How To Rebuild Your Ford V-8 351C-351M-400-429-460.pdf - Index of

1 and Interchange
It's a real money-saver to know which
parts can be interchanged, especially
when you need to replace one of your
engine's major components with parts
from another engine.
Will a 351C crank work in a 351M, or
will 429 heads fit 011 a 460 How do you
identify the parts if they will Armed
with this information you can visit the
local junkyard knowing your options
rather than being forced to purchase new
parts for your specific engine-or having
to play Russian Roulette with parts.
You need to know exactly which
engine you have before you order parts or
try to decide what parts will interchange
with it. You need to know the displacement,
year and change level. Change level
is Ford's way of identifying a change
made in the midst of a model year.
IDENTIFICATION
Which Engine Do You Have-To start
from ground zero, 1'11 assume you don't
know which engine your car is equipped
with. Look at the identification tag under
the left-front corner of the windshield.
The five-digit alphanumeric group contains
model year and engine-code information.
The first number is the year-77,78, etc.
You have to know the decade. The last
letter is for the engine. You must use
both the year and the engine code to
determine which engine was installed in
the car. For example, all 351 -2V engines
have the same code H. In this instance
this gets even more complicated. U.S.
production of the 351C ceased in '74 and
the 351M began in '75, so there's no overlap.
However, the 351W overlaps them
both. Consequently, you'll not only have
to use engine code and model year to
identify your engine in this case, you
must recognize its physical features if the
engine-identification sticker is not on the
air cleaner, or there is no air cleaner.
The major external appearance difference
between the 351W and 351C/351M
engines is the cylinder head. 351W heads
are smaller. Because you won't have one
to compare against the other, their relative
sizes can't be used for identification.
351 C major components. What you know about interchanging parts from another engine
to yours can save you considerable money. What you don't know can cost you dearly.
Drawing courtesy Ford.
Cylinder-head exhaust-manifold mounting
surfaces are angled differently: 351 W
exhaust-manifold surface is almost vertical;
351C/351M surface is angled 45" to
vertical, or generally in line with the side
of the cylinder block. This makes the
351 C/3 51 M head wider between the
intake-manifold and exhaust-manifold
mounting surfaces. Those two surfaces
are parallel on the 351C/351M heads.
Engine Tag or Decal-Once you've determined
which engine you have, you'll also
need to know its date of production,
change level and engine-code number-this
is different from the engine's code letter
on the vehicle identification tag. The
engine-code number used by the Ford
parts man when he's ordering parts is
found on a tag or decal attached to the engine.
Up through February 1973, tags were
mounted at the front of the engine. They
are usually sandwiched under the coilmounting
bracket, dipstick-tube bracket
or under the water-temperature sending
unit. Unfortunately, when a tag is removed
for one reason or another, they
are usually discarded rather than being
replaced-a big mistake. Beginning in
February 1973, the metal tags were replaced
in favor of a decal on the rightvalve
cover at the front. Use the sketches
to figure out how to read a tag or decal.
If your engine tag or decal is missing,
that's a problem! But, there is a way out.
Somewhere on your engine is stamped an
alphanumeric group which is the engine
build date code. It can look something
like 9A12C. The first digit is the calender
year, 1969 or 1979. The next letter is the
month starting with A for January and
continuing thr0ugh.M. 1 is not used. The
last two digits are the day, the 12th of
the month in this case.
You can find the build-date code on
the machined surface on the front of
your engine block, called the front-face.
On the 35 1C and 35 1M/400 you'll find it
stamped at the lower-right corner; at the
upper-right on 4291460s.
Casting Numbers-When a component
such as a cylinder head or block is cast, a
number is cast in the part and is appropriately
called a casting number. Casting
numbers are extremely helpful when
identifying an engine or its parts. Unfortunately,
casting numbers are not 100-
percent accurate because castings are frequently
machined differently, thus generating
different part numbers which don't
appear on the part! To make matters
worse, it is conceivable these parts won't
interchange. Consequently, a part's casting
number in conjunction with its physical
design must be used to identify it. So let's