[RideQuality]

Thanks for having a look,
I am restoring/customizing a 1965 Thunderbird that has the factory 390 in it.
I was interested in placing a 351 with C6 trans in it instead, and was wondering if anyone knew of either a mount conversion, or changes that would be needed to install.
Thanks again.

[ScoTFrenzel]

Originally Posted by RideQuality

Thanks for having a look,
I am restoring/customizing a 1965 Thunderbird that has the factory 390 in it.
I was interested in placing a 351 with C6 trans in it instead, and was wondering if anyone knew of either a mount conversion, or changes that would be needed to install.
Thanks again.

W, C, or M ?

[eloc431962]

i agree with scot.need more info on which 351 you are installing.

[woodz428]

Regardless of which 351, you should be able to use the tranny mount as is. The engine mounts will differ ( the C and W will be the same), but in most cases you can use a stock Ford mount for the big car and the engine being used.

[RideQuality]

Thanks for the quick replys.
The type of 351 has not been detrmined yet, my concern currently was whether or not it would be a tremendous pain to do so.
Could you explain the differences I may face on choice of engine?
Thanks

[bates_k]

Why do you want to put a 351 in it?

K

[RideQuality]

I would like to put a 351 in it simply because it has a good selection of performance parts available, as well as engine dressup accesories, versus the 390.

[coostv]

What do you wish to do to it performance wise? The 390 may not have a wide variety of parts available,but it does have enough to make it fairly stout. Cams, heads, intakes, valve covers, headers. It may not be a revver, but with the right cam, intake, converter, and gears it can be a serious stop light racer. Before going through the trouble and expense of swapping a lesser engine contact some of the FE parts suppliers (NOT Summit or Jegs). Try amotion.com or oregoncamshaft.comoregoncamshaft.com or one of the many others. Edit, I almost forgot one of the better ones FE Speciaties

Using stock heads you can achieve respectable HP and TQ with the right parts combination.

My $.02

Chris

[RideQuality]

Thanks for the advice on that, I will look into those places Chris.
I am not much of a racer, more of a cruiser, and also wanted to find out if maybee a 351 would get some better gas mileage than the 390.
The Tbird sits at about 4500 without passengers, and its allot of weight to haul around. I understand average gas mileage will be roughly 6 to 9.

[coostv]

I know the weight will make a difference, but my old 390/C6 powered short bed 2wd 66 F100 pulled down 10 mpg in most all situations. I took it to the St. Ignace car show one year pulling a pop up camper and still got 10. I would drive it to work daily when the weather was nice and got 10, I would run around town and would get 10. Only a few times that I checked did it differ, but the overall average was 10. Mine was a fresh rebuild using flat top pistons, mild cam with short duration (I forget the actual numbers at the moment), Edelbrock Performer intake and 600 cfm carb, headers. It ran very well and had really good power.

I have had several 351w powered cars and they all did about the same for mileage.

YMMV (Your mileage may vary),

Chris

[75gmck25]

Since you already have a 390, I would just work to build a reasonabll high performance 390. You can use all the parts from the Cobrajet 428, including heads, cam, intake, high flow manifolds and other parts, and get a good performing 390. It will also be closer to stock, which will probably maintain the value of your car.

My other choice would be to just use a Cobrajet 428 engine to replace the 390.

Bruce

[woodz428]

Originally Posted by RideQuality

The Tbird sits at about 4500 without passengers, and its allot of weight to haul around. I understand average gas mileage will be roughly 6 to 9.

My '64 'bird got waaaay better mileage than that.....it may need something corrected...even in town driving it should get better than 9.I think I was getting about 14-16 average. I doubt that a 351 will get any better..the smaller the engine the harder it will work and the more fuel it will need. If the car runs and IS getting that mileage, you might check for sticking brakes, transmission that isn't shifting correctly or any number of things.

[RideQuality]

Originally Posted by woodz428

My '64 'bird got waaaay better mileage than that.....it may need something corrected...even in town driving it should get better than 9.I think I was getting about 14-16 average. I doubt that a 351 will get any better..the smaller the engine the harder it will work and the more fuel it will need. If the car runs and IS getting that mileage, you might check for sticking brakes, transmission that isn't shifting correctly or any number of things.

Actually, I was just going off what I read on the Thunderbird boards about gas mileage...
But I am glad to here that you got better then that on yours. i can live with 14-15 mpg around town. I really dont have a heavy foot anymore.....

[tomslik]

1 thing i would highly suggest is an aluminum intake.
why?
take yours off and it'll be obvious

[RideQuality]

I did that befors, that thing makes a great boat anchor...