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Engine Conversion

1K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  357f-150 
#1 ·
I have a 1994 Ford 5.8 Liter (351 Windsor) EFI engine that I want to convert to a Carb. The engine has 34,000 miles and is in excellent condition. Besides the intake manifold and carb, I intend on a new ignition system, cam, lifters, timing gears and chain, please provide me with any suggestions to make sure my conversion goes smoothly.

:rolleyes:
 
#2 ·
You will have to get a timing cover form an early model engine if you want to run a mechanical fuel pump.

You can run an electric fuel pump and regulator. Rmemeber, you need to run around 6 to 8 psi. The old fuel injection pump will be too much.

Make sure your oil pan and pickup will work in the new vehicle.
 
#3 ·
351W conversion

Since you are going to be removing the computer system, I would recommend going with a good aftermarket electronic ignition, or you could rob an old points unit and put a Petronix conversion kit in it.
A lot depends on what you are going to do with the car. If you are planning to stick with the stock tranny and gears, I would consider a cam in the neighborhood of 200-210 degrees duration with a lobe separation of 109-110 degrees.
As luciano stated, you will need to change the front timing cover if you want to run a mechanical fuel pump, and, if so, be sure to get the correct fuel pump eccentric for it as they made a couple differnent designs and miss matching them can create a prolbem, with the eccentric eating a hole through the timing cover, causing aluminum filings to fall down in your pan and pass through the engine, resulting in 0/0 tolarances and a locked up engine.
Being you are running a heavy car, I would go with an intake geared more for bottom end power, meaning mainly a dual plane, and a 550 to 600 CFM carb. As for what brand or model of intake, everyone has their own ideas on that. I would look at intakes designed to work in the 0-5500 RPM bracket.
As for exhaust, finding full length tube headers could be a hassle, so I would opt for a set of shorties designed for a mustang.
Would be hard to go wrong there.
As for timing chain and gears, I would go with roller chain, as they dont wear as fast, but then when considering a stock replacement steel gears and standard chain should be good for 100,000 miles, that could be a moot issue.
Are you planning to do any work on the heads?
If so, are you going to do it yourself or have that farmed out?
If you are going to farm them out, you should consider going with a set of Roush or World Jr steel heads instead. By the time you have your stock heads worked over with porting etc, you would have as much in them as the cost of the aftermarket steel heads. The reason I would go with the Jr heads is that they run the 1.94/1.60 valves and since you arent going to be running a mega rpm engine with this car, going to the larger runnered and larger valve (2.02/1.600) isnt needed. Going with the larger valves would also require having your pistons flycut for them.
If aluminum heads are your thing, I would go with a set of Twisted Wedge, as, they are probably the best bang for the buck, in that they have the 2.02/1.60 valves but due to the head configuration, unless you go with a duration of more than about 240 and a lift over .520. you dont need to have special valve reliefs cut in your pistons, as you would with heads that have the conventional valve layout, when using the 2.02 intakes.
The best thing to do, is to realistically decide what you will be doing with the car the most. If its going to be a daily driver, then keeping your cam etc in a civil mode for everyday driving is imperitive.
It is amazing what gains can be made with just mild hopup touches. Its very easy to put an extra 75-100 hp under your hood without having to turn your engine stratospheric rpm.
If you are wanting to go from mild to wild, then you will need to spend some bucks on other things as well as the engine.
One thing that will help your car is a good shift improver kit in the transmission. They go a long way to reducing wear and tear on the slush box. A good grill mounted cooler for the tranny, bypassing the cooler in the radiator, is also highly recommended.
 
#6 · (Edited)
The only 351w's to get the gt-40 heads were lightnings, the non lightning f-series used standard E7 type head.



For ignition you could use any aftermarket unit, if your looking for simple, you could look up DUI distributors, its basically a GM upper distributor on a ford lower, the module and coil are contained within the cap, hook up one wire and your good. You can find generic versions all over ebay. The ford duraspark II distributor, coil and module will do the trick as well, you can get reman or new parts at any autoparts store and not pay a lot to get it. Duraspark II distributor and an msd ignition box (module) and coil works well.



You may be in luck, with a 94 block you may have a roller compatible block. Around 94 ford installed 351w blocks that had taller lifter bores aka roller compatible, for the most part they all received flat tappet cams from the factory, why they did that who knows, the lightnings received the F4TE block and even those had flat tappet cams from the factory? Switching to a roller on an F4TE block is less expensive, as compared to converting a non roller block. Look at your casting code, if you see F4TE its roller compatible. This means you can install any off the shelf roller cam designed for a SBF, you can use 302 roller lifters, H bars and spider retainer (not too expenive from the junkyard or ebay). Keep in mind, if you purchase a roller cam the gear on the distributor needs to be compatible, some companies require you to change the gear, some do not as they have a ring gear on the camshaft compatible with non roller distributor gears (cast), not knowing if the two gears are compatible can lead to problems real quick.
 
#7 ·
357f

we're thinkin' (?) on the same path....?

Need to know what it's in? There is a small chance for GT-40 heads, they did use some in Excursions and tow package pickups. But I don't recall (CRS) what years.

Yup, was thinkin' to make it a roller motor if possible.

"Need more info" was what I was tempted to post, "the line never stops" at Ford plants so all kinds of weird combo's show up.
 
#8 ·
Excursions came later and 99.9% sure the only 351w to get the gt-40 were the lightnings. There was a limited number of 351w mustangs with them but I doubt he has that engine.



For some reason ford thought it would be a better idea to stick the gt-40 on 96/97 and earlier explorer/mountaineer 5.0's and stick the gt-40p on the 96/97 and later explorer/mountaineer 5.0's. I can understand why they stuck them on the early to mid mustang 5.0's but explorer's...:)



Ford has done some interesting things.
 
#10 ·
red65mustang [/i][b] Thinkin' yesterday said:
.
For some reason ford thought it would be a better idea to stick the gt-40 on 96/97 and earlier explorer/mountaineer 5.0's and stick the gt-40p on the 96/97 and later explorer/mountaineer 5.0's.


The gt-40 or gt-40p were standard issue on the previosly mentioned vehicles, not an upgrade option. Ford, I assume, looked at the head as a means to achieve a certain level of performance/emission...emphasis on emissions.
 
#11 ·
357f Yup, "brain dead"

he's askin bout' 351....I'm thinkin 302....duh

Did just find a very good article on the "p" heads: stangpro.com/articles/GT40p

Has flow charts and details for all (289 302 351)including after market.

That should help him with his "351" build

Not enough sleep, speed week Daytona...it's crazy around here
 
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