Getting Ford 351

I made a deal with my friend from school, as his dad and him own a small junkyard, when I asked him if he had anything I could use, he said he had a 351 in a '84 E250 "superwagon", $100 for anything I want off it, the engine is missing the carb, dizzy cap and wires, only because they removed them for another van they have the motor ran b4 the parts were removed. he is going to see if he can get me the carb as they took these parts off the engine, and put them on the other because the other 1 did not run, they figured it was 1 of those things wrong, turned out to be a faulty coil, so they got a hi volt coil and they still have 2 good carbs. I have to remove the motor, but he is going to bring the van up on a flatbed drop it off, and after I'm done, they will pick up the remains. I'll probably take all of the engine wiring I can and the computer if I can find it.

I'll take everything connected to the engine/ trans that I can get to. I think the center trans cover is removable on those vans like on the chevy vans so getting to the trans mounts shouldn't be hard. gonna try for the harness. What does the computer controll on a carbe'd motor, is it just ign on, ign off?

I'll take the vans entire electrical system if I have to. TBI would have a oxygen sensor to ajust the fuel ratio, don't think a carb'd engine would have it because it woulden't use it, but probably has a crank sensor, knock sensor for check engine light reasons.

Matt, most V-8 engines Ford used back in that period had variable venturi carburetors. These are not one of Ford's better ideas. While the carb may be free, I wouldn't try using this carb or even rebuilding it. These were almost impossible to correctly adjust, even by those who knew what they were doing.

I'd bypass this carb completely, get an aftermarket carb, like a Holley, and ask for a non-computerized ignition system from some late '70's car to use (control module, distributor, etc.) or a modern MSD system.

I was planning on a new cam, manifold, carb ( wanted to go 650 Dbl pumper holley ) and of course, the sprint style T headders. I will bolt on the carb if he gives it to me just so I can seal off the engine ( get 1 of those carb caps for it ) until I'm ready for it. prolly go MSD ign.

I AGREE W/ SWIFSTER, PUTTING AN '84 CARB ON A CLASSIC CAR? NO. LIKE YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO DO GO W/ AN AFTERMARKET CARB, MAYBE INTAKE TOO

does anybody know the HP rating for this engine. It is the original '84 E250 351W engine, the same as the F250 351W engine.

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Originally posted by Matt167
I was planning on a new cam, manifold, carb ( wanted to go 650 Dbl pumper holley ) and of course, the sprint style T headders. I will bolt on the carb if he gives it to me just so I can seal off the engine ( get 1 of those carb caps for it ) until I'm ready for it. prolly go MSD ign.

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If you are going to go that route, you don't need ANY of the wiring from the van.

What kind of car is this going in?

Not sure they still used the Windsor in '84. My Ex had a 76 (or thereabouts) Cougar which used the 351M engine, which was a later varient of the 351C engine.They also made a 400M with the same casting. Sorta a small big block, or medium block if you will. They were strong torquey motors but finding aftermarket parts would be more of a chore. I seem to remember it was paint stamped on the valve cover.
It'll be interesting to see what you got!

Congrats on your purchase. What you probably have is the 351w 2bbl, rated at 185 hp for truck use. If it has the factory holley and aluminum air cleaner lid, you have a 351w H.O. rated at 205 hp. In either case it wont be a 351M or 400 in that year E 250 van. One plus is that the windsor truck blocks have slightly more nickel content than the pass. car block, making them a little tougher. This vehicle shouldnt have the VV carb., if it does it would be the first I've seen on this combo. I used to have an 84 F250 with the 351w HO. I replaced the carb with a 600 Holley, put a mild Isky cam in it and used a performer intake and small headers. It really woke that little motor up. As far as electronics and sensors, if it's going into something old, all you need to keep is the duraspark distributor and its coil,module, and wiring. You can basically sh*tcan everything else. The duraspark is very easy to adapt to older systems. hope this helps you out some. Snake.

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Originally posted by truedog
If you are going to go that route, you don't need ANY of the wiring from the van.

What kind of car is this going in?

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It is going in a '23 T bucket.

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Originally posted by 70snake
Congrats on your purchase. What you probably have is the 351w 2bbl, rated at 185 hp for truck use. If it has the factory holley and aluminum air cleaner lid, you have a 351w H.O. rated at 205 hp. In either case it wont be a 351M or 400 in that year E 250 van. One plus is that the windsor truck blocks have slightly more nickel content than the pass. car block, making them a little tougher. This vehicle shouldnt have the VV carb., if it does it would be the first I've seen on this combo. I used to have an 84 F250 with the 351w HO. I replaced the carb with a 600 Holley, put a mild Isky cam in it and used a performer intake and small headers. It really woke that little motor up. As far as electronics and sensors, if it's going into something old, all you need to keep is the duraspark distributor and its coil,module, and wiring. You can basically sh*tcan everything else. The duraspark is very easy to adapt to older systems. hope this helps you out some. Snake.

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My friend said the carb had fomoco markings so it would be the standard 2bbl, 185 horse. That is deffinetly good enough for me, as it is going into a T bucket, which I haven't gotten parts for yet but I will order them soon. 1 more question, do these engines use SBF mounts?

Yeah what snake said.

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Originally posted by DennyW
The 351W is similer to the 302 block size wise.

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so it does use the SBF mounts then.

I could be mistaken here, but I believe the van uses different motor mounts from what your going to want in your car( I have a 351w van motor in the shop ,I will double check the mounts for you). I would stick to SBF mounts from an early mustang as they are plentiful and cheap. Snake.

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Originally posted by 70snake
I could be mistaken here, but I believe the van uses different motor mounts from what your going to want in your car( I have a 351w van motor in the shop ,I will double check the mounts for you). I would stick to SBF mounts from an early mustang as they are plentiful and cheap. Snake.

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Cool, I didn't expect the van mounts to work, I am going to order a pre fabb'd T frame with all the mounts and stuff, comes with a choice of SBC mounts or SBF mounts, just wanted to make shure it would bolt up.

O.K. you could use the upper 1/2 of the mount, but the base is taller and will make the motor sit higher. I think early mustang would be a safe bet. There use to be a company that even made them in chrome, anyone else remember who? Good luck, Snake.

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Originally posted by 70snake
O.K. you could use the upper 1/2 of the mount, but the base is taller and will make the motor sit higher. I think early mustang would be a safe bet. There use to be a company that even made them in chrome, anyone else remember who? Good luck, Snake.

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That will bolt right to the mounts on the T frame?

I was able to look at the engine today. it is a 351 I belive it to be a windsor but I'm not shure, the van is a 1980 and not 1984. The mialage is very high at $196,000 on the odo. The seller dropped the price to $80. is this too high milage for a 351W? That is kinda what I was thinking but if that is still OK mialage than I guess it would be worth it. Because of the mialage I would make them gaurentee it would run once I put the carb/ cap and wires on it.

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Originally posted by merc53man
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Actully think about it, a van like that in normal conditions and in maintanance and gas, it would run about 1 dollar per mile I'd guess.:LOL:

My friends junkyard is an absolute gold mine for old stuff, it was the first time I had been up there. there are engine blocks sitting in cars, blocks on cars ( theres an old derby car that has 3 on the roof, 2 4's and 1 V6 ) there is a '53 Chevy truck in restorable condition, '63 Impala 4dr, '69 Caddilac ( 472 Engine but he won't sell ) there old tow truck, a 1965 C30 Chevy, couple good BB chevys a 454 in a tow truck ( they use it for hauling cars around the yard but it too, was brought in as junk ) and a 396 in a 70's monte, and a 400 SB in a '72 Bonneville. There is a dodge somthing 2dr, it is early 60's and it has a vinyl top on it. they also have a mid 60's GMC 1/2 ton missing the hood. all the cars are in pretty good shape. probably 75% of the cars are american made, In fact it might be 99% american because now that I think about it, the only forign car in it that I could see, was my old MB that I gave to them. Probably 50% of that is old pre '73, and they don't crush anything that is pre '73 or some times newer, like there yard tow truck, which is a '79, and they try to save all American V8's but sometimes cannot.

Well, if your van motor is a 1980 it could be a 351 Windsor or a 351M. Both were available that year. You can tell the difference easily, the water outlet(where the thermostat goes) on a Windsor is in the intake manifold, on a 351M or 400M, its cast into an extension in the cylinder block. Another way is the valve covers, 351w covers are flat across the top, and 351M covers have a "bump" at the end of each cover, just like the old 351C's did . There should be an engine family sticker on the drivers side valve cover, if it isnt too weathered.

It would be a Windsor then, there quite thin.