last lap, so he could slingshot past at the finish line. I don’t think Richard appreciated getting schooled in front of so many people.
I agree.. he almost messed up! But he had to have massive power to make up that kind of difference in one lap!
Thanks for watching
Andy
@@UnityMotorSportsGarageShades of a later Bill Elliott !!
The Chargers high roof and quarter panels were David's second best friend.
Pearson was a freak driver.
That was very cool manuever, I dont think i would've let up on the last lap like that!
I have a 36k mile orig boss 351, it is an animal. 11.7 compression. Underrated. Fantastic engine
The Boss 351 Mustang was one of the fastest 1/4 mile cars of the era. It had ETs close to big block Mopar territory. I always wonders what a 351 boss would be like in a much lighter 68 Mustang.
I agree! That is awesome
Andy
@@UnityMotorSportsGarage its even on orig tires!
@@UnityMotorSportsGarage in the 80s i put my rear grand national eagle gt 215 60s on it which are tiny and in heat of day best of 4 runs was 13.56 106 mph. It runs strong.
Owned boss 302 and 351 boss mustang
Had a 1974 mercury cougar, 351, bad ass. Didn't know what i had. New driver. Spun out in the rain, middle of a busy intersection. Made a complete spin. Made my turn. I'm sure people watched with open mouths, wide eyed! Holy sshh
In 76/77 timeframe, a friend of mine stuffed a highly modified 351C 4spd into a 65 mustang. That was the sketchiest, fastest mustang I’ve ever ridden in. It twisted the unibody so hard that it ripped the headliner. That’s when I was introduced to the concept of subframe connectors.
Amen to that!!
We did it at same time, had to heat shock towers knock then in so it would fit,
Couple a years later a friend of mine built a351 C put it in a 67 fast back t10 top loader solid mounts torque arms 205 gears
I X framed more than one XR7 and crushed many dreams frim GM with that combo
Engine is not a direct bolt in.
This particular engine appeared in our most famous, most valuable muscle car ever, here in Australia. In the 1971 Phase 3 GT XY Ford Falcon. With the Boss 351 engine in it. That year, it smashed the lap record of our most famous touring car race by 12 seconds. Huge leap forward in speed.
It was NOT a BOSS 351. You`re saying the XW GT-HO Phase II - XY - XA & XB GT 4V are all BOSS 351 engines when they aren`t.
Wow 😳😳!!
No it did not. They were not BOSS 351
@@rodneyjones4890 The engine in the Xy Gtho phase three was very similar to a Boss 351 though.Solid lifter etc.Nothing like a normal Gt which used hydraulic lifters,etc.
@@petergiannaros9037 Similar is not the same.
You do these history video's very, very well, Andy. I spent a lot of time in the 70's behind clevelands. Always loved them. I owned a Boss 302, Boss 351 and had driven a Boss 429. The 71 Boss 351 was the fastest and although large, the 71-73 Mustangs were great drivers with a good ride and handling. Kudo's to Tim Halstead and all of our Aussie friends for keeping them relevent.
the 351C was faster than the 429? I have a mild stroker 351C (383) in 1971 Mustang
Yes. The 71 Boss 351 Cleveland equipped Mustang was a 13.70 performer in the 1/4 mile . It was faster and quicker in the 1/4 than the Boss 429. The Boss 429 didn't have enough camshaft or gearing from the factory to spin the Boss high enough to take advantage of those enormous ports. The first 429 Bosses came with the hydraulic camshaft which was used in the Cobra Jet. Its specs were something like 216 intake duration at .050 lift and 220 degrees exhaust @.050 lift . Ford then utilized the Super Cobra Jet solid lifter camshaft to improve the performance; however, the SCJ specs are pretty anemic when tasked with filling those giant 429 BOSS ports. The SCJ solid lifter cam produced 228 degrees of duration on both the intake and exhaust @.050 lift , with approximately .515 lift at the valve for both the intake and exhaust valves. Even its SCJ camshaft was down 20-25 degrees of duration @.050 lift compared to other high performance motors. It merely needed lower rear end gears, a warmer camshaft and an 850 CFM carburetor to awaken the Boss 429.
The worst part of it is that Ford ended production of that greatest of engines after only 4 years. It did live on being produced in Australia, and that is where the CHI heads come from. It technically lived on in the United States as the 335 series 400 and 351M mostly in trucks and big cars. The 400 had a taller deck and larger mains. Making it to a less suitable high RPM engine. The 351M was a destroked 400 with long rods. Thanks Andy for that piece of winning history for Ford.
With emissions and only 2v setup, the 400's were anemic, heavy, and just complete Dogs. The upside is that they always run good.
It was further developed in Australia for its race program. Unfortunately, the high performance development ended in 1972, when ford was about to release its Phase 4 Falcon. The motors that were going to go into this car were hand built from the factory, and would have been good for 160 mph off the showroom floor.
I had 351 m in a Ford truck ,
IT was a bad work truck
I put a 4 barrel
Had to use Edelbrock 400 intake
This truck WOULD EAT YOUR LUNCH !!!
Actually I'm machining and rebuilding two of these motors now, from what I see the crank does have .500" less stoke on the 351M compared to the 400 it's seems that the rods arr the same length it's just than the wrist pin sits lower on the 351M piston, unlike a 289 Ford compared to a 302 Ford in that case because of the shorter stroke 289 that motor ran the same piston but did have a longer rod because of the shorter stroke crankshaft.
351 Clevelands and 302 Clevelands were produced , cast and assembled in Australia from 1974 to 1984/5 .
It's interesting how few people realize that the Cleveland style heads were used in NASCAR all the way up into the early 2000s. When NASCAR ruled out canted valve heads, Robert Yates and a few others realized that the Fords using Cleveland style heads couldn't lose that design. Yates developed an inline design based on Cleveland technology.
I was the engine man for a small NASCAR truck series team, with yates C3 heads on a 351W style short block we were pulling 780+ hp from 357 cubic inches.
That's well over 2 Horsepower per Cubic Inch - because of Cleveland technology.
The Cleveland wasn't overlooked, it was under spoke of - The Fords ran that Cleveland based technology well into the 2000s, it just wasn't spoken of.
My avater is one of my 357" engines.
It still made over 780hp when it needed new rings, a freshened valve job, and new valvesprings - that pic was snapped the day it ran on Roush's dyno and made those numbers before it came to me to be torn down.
Point is, Cleveland Technology wasn't under rated, it was under spoken of.
Andy, thanks for another great video!
SB 2. Chev engines have canted valves
The Cleveland is probably one of the most handicapped and restricted engines in racing. Even to this day one of my local race tracks say in bold lettering, no Cleveland heads period. So of course I’m going to use my set of Aussie heads. To just see if they even remember what they look like.
@@stevenkirk2563do not.
@@mikeadams42 The best thing about the Cleavland was the heads cause there was nothing impressive about the rest of the motor and there is ways to fix the problems that Clevelands had. They had poor cooling features. No water passed through the intake at all and they had poor oiling features as well and the cylinders was extremely close together so if they were bored 30 or 40 thousands over then they had heating issues and already had poor cooling circulation and the oil pump shaft was about the same size as a 289 so there was another problem and everyone talks about Rouch and Yates but nobody has said anything about Bob Gliden. There is performance head manufacturers still copying what Bob and his wife did to Cleavland heads today. Bob built a oven to heat the heads enough so he could weld up the combustion chambers and intake runners so he could port and cut the heads how he wanted them and that was a extremely amount of work doing that to cast iron heads
Chevrolet threw a shit fit and as usual got their way..again.
I love the vintage racing. The new power is cool too, but that old school stuff is still my favorite.👍🏼
Robert Yates doesn't get enough credit as a great engine builder. Those RYR Fords were always in the hunt on the superspeedways. Rest in peace Robert.
Ernie Elliot was responsible for brother bills record setting 358 ci nascar ford engine
@rickkowalske4116 never said that he didn't. Robert Yates didn't buy Ranier Racing until 1988, long after the record setting run. After Yates started building his own engines for his race team, they were tough competition. Even Dale Sr said he hated seeing that Texaco sign in his mirror because he knew it wasn't going to stay there long
Robert Yates Rocketships were engineering masterpieces. Bill Elliot later said they kept tearing down Ernies engines looking for the advantage when in reality it was the windtunnel work that body man Johnson did.
I agree! Thanks for watching
Andy
Disagree with that statement.robert Yates has cylinder heads named after him.ever hear of rousch yates?the Yates part is Robert Yates engines,who merged in with rousch to keep ford nascar engine development.
Those 4v heads pulled like crazy.
Over 4000 revs ! Boss 302 s with similar 4v heads could not pull the skin off custard at the lights , those massive valves and ports just lost all flow speed , untill 4000rpm., they would back fire , stall, fart around till the revs got up , plus Ford learned a lesson on port air flow from the 4v heads , must be remembered the 302 Boss had two X 1250cfm dominator Carbies that did not help low end air flow !
my dad always said the 351C was one of the best engines of its time.
Dad was right
I worked in an autoparts store machine shop doing valve jobs mostly for a few years back in the 70's, and we got every engine in the shop. The 351C-4v were the best most impressive heads we ever saw. We basically said they were big block chevy heads but for a small block and even better. Unfortunately, they were not common to see, few people raced them at our local socal dragstrip,
the FE engines also had excellent heads.
Ford had the GTHO Falcon in Australia with the 4V Cleveland in one form it was geared to do 170mph and won countless touring car races here.
Thank you Andy for the history lesson. When I think of the 351 cleveland.i think of Bob Glidden! When you have to change the rules, that's all you need to know. Mr.Glidden doesn't get enough credit. I was a Lee Shepard fan, but had much respect for Bob
Glidden and his family!
NHRA bent their rules to allow Glidden to use raised port plates even though the rules clearly stated internal modifications only. If the Cleveland abided by the rules they wouldn’t have been very competitive.
That was a cool one there! Those cylinder heads are still out there busting butts to this day.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching
Andy
That Talladega race is still the most impressive show of power in automotive history. I can remember it like yesterday. Oh, and yes, I still have my 351C with 2V heads (modified) putting out nearly 500hp built back in the 1980s. I love the Cleveland engine and I will NEVER understand why Ford dropped it. It's also Richard Holdener's favorite small block too.
I have a 351 4bolt main block (supposedly from a pantera according to my machine shop guy) with
modified 2v heads in my 71.
I love it and still surprise alot of these modern muscle cars. I tell them it's a 2bbl small block they
Straight up don't believe it!
Cleveland?? Poor oiling, poor cooling, big heavy cranks and rods and what could be a very good cylinder head except is was stupidly big. Looking at those Nascar heads and drag race heads they were NOT Clevo heads but loosely based on them.
I believe it was BS emission rules that ended the Cleveland in America
@@ldnwholesale8552where did you pick up that nonsense.
I graduated from high school 1979 my friends sister had Mach 1 with 351 Cleveland stock, and 4:54 it ran 14.10 in the 1/4 mile which was as fast as her brothers 1971 LS -5 454 /365 hp Chevelle. I Love all you and David Vizards videos keep up the good work
I love those engines an i still have my boss now for 50yrs
It’s about time someone covered this engine!
Awesome video Andy!
Thank you!
Those 351 Cleveland were absolute terrors when built right and just 1 good running well tuned Cleveland car could put every other car in that class on the trailer...they would absolutely beat a lot of big blocks in the 1/4 mile chevy,dodge or other fords...they were the most powerful small block from the muscle car era and i can only imagine where they would be if they weren't outlawed and outright banned to usher in different rules and engines by several racing organizations...
I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Glidden at a late 80's Ford Motorsports Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway Park, I liked him before that but was a major fan afterwards. Just down to earth and a really nice person.
On the topic of the video, I had a hand in tuning a 351C in a 71 Torino Sportsroof street racer and that high power small block took many by surprise in the big intermediate, far more then my big block 68 fastback Torino ever did.
I love this video Andy❤. Thanks for the inclusion. You pulled a 0.00 on me, 😳, thanks for getting me back on track. Mine is a different perspective, they will compliment each other. Appreciate the shout out. 👍🏁💯
Thanks Tim I'm glad you enjoyed it! I know your video will go way more in detail.. I'm looking forward to it
They will go well together
Andy
@@UnityMotorSportsGarage right on my brother. Hope you like mine, finally have a new program Appreciate our friendship, inspiration and love of Ford’s 💯🏁
Loved that footage Andy👍👍
The Silver fox getting Petty on the last lap was awesome!!!
The Silver Fox was a bad dude! He had Petty's number on this day! Thanks for watching
Andy
I drove Alan Kulwicki's first race car before his dad purchased it. Early February 1972 I performed the dealer PDI on a blue '72 formal roof GranTorino equipped with a 351SCJ 11-1 premium fuel only solid lifter , H/D C6 ,3.91 nodular locker heavy duty everything. Summer of '81 I borrowed Alan's tire groover at his dad's garage in Greenfield,Wis. In the garage was a tube chassied "72 granTorino maxed out Cleveland , C6 ,5.13 geared locker equipped screamer.Two weeks later,Alan first drove his Cleveland at Hales Corner's 1/4 mile dirt oval sounding like a Grumpy Jenkins smallblock wound tighter than Dick's hatband. Our 427 '70 Cyclone front/'70 Torino back half racecar, Alan's GranTorino and the "67 Fairlane 427 of a guy named Jimmy Hendricks (white dude) were the only 3 Ford's running Hales that year, everything else was Chevy's. Thanx for waking my good memories...
I was impressed with the 351c. I had a 74 Pantera for a long time. That 351 was warmed up a bit and put down 521 whp on 91 pump gas. I never had a problem with it, it just ran. Good low end power with a real hard pull up top. I miss that car.....
🤤 you lucky duck ! I've always dreamed of owning a Pantera !
@Fred_NaughT Thank you. It was a dream of mine ever since I was a bus boy and saw Rod Stewart come in to have coffee with some babe. The car was amazing, the woman was beautiful, and Rod was just cool as ice cream, lol.
My favorite engine of all time. Still have two std bore in the shop.
I was there. My buddy had a 69 Mach 1- 351 Windsor 4V.
All we did was make sure it had the right tune.
We would take on 396 Chevs and 383 Mopars and kick their ass and or they could not run away from us.
Ford blue here, great video.
Thanks Andy.
Im glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching and sharing that story. its ironic how the Windsor outlasted the Cleveland
Andy
The 351 Cleveland never came in the 1969 Mustang. It didn’t come out until midway in the 1970 production year.
@@danmyers9372 I know that and have always known that.
I was just saying the 351W could hold its own against the competition.
I am a Ford performance historian so I know a thing or two.
@@danmyers9372
Read Gurney For president comment again. He says Windsor, not Cleveland .
Had a few 69 4v Windsor's back in the day.
Just a flat top piston, a weird split cam, heavy on exhaust lift.
It was a decent street engine, but a glorified grocery getter engine.
Great show Andy, Cleveland’s were popular in OZ, we ran then in 302 and 351 displacements. Pete Gheoghan ran his Falcon down conrod straight at 183 mph when it was literally a country road.
That is an awesome story! Thanks for watching and sharing that
Andy
In New Zealand the Ford V8s that I saw friends with were Cleveland's. Windsors were very uncommon.
Wish you could send me one of those 302 cranks that fit the Cleveland block.
@@jesse75 I can if you want, I’ve got a crank and rods for a 302 Cleveland sitting in the shed.
Bob Glidden was undefeated with his 351C powered 78 Fairmont and never lost a single match, round, or event with that combination. He later performed the sane magic to the BOSS 429 after the Clevelands domination in both NHRA and IHRA forcing the move to 500 in³.
Long live FoMoCo 🤴 👑
Glidden to me will always be the ProStock 👑
Thanks for watching
Andy
His engines were EXTREMELY modified from stock. So much so it’s almost hard to still call them a Boss 351.
@danmyers9372 and the others weren't built to the hilt?
It's a fact that no in-line valve head can outflow a canted/splayed valve arrangement and no matter the excuses from Ford haters.....the Cleveland and BOSS 9 dominated at his hands until GM made a race specific DRCE.
Fords oem engines were/are superior
@@danmyers9372 - fact is Ford used engines that came in factory production vehicles such as 335 and 385 series. Gm needed to build complete aftermarket engine never offered in any production vehicle to try and beat Ford interesting to note the DRCE has exact port layout of Cleveland Ford engine, they needed to build Ford engine to beat Ford engine ..
He also did it with a Plymouth Arrow with a small block Chrysler engine. Had nothing to do with Ford. Had everything to do with being Bob Glidden.
The ford 335 & 385 series engines had great aspirations & potential baked into the architecture.
There’s a reason we have Mountain Motors, Ford was planning some insane power, it’s why the Mustang received a large platform to handle stock 500 cu. plus engines & huge power that were anticipated from the 385 & 335 series.
Both the 335 & 385 series engines just barely got that first gasp of High Performance versions of themselves, then immediately crippled by fuel crisis, insurance premiums and changing market.
Wicked video, thanks for sharing.
Exactly Ford was setting their engines up to be easy to use them in racing applications without expense of retooling
Bob Glidden & Dyno Don Hutchins are legends they paved the way for us. Great video Andy, thanks
Still found/made to in Australia. Can even get an upgraded engine fuel injected three valves. Must send in a core
I have an 85 Winston cup SVO 351 block. It's still new in the crate box. My 67 Fadtback is getting a new Boss 302 stroked to supercharged 347 ci.
Some things are priceless if you are a Ford small block fan of the day. Thank you for showing this.
I fell in love with the cleveland back in the 80s when I was in high school. I was amazed at how much a standard 2v cleveland would wake up from standard bolt on stuff. I run 1 in my street car as well as my foxbody dragcar..been asked many times why I don't run a windsor or (gulp) an LS...if I had to explain they couldn't possibly understand.
Yeah a properly tuned healthy 2V Cleveland can surprise a lot of people. I have one in my 2wd 1979 F150 with a 4 speed and run 13's with it.
@@vadenk4433 I'm using 2v AFD aluminum heads on my dragcar and I've been knocking on the door of 11.00 this season. When I tell people what I have in it they're pretty amazed..suffice to say it was more than my stock internal C4 trans could take.
This is some bizarre thing that I've been hearing from young guys about 351 Windsor being the really good ones. I'm 59 years old and I can tell you back in the day nobody would prefer a 351 Windsor over a Cleveland. It was always the stronger engine. This was common knowledge.
In the 80's i street raced a 72 Torino sport with boss 351, once we stopped thinking too much carb, cam or gear and cut the rocker pedestals and put a big solid cam, more compression, good headers , 900 cfm holley and free flowing exhaust it woke up big time, it was a bit tricky out the hole with a coil rear suspension but once it hooked and settled down mid and top end it was a best.
When we were kids we used to live in Englishtown Raceway in New Jersey. Every weekend we go down with our cars let's get to know everybody in the pit area, brings back so many fond memories. Only if we can go back in time!
I raced a version of a Boss 351 that I added all the boss parts to a 1971 4V motor in my 73 Torino that I ran in the figure 8 class at Evergreen Speedway in the late 70's and through the 80's. This was a great motor other than the oiling system sucked. From the factory the Cleveland oiled the cam bearings before the main bearing, and that is a major problem in a racing motor. I cured this problem by drilling through the main oil ports into the intake valley there I tapped the holes and built a manifold (out of copper pipe) to route oil from the oil gallery plug on the side of the block near the oil pump up through a hole drilled in the back of the intake valley and ran a hydraulic hose from the oil gallery up to my homemade manifold under the intake, that feed oil straight to the mains. With this set up I turned my Boss 351 Cleveland at 7200 RPM's all day long with no oil related failures in all the years I ran it. This was the only motor I have owned that was powerful enough to twist off the drive line yoke on a ford 9" rearend pinion shaft.
Agreed on the oiling system. The issue plagued many 351M / 400 truck motors.
I have 71 Mach fact 4sp 351c cj car had it 40 years grabber blue luv ur video 😊
Thanks to our Aussie friends they made this engine a force to be reckoned with for decades👍
Us Aussies love our 302 Cleveland as well, exclusive to Australia.
And yes thanks again 2 our aussie friends.bein in new Zealand we got the cleaveland in the aussie falcon.i love the cleaveland
I had several Clevelands in the big body 71-73 Mustangs, and I always loved them. I have the last one I bought in 1994. I am still awe-struck at the performance of these engines. I also appreciate the gentlemanly courteous sportsmanlike conduct of the men who drove in these great races.
Watching this brings back so many memories from growing up in the 70s. A era that was Great.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for watching
Andy
Yep. Listening to Jackie Stewart's voice and Keith Jackson flash back city!
Had one! Came stock in a 1970 GT Torino Ranchero. Massaged it just a little wee bit...kept destroying the FMX automatic it came stock with. Solved the problem by installing a small block C6. Bingo. I swear that motor made 400 plus hp. It terrorized the freeways on Oahu once in a while. Never found that cars top end. Kept running out of road.
Being 70,your video brings back some great memories Andy! Going to the US NATIONALS for many years,i was able to watch Bob,Dyno,G&R win so many races in P/S! Watching on TV or listening to the NASCAR races on the radio, i got to enjoy all those races the different Ford teams won! The late great "Silver Fox","Alan Kulwicki,Davey Allison. Listening to that race where Bill made up 2 laps under green to win,which was unheard of! I'm so thankful i was around at that time,when the Fords were winning so many races. Thank you again, for bringing back many great memories of my younger years!❤
That yellow Boss 351 in the beginning was originally one of two 1971 Boss 302 Mustangs buìlt
Great video. As a long time cleveland guy, I appreciate you making this video. I am one of the very few cleveland racers at my local track. I have done well with an iron headed pump gas cleveland. Even took out some stroker big block cars. They can’t believe that an iron headed small block Ford can run like that.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Long love the Cleveland!!
Andy
Cool. A Futura. Almost forgot about them. Great video!
2X Jimmy. I too was a Ford parts man from 1977 to 2018. This video got my Ford blue blood pumping. Great vid!
Also here in Hamilton NZ, there would been around 30 or so Cleveland powered cars at the All FORD Day I was part of this weekend, 10th Sept. '23 !!
I’ve got an Australian ‘79 F100 with an Aussie made 4V 351C and she’s a fast truck , 351C in Australia are legendary engines ! All the best from American 🇺🇸 River, Kangaroo 🦘 Island 🏝️ South Austrália 🇦🇺
Bill didn't just pass them for the lead, making up nearly 3 laps; he kept the hammer down and won by a country mile AFTER gaining the lead. I was one of his adoring fans at the OAKWOOD HOMES 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway '87, watching him come through for the win !!
Awesome Bill
From Dawsonville
My favorite Car of all times, Thunderbird and Cleveland!! None better!!
Haha my grandad had Ford put one of those 351c 4v in his f100. I got to drive it for 2 years after he passed away when I was 17. Wish I had known how rare that truck was. it got sold after the rear main leaked.
I've a 351C in my '72 De Tomaso Pantera, built to about 500hp. The roar emanating from just behind your head is ferocious and is always an adventure driving. Great engine!
Back in the late 90s I built my own Clevor.. 302 roller block with 351 2v heads and I fabricated a tunnel ram sheet metal intake.. still have it!
Hey Andy give a shout out if you're in the Sherrills Ford area and great content as usual. Dean
HOW DID IT RUN ?
Just curious how you built compression into it if you dont mind saying.
Interesting. If I can get my garage cleaned out and remember how to do anything, I thought a faux Boss 302 with budget 2V heads would be a head-turner. Don’t know how well it would actually run….
@@sombra6153 2v heads have 76-78cc chambers. I thought about using a 3.25 stroke to gain compression after clearancing the chamber for piston intrusion....but I think 289 rods and milling will do the same trick and get about 10:1. Even with stock 302 pistons the exhaust valve has over .200 clearance and the intake has about .090. It is certainly an abnormal combo.
From a Chevy guy who loves the early 1970s 350 LT-1 I love the Boss 351..Truly the best of the 351s.
You should have mentioned the success of the Cleveland in Australia where they were developed for the Falcon GTHO & it’s success in Touring car racing & the Bathurst 500 & were exported from Australia for use in the De Thomaso Pantera.
I built a Pinto back in the 90's with a Cleveland my brother and I pulled out of a truck one of his friends said we could have....just laying out in field.
Took it to a machine shop, and had it bored to clear wear, TRW 11.25 pistons, balanced with the stock rods, put a GM trans plate on it for a Power Glide. The car weighed Pro Stock when we got it all together....2200 lbs. The cat at the machine shop told us if we turned it past 6k, it would give problems.....and he also said said there ain't nothin' special about them heads, you know that right?
Lunati Bracket Master cam with the rear Ford 9 inch gearing at 4.56, it would turn 1.6 at the 60 foot......32 inch MT 14.5 slicks it could melt all the way through the eighth.
Never got the car sorted, my ex began to think I had too much money I wasn't spending on her.....before it's end, it was only turning 5k at the lights in the eigth mile, but I scared the shit out of quite a few high dollar cars with it....narrowed rear end we did, with wheel tubs.....it was not a rag.....4 link suspension.
Imagine pulling your 80k plus eighth mile killer beside a primered Pinto, and watch it cook 14 inch slicks half way down the track, then back up and dare you to stage.....it was funny as hell!!....yeah, even the 2V Cleveland was no joke!!
What timing, I just had this same conversation with a couple Ford guys at a car event last night, the 351C seems to be largely unknown, and perhaps just too uncommon or exotic for guys to consider using. I did see a Pantera though, so there was one there.
The Cleveland is a beast!
Andy
Nice Andy! Back in the day, I got too chat with Jon Lingenfelter, he had installed a Cleveland in his Chevy Monza. He told me that his first Cleveland engine made 70 hp more than his best Chevy small block, he had built. The NHRA, took note and quickly factored the Cleveland to non competitive, status.
Didn’t happen in Pro Stock. All NHRA, AHRA and I HRA Pro stock required The engine to be from the same make as the body shell.
@@Atomwaffen-y3s John's, car was not a pro stock, he ran a modified production class.
My buddy had a Kaase 351 C in his 84 Mustang…………… Powerglide and 4.30s. Insane
I bet it was a wicked ride! Thanks for watching
Andy
I grew up when the Cleveland’s were still common. The performance versions just didn’t get a lot of attention. Over the past two-three of seeing YT features on the 351C, especially the folks who are helping keep Bob Gliddin’s memory and work alive, I am surprised how much more impactful the Cleveland was. I started reading Hot Rod and other performance car mags in the late. 70s and it was a bow tie world. Bob Gliddin, Dyno Don, and Gap and Rousch got some attention here and there, but editors and publishers were more interested in Chevrolets. Productions like this and Drag Boss Garage, for example point out that the Cleveland more of a force to be reckoned with than the glossy magazines ever suggested. Then when Ford products got a new lease on life, it was with the Windsor 5.0. I do recall Bill and Ernie Elliott getting spanked because their 88 T-Bird went 212 in practice and resulted in the prompt imposition of restrictor plates…. Again, love this history.
This is a fantastic video. I really like the 351 Cleveland but we don't hear about them much. Andy is doing great work here, I can't understand why this channel isn't at least 10 times bigger. It's not for a lack of quality content.
Greetings to Greg.
Thanks for the Kind words Greg! I really appreciate the support.
Andy
What a great video!!!! My neighbor growing up and still today has an original 351 boss 71 mustang and yes its yellow with black stripes. I have ridden in the car and it runs crazy good. The thing has its own sound Also. The 85 Talladega race, I remember watching the race with my grandfather that day. I can remember how happy he was to see Bill be so dominant. Still today if I mention Bill Elliot to my good chevy friend Mike, he tells me Bill really didn’t make up two laps. Its hard for the chevy guys to take such a spanking. Bill will be remembered for ever for being the fastest car in Nascar. You gotta love that.
Thanks Andy for helping us remember.
Actually close to three 😅 😬 😳 laps
Thanks Andy, I love my Cleveland in the 68 I own. It's all iron and sporting Aussie 2v quench chamber heads. Xcelerator intake and it runs on 93. When I get a pass down the track I will post it.
I built my first hot rod engine in 1976. It was a 351 Cleveland 4V that I took out of a 1970 Mach 1 in the junk yard. Had it bored .030 and added TRW forged 11 to 1 pistons and a pretty big hydraulic cam, a 780 Holley from a 429 SCJ, headers, intake etc. I removed the 289 from my 66 Galaxie 500 2 door hard top and installed that engine along with 4:10 gears and a built C4. I drove that car for many years and raced it regularly with 6500 RPM shifts more often than I could count. No one ever saw it coming and even though it was a big car it won a lot more often than it lost on the street. Drove it in all types of weather cold or warm. Took it on camping trips fully loaded with a boat tied to the roof and an outboard in the trunk on a few occasions. Slept in it a few times with and without company wink wink. One of the best cars I ever had and one of the greatest engines ever made. Eventually blew the 4:10 gears and installed a set of 3:25's. As time passed on I eventually sold it to my brother and he beat on it for years before selling it. An amazing engine that 351C. It still ran perfect when he sold it around 1990. My collection now is mostly GM cars but I will own another 351C 4V or Boss before it is all over.
I put a 351C in my 68 Mustang. It's such a beautiful engine. You don't see them much anymore. When I pop the hood at any car show, people rush over too see it.
Remember watching this my older brother had a 71 boss mustang he unfortunately wrecked it but the engine lives on in my 72 mustang had to make changes to make it more streetable even with a miled build stilk runns awesome
A great review of a legendary engine. We enjoyed the old interviews and film clips. Thank you!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Thanks for watching
Andy
Let me start out by saying I'm a huge Bill Elliott fan. Ernie did build a good engine, but they were so dominant because that Thunderbird body was smaller and narrower and, slicker. Aerodynamically, it was no contest. Between the the good engine and the arrow advantage, nobody else had a chance against Bill that year.
The valve size is like wow. I'm a gmc person. But I saw the heads of a 351c. It is impressive to see valves as big as they have. .
That was awesome!! Love the old ford stuff! Love your channel. I watch as much as I can . Always on the road, trucking . Thanks !
3:49 the Muscle car era was underway in Australia and continued steadily until 1984. The 351 Cleveland in a Falcon is just **chefs kiss** 👌👌
Always love the 351 Cleveland in our Aussie Falcons and I love the gutsy 351 Cleveland in my Australian built Bronco. Lots of grunt and wonderful sound.
My first car was a 351 Cleveland. I bought a 1969 Ford GT the day I turned 16 for $400 and took it out on Cornhusker Hwy and it did 135 mph.
IIRC at first the intake ports were so big, it took awhile to get the cams and induction systems to compliment the enormous intake ports.
I have a 351 Cleveland from a 1982 Australian ford falcon , it is in my F250 and regularly pulls a 4500 tractor plus trailer without overheating
Splayed valve symmetrical port🤘🏽 enough said
Had a 351 Cleveland in my '70 Mercury Montego MX. Great engine in a fun car, and I wish I still had it.
Bob Glidden's 1977 Boss 351 powered Ford Fairmont won every Pro Stock race in 1977. That's gotta be some kind of record!
I think I had this engine in a 1973 Torino. I can't remember having any problems with it.
I found my self smiling thru this whole video, great one Andy!
Awesome history, thanks for sharing, all the best to you and your loved ones
Great ford history 👏
Thanks for watching
Andy
great documentary,im a fe guy but i had a 351 cl 66 comet when i was a teen and i did not no what i had at the time or i might have ended up a 351 cl guy.
Good informative piece. Even though the Cleveland was available for only four years in domestic production vehicles, the engine has experienced a resurgence. In Australia, the Cleveland was available to the public for a longer period of time and has seemingly never grown out of favor there. There was also a 302 version of the Cleveland available in Australia. I've owned and raced Windsors and Clevelands in factory- stock and full-race configurations. They each have their place in history and today are both highly regarded by Ford and many non-Ford supporters. The Windsor had a much longer production run and took longer to find off-road success and acceptance. It remains a popular powerplant today. The Cleveland became a star almost immediately, faded a decade or two later and has found a following once again. Yes, check out Dragboss Garage for everything Cleveland and more. B.T.W. The Elliot dominance in the '80's cannot be credited solely to the 351C...😉 Helluva engine, though. Thank you, Andy!
I've never considered the Cleveland to not be a well known motor, I guess the phase 3 and then local casting helped that. And then ford dropping the v8 in 82 made a huge difference too.
The Cleveland engine was well known from the '70's until the early-mid '80's. It's noteworthiness came from its cylinder head design. Overall, the Windsor series was far more prolific. In fact, nearly all those Ford NASCAR victories seen here were accomplished with competitors utilizing Windsor-type cylinder blocks. It is in Australia where the Cleveland design consistently endured. @@Low760
For a given displacement it always comes down to who has the best cylinder heads.
That is so true
351 boss was a beast.
yes, better then boss 302
The Cleveland ! Loved the sound of one of those. My dad had a I think it was a 71 or 72 fastback with a Cleveland in it.
71 boss 351 4 speed was a fabulous car ...........
Back in the early 70’s one of my friends had a 70 mustang Mach 1 that had the Boss 351. That car was quick for the time.
Great show, thank you
Im a Ford man, grew up as a teen in the 70s. my best friend had a 5yr old 70 boss with a modified 351 clevland. my other friend had a 69 mustang 351 windsor big cam 2brl holley 500. 3 speed on the floor multi angle valve job. that thing screemed on the street also 411 gears.
My cousin had a '71 Cyclone with a 351C. It was awesome and out ran many big blocks. Great bang for the buck.
They run hard! Thanks for watching
Andy
Bob Glidden got it done with the Cleveland & the 429 big block.
Had a 351 Cleveland in a 72 mustang,grand-a. Never really pushed it (wish I had now) the ass end was kinda squirrelly,especially when it rained. Still was privileged to own one
Love the 351C, had a '73 Gran Torino Sport I bought in 1976, drove wheels off it , and built it up in the mid 80's with a four bolt main block and 4V close chambered heads. Fast forward, I now have a '73 Mach 1, with 351C 2V, looking to making some mods on it the first of the year. 4V closed chamber heads are hard to find these days, but we'll see what we can come up with.
Come to Australia we use em as door stops
I have a set at my daughters....
Had a 351cleveland in a 71 Torino GT. Exceptional pickup with just a stock 2 barrel carb running Regular leaded gas. Best engine I ever had and I've had all the Ford V8 engines from the 60s and 70s.
Such a great video, thank you very much for making this!
Im glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching
Andy