Why isn't the 351C more popular in Cobras?

[Ant]

I think my message was worded wrong by "beating" I meant, hard to get past!!!!

Regarding rpms I couldnt agree more with you guys, revs kill engines, and okay my engine has got heaps of hp and torque, albeit higher up in the range, I am hoping there is a bit down around 4000rpm, but I intend on keeping the revs down even when racing to around 7000 max, as 8000rpm is a bit lofty, and reduces the life of parts.
Maybe in a few more years when I have racing out of my system a bit, I may look at a bigger cube less rev combination for this car, so it can be more streetable! When my engine or the parts came available, the cost wasnt a lot more for some real good race bits, and I seemed to ignore the fact that this is a dual purpose car to be used on the road.....!

[Jac Mac]

[quote=Ant]I think my message was worded wrong by "beating" I meant, hard to get past!

First you have to get in Front!

Jac Mac

[Ant]

Jac Mac,

Dreams are free mate, I will down size it to hard to get in front in a straight line compared to a street cobra!
When you throw in the a few corners it makes it more difficult, especially with some of the highly modified stuff out there, like the quite heavy Blue XW/XY Falcon with the very very strong 351C in the Super Gts!!!!!!!

[Jac Mac]

Yep that car has got some serious mumbo, TVR can just about foot it with him but F/glass comes off second best when you get into the ' Rubbing's Racing' stuff. I look forward to your track debut with your new toy. To the USA guys that dont have a clue what we are on about, imagine a mixed field like this- 70 Boss 302 Mustang, 911 Porsche,BMW M3, 74 Camaro( 7litre+), Corvettes,72 GTHO Falcon(Aust) 65> Mustang Fastbacks GW equipped, Turbo Sierras, Cologne Capri's, Turbo Nissan's, Holden Monaro's all being driven like there is no tomorrow. The Falcon seemed to have the measure of most this year, but not by much. Sorry for the thread drift ,but as a few of these cars are 351c powered there must be some life in the old 335 series yet.

Jac Mac

[Ant]

Jac Mac,

The 351C seems to be reliable in a race series, I dont know what the in between meeting maintainance is, or whether you could go a whole (eg 6 meetings) season, and if everything went smoothly, like no over rpms etc, before doing a freshen up!
Another point with a serious mumbo engine is even if its in a heavy car, like a Falcon as compared to a Cobra the weight doesnt seem to hamper it that much, plus the Falcon being a bit longer in the wheel base than a Cobra, may help to put all this canted valve big hp to the ground. I think that car was running Dunlop slicks, whereas the Shelby GT350 GW plus engines had grooved slightly less race dedicated tires. Like a lot of historic style racing the powers that be are trying to put a cap on modifications, tires etc, I dont rate myself as being in the league of these guys with their budgets equipement etc, but with me using a Yates headed windsor engine I guess its still within the spririt of the original concept, and going with the Jerico five speed should be okay, as some of those cars have 6 speed sequential Hollinger race boxes and approaching 900bhp like the Monaro!

I sort of think at times I should have stuck with the original idea of an all alloy FE 427 of around 550-600bhp through a nice TL 4 speed, but the Reynard space frame doesnt lend itself to that large engine, and it wasnt that easy to fit this great wide headed engine in the hole either!!!! Drive ability may suffer with my choice as Yates heads and low down power dont seem to be in the same sentence, but I guess I dont have to drive it hard all the time, and doing 3000- 3500rpm down the highway should be okay on a fun basis!

Excuse me for digressing a bit toward racing etc but thats what the 351C and Cobra is all about!

[Jac Mac]

With regard to the maintainance etc I dont see why a full season + should be a problem. Given our experience with the TVR engine which has now completed its 4th season in the SFOS series, a total of 12 meetings plus testing. Leakdown @ end of each season, inspect filters, remove rockers after oildown stop & check lobe lift. Valvelash & inspect valve springs each meeting along with ign timing . Thats about it.
I have had similar results from ex Nascar 355 motors in T/A type cars . One of these was Dyno tested at 800+ Hp before being shipped out, gave excellent service for 2 seasons before a link bar on the roller lifters failed.
If you are on top of any cooling/lubrication problems it makes life easier, but dont let your guard down in the valvetrain area, keep looking & checking.

Jac Mac

[Ant]

Jac Mac,

Thanks for that information, makes good sense regarding valve spring inspection is that a visual?
A guy in Ashburton owned the PDL Falcon (converted to a road car) it had a 400 Cleveland, but from memory didnt do anything much, sort of a truck engine!

My car goes down to Timaru Saturday for fabrication of rear arms and pickup points (I piked out on doing it myself) will let Alan Dunn have a go at that, I dont seem to make as much progress nowadays, but thats mainly due to not wanting to fix balls-ups!

Getting back to clevelands, at one stage I considered a Fontana cleveland block, as I have read very good reports on these, but it was easier to get a Nascar based engine, I did buy a Dart aluminium 9.2 windsor block, which some engine builders in NZ seem to be a bit scared of due to distortion, but put together properly they are very good and capable of high hp etc.