Ford’s Windsor and Cleveland Engines Prt II

Ok, so one engine plant is located in Canada and the other Ohio.  What else is different?

The 351 Windsor (biggest displacement of the Windsor family  – which included the 289 and 302) had a beefier block than the Cleveland, which in theory allowed for more abuse and longer life-span.

The Windsor also came first in the history  being used from 1969 to 1998.

The Cleveland was used from 1970 to 1974 (much, much shorter run), with 1971 bringing 351 C Cobra Jet.

Unlike the Windsor the Cleveland had canted multi-grooved valves.  It also required larger rounded intake and exhaust ports.

There is another major difference and that was how the engined were cooled.  No we aren’t talking water vs. air (these weren’t VW engines) we are talking about water flow.

Like the 289 and 302 the 351W used a front cover and water existed the intake manifold face of the cylinder head through intake manifold to the radiator.  The 351C don’t have the front cover.  The block is extended and the covered with a flat stamping.  Water existed the combustion face of the head and into the block and then to the radiator.  This is important to note, particularly for me.  Why:

The Cleveland and Windsor heads are interchangeable only with modifications to the water passage.  I currently have a set of 351C Cobra Jet heads to put on my Windsor family 302.  I’ll have to have those mods done when I have the heads rebuilt.

Not the same location as the 302 Windsor.

There you have the basic differences between the Cleveland and Windsor families.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Ford’s Windsor and Cleveland Engines

I have a Ford and as I’ve said before, though the years (ok….40’s, 50’s and 60’s) they produced some of the more interesting cars with  some of the most powerful engines.  Of those engines the Cleveland and the Windsor were major players.

I’m not alone thinking that the only real difference between the two were the names each being made in the plant they were named after.  The Windsor was named after the Essex Engine plant in Windsor,  Ontario and the Cleveland Engine Plant in Ohio.

 

1914 Photo of the Essex Engine plant in Windsor, Ontario

 

Totally different plants  and countries about the only they had in common was displacement.

What were the differences?   That’s coming up.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Engine Line Up: 1973 Ford – The 400s Part III

Next up are the Ford 400’s that were available for 1973.

There were 3 options when it can to Ford’s biggest power plants in 1973, the 400 Cleveland the Thunderbird 429 and the Thunderbird 460. If you are thinking…YES!!! More Horse Power!!!! …you are going to be a bit disappointed, compared to today’s standard and the 1960’s standards.

The Cleveland had a cast iron block, over head valves and displaced 400 cubic inches. Its bore and stroke (4.00 x 4.00) and compression ratio (8.0: 1) were choked to death by the two barrel Motocraft carb. It produced only 163 hps

Wimpy - 400 2 barrel intake...needs a 4 barrel intake

Ford ' 73 400 in a wagon

 

 

The two Thunderbird engines (both cast iron with overhead valve) got the privilege of being topped with 4 barrel Motocraft carbs. The 429 displaced 429 cubic inches and the 460 knocked out..yup you guessed it 460 cubic inches.

They had a bore and store of 4.36 x 3.59 and 4.36 x 3.85 respectively and both had the same compression ratio of 8.0:1. The top hp for the 429 was just barely over 200 at 201 and the 460 out did that by 18 giving it a 219 hp.

Fords 460

 

429

 

Here is the twist with these and the rest of the Ford engines.  The horse power stated was changed depending what model the engine was used in.  Most of those in this series were the lowest stated.  For example the 302 was rated at 135 hp in the Maverick, but 138 in the Torino. (Yes, a whopping 3 more hp!!!)

The average difference was between 1 and 5 hps, so we aren’t talking about a bunch of hidden power as they were configured.  But we all know that you pop off  the that 2 barrel carb off any of these engines and plop on wide mouth Holley, and you were going to get much better numbers!!

Thanks for reading.  ’73 Mustang engines coming up.

Tim

Engine Line Up: 1973 Fords Part II – 351s

Here is the second part of this ’73 line up for the V8.

There were 7 V8 in 1973 (not including the Mustang engines) and the ranged in numbers from 302 to 460 (big number to be sure). Just reading those you think..OH…THE …POWER…NOTHING BUT 100’s RUBBER BURNING, FISH-TAILING HPs!!!…right….uh…NO….these ain’t 60’s engine and they aren’t 2010 engines..nope..they the 70’s engines.  Here’s how they ponied up.

The 302 – Overhead valves, cast iron block with a bore and stroke of 4.00 x 3.00.  Compression ratio of 8.0:1 with 302 cubic inches displaced.  Top that with an awesome 2 barrel Motorcraft carb and you are knocking out 135 hp’s!!!!  Those are number only a grandma could love.  Compare that with the 302 sold under the hoods of Fords in 1970 which yielded 220 hp with a two barrel carb. (Take that 302 bore it .030, toss on a typhoon intake and a 4 barrel Holly you’ll have exactly what currently have in my ’70 Stang.)

My Mustang's Enhanced 302

 

Next up is the family of 351s, the Windsor, the Cleveland and the CJ Windsor.

All three had overhead valves, cast iron blocks and all displaced 351 cubic inches.  They shared the same bore and stroke which was 4.00 x 3.5 and the compression ratios ranged from 8.0:1 to 8.6:1 and the horse power varied by rpm 3800 to 4000 between 156 up to 177, the Cleveland and baby Windsor were choked with a 2 barrel carb while the CJ managed to steal a 4 barrel of the assembly line shelf and had a compression ratio of 9.0:1.   The 351 CJ was able to come in a little more respectable with 266 hp at 5400 rpm.

I will tell you this there were very few 351 CJ Windsor made in 1973 and 1974.  I owned a 1974 351 CJ  and my researched showed that less than 100 of these engined were produced that year.

All of these were used in the Torino, Montego, Mustang, Cougar and other Ford and Mercury models.  The 351 CJ was used in the Mustang and Cougar.

1973 Cleveland 351 2 barrel under the hood of a Mustang.

 

Up next the 400’s for 1973.

Thanks for reading.

Tim