Oct 22, 2016 … I didn’t purchase the window sticker for 1970 Mustang but I did for # ProjectSportsRoof. Check it out: 1973 Mustang SportsRoof Window Sticker.
If you look back at #ProjectSportsRoof post you’ll see the condition engine bay. During those videos I mentioned that I was going to clean it up and hit it with a …
Jul 31, 2016 … Getting closer to pulling out the engine for #ProjectSportsRoof. The 1973 Mustang (last of the big ‘Stangs) 351C will be pulled part and rebuilt.
If you look back at #ProjectSportsRoof post you’ll see the condition engine bay. During those videos I mentioned that I was going to clean it up and hit it with a rattle can. Again this isn’t going to be a concours restoration, it’s going to look nice and it’s going to get driving and it’s going to sound awesome and yes it will be entered in to local car shows and a trip now and then down the strip!!!
Here is the engine bay work.
Here is the right side?
Right side – Before
Right side shock tower – painted in Ford Blue
Right Side After
One more after for the right side
Here is the left side:
Left side after
Left Side After
Left Side Shock Tower
Here a quick little video showing the wire work in the engine bay.
I’ve got a a little more work up near the firewall before I’m done.
Still have a little more electrical work to do as well.
Coming up more on the heater box and final components going on the 351C.
Thanks for checking back in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you recall there was a lot of damage to the heater box, but rather than purchase a new one I opted to see if …
I know…I know…it’s a bit of let down moving back to the heater box for #ProjectSportsRoof when the beautiful 351 Cleveland that’s going to power the 73 Mustang is sitting in the garage waiting to roar back to life, but the heater box has to get done.
As I showed you in the previous heater box post is was pretty much a mess. So after accessing the damage and apply epoxy to the broken pieces, I needed to clean it up before applying the fiberglass. Here’s a little look at that:
I need give a bit of caution here when doing the cleaning. Take a look at the part numbers on the heater box:
Those number are no longer there. The Simple Green clean removed them. I’ll mention again that this is not a concourse restoration, but nonetheless it’s always sad when you change or remove something that original that didn’t need to be. Yes it’s just the heater box and not something anyone is going to notice, but I know it’s gone as do you and all 17k members of this blog.
Coming up next on AG Car Restoration is fiberglass repair of the heater box and maybe I’ll sneak in sometime on the Cleveland.
With the heater box for #ProjectSportsRoof out form under the dash, I now have to do the repairs and replace the heater core. Here’s what needs to be done and …
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …
We interrupt this Heater Box restoration for an important announcement.
THE 351 CLEVELAND IS BACK!!!
The main piece of this project if finally complete.
Here’s what we have now: 351C bored .040 Crank .020 and Stock cam Flattop pistons Double Roller Timing Chain
Here’s what I’m going to add: Edelbrock 4bbl CARB 800 CFM ELEC CHOKE Edelbrock Performer 2750 Intake Manifold
Heads have been restored and upgrade as follows: Bronze valve guide, stainless 1 piece valves, MATCHING retainers, a proper 3 angle valve job, springs matched to cam and set up to proper height and pressure checked and hardened seats.
Here a more complete look:
The change in the bore only increased the CID (Cubic Inch Displacement) from 352 – 358 and that’s not a lot. But keep in mind that this is a 1972 engine and the 351C with a 4bbl carb was rated at 285 bph @ 5400 rmps (The Boss 351 was rated at 330bhp @ 5400). So I’m guessing with the Crank .020 milled, Edelbrock 4bbl 800 CFM, Edelbrock Performer 2750 Intake Manifold and the slight change in displacement that the horse power of this 1972 Cleveland will be about 300 hp – maybe.
Keep checking back as I have to finish the heater box, engine bay and the top half of the 351C. Lots of fun coming up!!!
While the block is out for machining I can turn my attention to one of the MANY other sub-projects on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you’ve followed the blog you know …
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …
1 day ago … I didn’t purchase the window sticker for 1970 Mustang but I did for # ProjectSportsRoof. Check it out: 1973 Mustang SportsRoof Window Sticker.
While the block is out for machining I can turn my attention to one of the MANY other sub-projects on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you’ve followed the blog you know …
Thanks for checking in on #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m working on the heater box and it is now out from under the dash.
Although the box was easy to remove, unfortunately that might have been because the two brackets that hold the unit to the firewall were broken and dropped down only hanging by the A/C block still sticking through slot in the firewall.
Take a look:
The rust isn’t too bad. I’ll clean that up and see how much damage exist, cut out what I can and make a patch for it. You can clearly see the condition of the brackets and the box.
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …
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’m finishing the labeling of the components for the heater box before I pull it out. These videos help with replacing any “left over” parts and memory joggers.
Unfortunately I did discover an area of rust and that is never a good thing!!!
Take a look:
Coming up next the box comes out and we take a good look at it.
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …
Maybe one of the worse task to tackle on a car is the heater core. In particular on some older cars. In most cases you have to remove the entire dash. I know this because when the heater core sprung a leak in my 1974 Cobra Jet Torino, I didn’t have the time to fix it. I took it to a shop and the cost was hefty.
Since I’m doing a lot more of my own work on #ProjectSportRoof and I’m going to dive in and replace the heater core and like the Torino it is an A/C car.
Now the goal is to attempt to remove the box without taking the entire dash out – that is a huge time sync and it leads down the road of ” since I have it out, I might as well fix…”.
I refer to the heater box as the portion to the right of the blower, there are some references that include the blower as well. There are only 3 bolts holding the heater box in place, two are behind the unit and poke through the firewall and one is in the front. I’m hoping the rest is just getting it in the right angle to pull it out.
I don’t have a camera guy only a small tri-pod that I can set in limited flat spots and record what I can.
HINT: Remove the passenger seat, it sure does help.
Here we go:
Coming up we’ll take a close look at the box, access what needs to be done.
The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof. Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took … Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m getting ready to pull the 351C …
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 the cylinders. The 351C was running rough (to put it mildly) and smoked like a pile of tires on fire (only the smoke …
Thanks for continuing to follow #ProjectSportsRoof. The 351 Cleveland has been torn down and you’ve seen the major components and their deplorable condition and it is time now to get it to the machine shop.
It’s not easy finding a good shop. While I was hunting around for a machinist I asked a few car guys I know for suggestions and found the two that were recommended were out of business. That is not uncommon. It is often times more expedient to just drop in a crate or re-manufactured engine (long or short block) and that’s tough to compete against. I was concerned that I’d have to transport the 351C block 100 miles away to check get the work done.
While I was searching for a shop, I was simultaneously search for a re-man’ed long or short block. Of course I was specifically looking for a closely date code 351C and I was told that those blocks are not plentiful. I took my local search to the hot rod shops (by hot rod shops I mean, shops that sell hot rod parts) in town and the shop I chose was recommended by several. I double checked the review that were available and these guys have a very good rep. I’m going to withhold the name until I get the block back.
Luckily I had the block still bolted to the engine stand. That and my cat-like reflexes (HA) kept a disaster from occurring.
Hoisted!!! ^^^ lots of Mustang parts
Not withstanding my attempts to bounce the block off the garage floor it is finally suspended and ready to get loaded.
Tied Down – This is the fastest this engine has done in months!!!
Upon arrival at the machine shop two guys unloaded the block and I asked them to measure the current bore and the size of the crank.
The results were as follows:
The stock bore is 4″ and the measurements of the current bore is .030 under making the bore 4.030. You’ve seen the condition of the cylinders and the shop recommended to take another .010 off making the proposed bore 4.040″.
Now the crank was measured as well and it was .010 machined from stock thickness. Purposed is to take it down another .010 to .020 under.
The shop recommended to replace the cam, so that will happen.
This ended the speculation about the originality of the engine. Clearly this was rebuilt at least once.
Now decisions need to be made. But first let’s take stock of where we are and then play a little “What If”, shall we?
Using this standard formula for determining displacement: Bore2 X Stroke X 0.7854 X Cylinders (laid out below from a spreadsheet)
Bore
X
Bore
X
Stroke
X
0.7854
X
Cylinders
=
Displacement
Stock
4
4
3.5
0.7854
8
351.8592
Current
4.03
4.03
3.5
0.7854
8
357.1568801
Proposed
4.04
4.04
3.5
0.7854
8
358.9315699
Just cleaning up the cylinders will move the displacement from 351 (stock) to 358 as proposed. That is currently where we are.
Now let’s play What If!!! What if I increased the bore a bit more? Here is what that look like in displacement terms.
Taking up the bore one more .010 to 4.05″ looks like this.
Bore
X
Bore
X
Stroke
X
0.7854
X
Cylinders
=
Displacement
Option
4.05
4.05
3.5
0.7854
8
360.710658
4.05 is the furthest I want to do with the bore – if it’s possible. I know one Mustang owner that has his bore 4.06″, however, I’m not comfortable with that. So we’ve increased the displacement 360.
Now let’s work on the stroke. The machining of the crank will net little to no change in the displacement. To increase that I’d have to go with a different crank. So what do those number look like? Leaving the bore at 4.04 and increase the stroke yields the following increases:
Bore x Bore x Stroke x 0.7854 x #Cylinders Displacement
Option
4.04
4.04
3.75
0.7854
8
384.5695392
Option
4.04
4.04
4
0.7854
8
410.2075085
Basically the 400
Let’s go a bit further with the increase in bore:
Bore x Bore x Stroke x 0.7854 x #Cylinders Displacement
Option
4.05
4.05
3.75
0.7854
8
386.475705
Option
4.05
4.05
4
0.7854
8
412.240752
Option
4.05
4.05
3.85
0.7854
8
396.7817238
Off the shelf long stroke cranks
Option
4.04
4.04
3.85
0.7854
8
394.8247269
Off the shelf long stroke cranks
Care to share your thoughts on the build? Drop me a note!!!
The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof. Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took … Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m getting ready to pull the 351C …
