351C or 351W

[COBRA406]

Good on Ya Brian,
Accurate, and well explained. Much info on the Cleveland is hearsay and
rumor, not fact. If you want HP/$ the Windsor is the probable choice. But,
if you want a true screamer, with "hold on to your hat response" above
3K, then I choose Cleveland. Plus, nothing sounds better than a Cleveland
at wot. As we speak, a new Cleveland block is being modeled up by an
FE guy over on the Cleveland forum. THere is lots of interest out there
and with the Aussies' love affair with the Cleveland, there are plenty of
aftermarket parts here and there available if one wants to pursue it. What
we need Jetenginedoctor is a good FI system for the Cleveland. Not for everyone, for sure, but these are mostly copycars anyhow.
Bob T.

[David Hodgson]

Originally Posted by COBRA406

THere is lots of interest out there
and with the Aussies' love affair with the Cleveland, there are plenty of
aftermarket parts here and there available if one wants to pursue it. Bob T.

Love affair aarrgh, the big fat lump of a thing was thrust upon us by the very considerate heads at Ford who probably spent too much tooling up for production and in an economy like ours had to see it out.

The Clevo (335 series) was the only Ford V8 here for about 14 yrs, from '70 untill about '84 when Ford deleted V8's from from all passenger vehicles, then after a about a 4 year V8 drought introduced the 5.0 Windsor. We call the 302 and the 5.0's Windsor's because we also did a 302 version of the Clevo. Fully dressed this is a very good looking engine, but without alloy heads etc, very heavy.

Hence plenty of go fast bits. The 302 heads were 2V closed chamber and were essentialy the same castings as for the 351 and there were plenty of them, but most guys thought bigger was better and wouldn't settle for anything less than the 4V's

Under the hood of most late 80's and early 90's Cobra replica's here, you will find either a 351 C or 289 and 302 w. I don't know of any FE's and there are quite a number of 385's, mostly 429 Motec injected Robnell replica's.

Unfortunatly we aren't allowed as much free choice as you guy's, currently we have to comply with Euro III emissions levels, which means we have basically 2 options, the Ford 5.4 quad cam, again big and heavy, or a lot of guys, whom we refer to as the Dark Siders, are using the LS1 5.7 Chev. And I hate to admit it, theve got great output, 400hp, in standard trim, in a compact and lightweight package.

[COBRA406]

David H.,
I guess I used the term "love affair" inappropriately. Sorry for that, but the
forums for Clevelands I hang around all show some loyal support down under
for the Clevo. Guess maybe there is little choice for Ford loyalists there but
you all really get the job done performance wise and your performance parts
for the Clevo are all the best available quality wise. I know from reading that
you guys are up against some pretty strange emissions laws, and it makes
it very hard to build a cobra with what you want. I know you all can make
those V8s really scream! Dark side or not, good luck on your project (s).
Bob T.

[David Hodgson]

Bob, no appology required, it's like you said - kind of a forced love affair. If you were a Ford guy here in the 80's & 90's, you had no choice but to be loyal to what was dished up, and make the most of it, and that's what we did.

Back on the point of the original thread, unless your building a very close "replica", you should feel free to use what suits yourself. Because of our limited choice due to emissions laws, some guys have even had great success with 4.0 litre Lexus engines, and even better with turbo's.

I've got a 302 Windsor in mine, pushing about 310hp. Does me just fine.

Dave