Big Problems

[Fred Douglass]

.......although I am at the moment dealing exclusively with stroking and reheading my Cleveland, a Mustanger pal of mine is seriously contemplating replacing his rather completely worn-out 351 with a crater. I advised him to get onto this site,
although there are Mustang sites aplenty. He is leaning toward a Ford Racing 393 Windsor stroker. He then discovered that the 514ci monsterpiece is (supposedly, according to the online catalog) the SAME WEIGHT(!?!) as the Windsor crater. I find this hard to believe---but there's room aplenty in his 1969 'stang. THEN of course, the topic of warrantees came up as did the issue of reliability.

What I have heard via scuttlebutt is: a) Roush has had a spate of "grenaders" on the truck-racing circuit, b) Roush's engines, for all their priciness, had a so-so reliability record, c) FordRacing 393s pump out REAL power, but there has only recently come forward a 2yr-20K warrantee, and finally, d) that the 514ci monsters had some problems with distributor/oil-pump drive-gear flaws and that there was a necessary "fix"---which FordRacing has NOT done.....leaving it up to wary purchasers.

He will not be racing his car, not even making "offical" drag-strip runs, but he wants a "street job" with ample power. What, if anything is true about the above "a-d" scuttlebutt items? I had heard good and bad about Roush---but assumed the breakdowns were only in the racing trucks---until I read this thread.

Any opinions would be more than welcome. My warrantee problems, should they occur, would/will be between me and my local co-builder--who lives three miles away.

Appreciate any comments on "a-d". Learned a lot from this thread. BTW, I recommend Hal Copple's comments on Accusump uses and caveats---over on a "low oil-pressure" thread, re Clevelands.

Chow,