Welcome back. This post will show you the removal main bearings for the crank for 351 Cleveland.
You’ll notice that I’ve added some captions correcting some of my theories like there’s seems to be plenty of oil getting around the bearing and the crank. Of course because it’s happening now, or was happening just before removing the engine that doesn’t mean it’s ‘always’ had oil flowing properly. Take a good look at the bearing when I remove them and see what you think.
I’m going to guess that prior to having the heads being done, based I what I see on the mains, there was some oil issue, rather major oil issues. You recall the valve issue on the #2 cylinder?
Oh!!!!
In the next two posts I’ll be removing and taking a look at the pistons and then we’ll inspect the crank, so keep an eye out for those.
The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof. Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took forever!!! Seems longer since I have driven it in months. Now if you missed …
I haven’t done a Engine Mini-Series in sometime, I find readers like the Engine Line Up posts a lot, so I’ve stuck with that. They are quick and fun pieces to research and write.
SEE A NOTED DEVIATION IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.
I received a request from a reader (motown_missile) from the /r/classiccar subdirectory over on Reddit, who read my latest Engine Line UP post, for something on Ford small block V8’s specifically the 221, 260 and 289 engines. So I thought yeah that’s a great idea!!! But it didn’t really fit how I structure the Engine Line Up posts and then I recalled doing these mini-series and that fits the request. Thanks motown_missile!!!!
Now the Ford small block V8 label (also called the “90 Degree V8s”) covers a few rare engines (limited production/limited use), one of the most iconic and some real workhorses. The engines that fall under this designation are 221, 255, 260, 289 and yes the 302 and even the 351 Windsor (not the Cleveland). I’ll cover each one in separate posts.
The Ford small blocks were designed the end of the 1950’s put in to production cars in 1962 the first and smallest (20 inches across and only 475 lbs) and it displaced 221 cubic inches and so designated as the 221.
The 221, in 1962, had a compression ratio of 8.7:1 with a bore and stroke respectively of 3.50 x 2.87. It sported two-bolt main-bearing, cast nodular crankshaft (only 37 lbs), cast aluminum pistons, hydraulic camshaft and individually mounted iron rockers. The cylinder heads were wedge-shaped and the intake valves were 1.59 in. and the exhaust valves were 1.39 This was all topped off with a cast iron two barrel intake manifold and it produced about 143 hp @ 4,500 rmp and 217 foot lbs of torque @ 2200 rpm. For 1963 it remained about the same with a slight increase in the bore and stroke (3.75×3.30 inches) producing a compression ratio of 8.8:1 and 145 hp. Both years were topped with Holley carbs.
The 221 is one of the rarest small block. It saw only 2 years of production use (1962 and 1963) and you could find it in the Ford Fairlanes and Mercury Meteor. If you want to know if your 62-63 Fairlane or Mete0r originally had a 221 check the VIN for the code L ( C – 1962 export or 3 for 1963 export).
Nicely painted 221 V8
1962 Mercury Meteor 33
1963 Ford Fairlane
Next up will be the 255.
Thanks for reading and if you have any input or pic of your own 221, drop me a note a AGCarRestoration@cox.net. Comments always welcome!!!
It just a great way to start the New Year, firing up the project car and take it for a quick jaunt down the road. Of course the car is ‘under construction” but still have to take out for a short distance.
The ’73 Stang is a long ways from being completed and yeah…I would be taking it out on the freeway just yet, but I does need to get driving.
My New Years resolution for #ProjectSportsRoof? “Get Her Done!” Next Years Day’s video will be 100% different from this one!!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Rare trip. Just far enough to get the engine hot, take the C6 transmission through the gears and top out at about 70 mph.
Most car enthusiasts know that by the 1970’s all cars even ‘former’ muscle cars, were strangled in terms of power by a host of tubes, solenoids and funny looking flat or funnel like space age devices that were responsible for eliminating harmful emissions. In some cases they funneled fumes back in to the engine to be burned and supposedly rendering them less harmful.
When you are restoring a car of this vintage – especially one like my 1973 Mustang that has been sitting around a while, those tubes/hoses are often cracked, dried, split or ends stretched at the least for missing all together.
You have the option to remove all the space ag hardware (depending on the emissions regulations in your area) or replacing it all to restore to factory specifications. For the purpose of these series of posts let’s assume that I want to seriously limit the performance and power of #ProjectSportsRoof’s beautiful 351C and restore it back to factory configuration.
Now if you are expecting an expert run down on the care and feeding of the vacuum system for this project – you aren’t going to get that right up front. Why? Because it’s really not that straight forward at first and I have a few questions.
As I look at the diagrams for the vacuum system on a 1972 351C, I am not seeing anything that matches my set up.
Let me start back of the engine.
There is a solenoid on the back of the manifold (only bolted there) that I think is some diagrams is shown on the opposite side and in the front.
Here’s a better shot.
As you can see it has no power connected nor hoses. Is that the Solenoid Dist vacuum? I think so.
For the 1972 351C. The solenoid is #12 in the diagram –
Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted a compression test on all.
#ProjectSportsRoof. 1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression, Rods … Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted …
Gone in Sixty Seconds 1973 Ford Mustang Sportsroof “Eleanor”. Horatio’s Drive 1903 Winton. Iron Man 2008 Audi R8. Lawrence of Arabia 1920 Rolls Royce. Lemans 1970 Porsche 917K; 1970 Porsche 911S. Mad Max 1973 …
In case you didn’t notice, the fenders that were on #ProjectSportsRoof look as though car had driven into a half pipe at a skate park.
Left Fender – major dent a lot of rebuilding necessary
Right Side Fender – lots of crinkles, a few creases and good size dent.
Now, these are fixable, with a lot of heating and dolly work and bondo – but I’m trying my luck with re-pops and that’s what is coming up in the next few post.
Drop me a know if you have a project you are working on.
#ProjectSportsRoof will be the way I want it, which I haven’t nailed down yet, so suggest way by dropping me a comment (got your crate motor idea swimming around in my head, Bill) and that will happen fast or slow and cost …
Our 1973 Mustang is 42 years old, which means the gas tank has seen 42 years worth of various qualities of gasoline, sludge, condensation, residue, and most likely rust. Since we’re upgrading the engine to a blown and injected (Holley Terminator EFI) …
I get a lot of questions on just what I’m going to do with the Sports Roof. Some of those are posed as inquires of interest and others can be interpreted as “What the hell were you thinking when you bought that!!!”. Truth is I don’t …
#ProjectSportsRoof will be the way I want it, which I haven’t nailed down yet, so suggest way by dropping me a comment (got your crate motor idea swimming around in my head, Bill) and that will happen fast or slow and cost …
Dynacorn Mustang body. Dynacorn’s new 1967 Mustang fastback body. Mormon Meteor III. Ab Jenkins’s Mormon Meteor III. For all its grandeur and provenance, nobody paid attention to it at SEMA. (UPDATE: It got a little love …
If you look back at the video (to view click here) of the exterior walk around for my 1973 SportsRoof you’ll notice the two front fenders were, not perfect!!!
Right Side Fender – lots of crinkles, a few creases and good size dent.
Left Fender – major dent a lot of rebuilding
The right fender has some pretty sharp creases breaking the lines of the finder. The belt line can be fixed but it’s tough to get them back to the original look and I don’t want a ‘bondo’ build out. The left fender is as bad, with that huge dent – almost completely straightening out the belt original fender lines. Again these can be fixed but it takes a lot of work. Additionally, I’m not even sure these fenders are original to the car – one appears to have holes consistent with a belt/side molding.
If you recall from earlier posts, the car came with two fenders. Although a bit delayed getting into town they did arrive and I took a look at them. I determined they were going to be as much work to fix as the fenders currently on the car. That’s way I opted to not add to the clutter in my garage by dragging them home.
So that left me with attempting to find good original fenders or repros. You’d think finding used fenders shouldn’t pose too big of an issue, Mustangs are everywhere, right? True in many respects, however, the 1973 Mustang had unique fenders. Often the 1971, 1972 and 1973 Mustangs are thought of as being the same car, but for 1973 the major difference is the change in bumpers that were Federally mandated. For 1973 the Mustang got the urethane bumper and no longer required the filler panel, which the ’70-’71 fenders accommodated with 4 screw holes to attach the panel.
Given that, it’s no wonder that most of the used fenders will need a lot of work, if you do find them and I already have a set that needs repair.
So that leaves me with reproduction sheet metal. There are a lot of forums out there that discuss the differences between ‘brands’ and I’ve done the research and the results were not conclusive.
There are 3 main providers of repop sheet metal, Dynacor, Legion (or Gold Legion) and Goodmark. There’s a lot of discussion on which are the best, but apparently the all come from the same place in Twain. Part of that discussion was that the manufacturer sells the sheet metal parts by quality grade and the above mentioned companies are some state what quality grade they will buy or have an exclusive deal to only get the top grades while the other companies are left to the poorer quality. I don’t know how much truth there is to this, so it’s grain of salt time. But the over all conciseness was that use parts would be better and the real difference for reproduced sheet metal comes down to the dealer’s customer service (read – return/replacement policy).
Even pricing varies by dealer. Summit has fenders for my ’73 Sportsroof for $365, NPD has them for $392, Ohio Mustang Supply for $315 and Laurel Mountain Mustang for $294.00. That’s a pretty good range.
As I posted before, after a vigorous (not read ‘desperate’) I finally found my next personal project. The 1973 Mustang Sports Roof Fastback is what I settled on.
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I run my car projects much like I run my IT projects. You always have to know where to start and know the end game. As with any project that isn’t being built from scratch, in other word, …
Bastnas is a rural ore field in southern Sweden that’s been noteworthy for its mining since the late 1600s. It’s also the place where a pair of brothers decided to start a scrapyard to serve as a final resting place for the cars used by WWII servicemen.
Eventually, even the scrap yard was abandoned and nature has slowly reclaimed its sovereignty. The 15 photos below are part of a much larger set by Thomas Geersing that documents the current state of the Bastnas Scrapyard: beautifully dilapidated.
To see the rest of Thomas Geersing’s photos chance the link below.
I met a guy one time who has a Volvo junkyard with many RWD Volvos in Gary IN. I have now spent many hours trying to find his place again but can not. He is not a registered business. Does anyone know of this guy?
Yes, old Volvos are the official car of Eugene, the posterboys of everything that defines a true Curbside Classic. They’re everywhere, at least a couple per block, in the right […]
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