Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Engine is finally in !!!!

[440]

As some of you know the engine in my daily driver Fairlane died and needed rebuilding. Well, I got it back two days ago and am pretty happy. Although the engine is worth nearly 12 times what the car is worth it should wake it up and give it a bit more oomph. It was a standard 302 cleveland bumped up to a 351 with a 351 crank and rods. The engine builder wanted to use the longer 302 rod but couldn't get a piston in the size needed. Compression has been bumped to 10.1:1, minor head work, mild cam, double roller chain and air gap intake.

I was hoping for a ballpark of around 350 hp 350 torque. After a while I was seriously doubting I'd get there with my budget, but to my surprise a similar spec engine package (maybe with a slightly hotter cam) are in the 380+/400ft.lb range claiming to be in the high 12's

Not bad for a POS beater. Should be a fun car.

[Ghoste]

Nice.  Pics?

[440]

I'll get some, it's still wrapped and strapped to the pallet. I still need to buy all the little bits like sending units, new water neck, fuel pump, motor mounts, hoses etc.

This is the first engine I've had built from a bare block, looking forward to seeing how it goes.

[440]

Here's an older pic of the car it's going in. There's probably a bit more rust showing through now, lol.

The cars came factory equipped with 4 wheel disk brakes and limited slip rear axle. It's actually not a bad handling car.

[RallyeMike]

The cars came factory equipped with 4 wheel disk brakes

Wow, that is quite ahead of its time for a regular sedan (by US standards). I had no idea Ford was short-changing us all these years! 

That looks like a very fun daily.   

[TUFCAT]

No kidding!..... its a much cleaner design compared to what Ford offered in the USA during the same period.  I like it.

[polywideblock]

   mate just sold his marquis 

[440]

It would have been better if it was a two door but it's got a good shape. Out of all the cars I have/had this has been the most fun. It's a real war horse, it's got bad paint, a bit of rust and dents but it will take you anywhere and you don't have to worry where you park it. It's got a street hardened look to it 

[440]

Just got it back again due to an issue with the manifold, and who knew a stock distributor would be so hard to find for an early cleveland. I ended up just buying a MSD ready to run. I've heard good and bad things about these but put the bad down to mosty improper set up.

I'd like a bigger air cleaner as this one looks wussy, but I'm stuck to it due to the LPG mixer.

Just need to get a new torque converter and a carb and I'm set.

[Cooter]

In the states, that's the infamous 351/400 modified. Not a general good performance engine pick, but they can make good power. F&P just did one in a Ford pick up for a customer. Basically stock with ported heads, headers, aftermarket intake and carb. Runs fairly well for what it is....

[440]

I was always under the impression that the Cleveland was an Aussie made block. The 302 and 351 cleveland blocks are identical. The Aussie heads are far better then the US heads and highly sought after.

The US had the Windsor which we never got as far as I know.

I've got an F150 4x4 with a 400m which is basically a tall deck 351. They are known for oiling issues due to the big journals and also cracking blocks like the GM 400ci. Luckily mine it mild enough but makes good power for what it is, I managed to blow up the pump in a C6.


This little 351 should be a good little runner for a daily driver, not a big powerhouse but something you can thrash on daily without worry. It will run out of power around 5k so you don't have to wring its neck but should make good torque to pull the rear gear.

[moparnation74]

I love fairlaines!!!

Sweet ride and as Ghoste said PICS!!!!

[Mopar Nut]

That'll be a nice sleeper!

[Cooter]

As far as I know, the Cleveland engine was built in Cleveland Ohio. The Windsor was built in Windsor Ontario Canada.

[TUFCAT]

Much more than that Cooter. Completely different engines. The only thing the same was the displacement. 351W had a unique block compared to the Cleveland. The upper radiator hose location of a Windsor is different than a Cleveland..... the Cleveland goes into the block (there's also an integrated casting in the front of the block to accompany the timing chain)

Also different rods, heads, and deck height.

Cleveland engines are easy to spot looking from the front.... compared to the Windsor.  

[69wannabe]

I just tore down a 351 W early this week for a young guy out of an early model mustang. Think it was a 69 coupe but the engine was rattling when he bought the car and the guy he bought it from claimed it was rebuilt. Got the intake off and it was clean but far from rebuilt. The heads have never been off of it but someone had put a different cam and lifters in it and the top timing gear bolt that holds the fuel pump eccentric had backed out and it was just laying against the timing cover when I pulled it off. No wonder it had a what looked like a quickie electric fuel pump stuck on there in the easiest spot to stick one and the mechanical hole in the timing cover was blocked off. He was expecting a quick fix but I explained to him the engine has never been apart and once I got the heads off the cylinders were slick as glass and a good ring ridge was at the top of the cylinders too so I continued to disassemble it. The rod and main bearings were in the copper but the bottom end was clean and it will really be a good engine to build after some machine work on the block and getting the crankshaft turned and some machine work on the heads since he does not want to spend the cash for a set of aluminum heads. He started popping off horse power numbers and I just stopped him and said look dude it's a 351 small block and without spending 5 or 6 grand on this engine the horsepower numbers are going to be very mild here and if numbers are what you are worried about I will need to just collect for the time I got in tearing it down and someone else can make your horsepower numbers for pennies... I just told him I can build it with some decent compression and a mild cam with some head work and a set of headers and a good carb it will be a fun engine to drive and with a good exhaust system it will sound good too.

[440]

Thats all I did, replaced 302 crank and rods with 351 internals. New pistons, mild cam, mild head work, and a good intake etc and it still set me back 7k. It will be bullet proof though.

It should run good being everything is matched. Good for a sleeper.

[don duick]

I did the same put 351 crank and rods in my 302 ended up with about 10 to 1 compression used a comp cam 218/224 at 50 everything else was stock. used an Impco 425 mixer LPG Propane in a 70 ford torino bork warner 4 speed and 3.45 diff gears. What a perferct combination this ran great and OK economy. Hate to admit this but the torino was a lot better car to drive than my 70 charger.

[440]

I finally got my converter and deep pan today after a month wait  I hope it's a good converter as the company has a good reputation. Probably a bit of overkill really but this should be a bullet proof car. I hope the 2500 stall isn't too aggressive for a daily driver, the stock stall is 1780-2000. The car itself is probably only worth about $800 but I reckon I spent about 12k on motor/trans.

http://www.dominatorconverter.com.au/dominator.html

It better go good

I'll probably ask in another thread as this wont get much exposure but I need a set of traction bars and want something low key. I really like the ford design as you cant really tell they are there, the only thing I don't like is they will be tugging on the frame rail (never a good thing). I like the look of caltracks but you'd see them. The rear suspension on these cars are pretty soft.

[440]

Stripped out the interior for a full scrub and clean. Cut a patch panel to cover the factory cut console shifter hole.

[440]

Bolted engine and trans together after an extremely long process.

[lukedukem]

is that a C6 tranny? i had an 84 ford f-150 with a 351 windsor with a C6. i loved that truck. had 175k on it before it bit the bullet.

Luke

[440]

It's a little C4. When it was at the trans shop with the bellhousing and tailshaft off I couldn't believe just how tiny it really was. Hopefully this one will live a long life. Stage 2 shift kit and a few oiling mods.

I've got a 77 F150 4x4 with the 400 and a C6 and that is a fun truck. I used to thrash on it with a 6" lift and 33's. I eventually blew up the pump but since getting rebuilt has been good. I'd go through 1 - 2 rear ujoints a year

[Mopar Nut]

That's gorgeous!

[skip68]

Man, that motor looks so beautiful I'd want to just leave it in the garage for display.     
Should run really well.   Are you going to fix the steering?    It's on the wrong side of the car.   

[440]

Thanks    What started out as a quick out and in $3,500-$4,000 engine rebuild quickly snowballed out of control. It's still cheap compared to what many build but it suited my budget and needs. I just wish I went with a slightly bigger cam even though the engine builder talked me out of it.

I originally wanted the engine to appear fairly stock, finding a Bosch OEM electronic distributor to fit proved the hard bit. The MSD was almost at cheap as the second hand used Bosch unit so that's what set off the "aftermarket" appearance.

It's almost a shame to put in such a tatty car but will be a fun toy. I really hope I can also fit a ratchet shifter under the console without having to modify it.

Are you going to fix the steering?    It's on the wrong side of the car.   

I can put a fake steering wheel on the left side so you feel normal. Banging through the gears with my left hand will take some getting used to 

[440]

Well, I finally got the ratchet shifter mounted with the stock console. What a pain in the ass it was to fit, but we got there. I had to remove the stock shifter hump, cut a patch panel and bolt in place, raise console about 7/16" and mount it. Trying to get the stick lined up square in the middle of the slot on the console proved the most challenging as the tunnel had no flat surfaces. Luckily my patience paid off and all holes drilled perfectly.

[440]

While the interior was out I decided to waste money and install a stereo, why, I dont know really. The sub takes up too much trunk space and the weight of the extra gear isn't doing the car any good.

New head unit installed and amp's mounted on a board...

[440]

I cleaned the spare wheel well, painted the spare tire cover, put the trunk carpet in and ran new speaker cables. I'm not fussed about the room the audio equipment occupies but I don't have much choice. There are no "tidy" spots to fit it all, if the stupid LPG tank wasn't there it wiould be perfect.

[Bossman963]

Wow whats a standard 302 Cleveland

I never seen one of those animals !!!!

You cant interchange parts as the Windsor is a small block and the Cleveland is a big Block motor- Ford designed the 351C as a NASCAR Motor back in the day 1970

[440]

The cleveland is a good motor. The interesting thing is you can mix some windsor parts and cleveland parts to make a cleavor. These are known as "Boss" engines over here.

I bolted the passenger side engine mount together finally (RHD). Slowly getting there. I had to replace the u joints in my other Fairlane which was pretty tough. They were the original 40yo u joints, rusted, and one had failed. It required a lot of soaking with WD40, a vise, a hammer and a lot of patients.

[440]

I bought some nice Pioneer D series speakers for the package shelf and installed them. I've finally wired up my amplifiers except for power, still trying to figure out how I want to split it. I had upgraded the speaker wire that I first ran with 12awg wire. My OCD kicked in and I tidied up all the stereo wiring. I'm happy it's is all coming together nicely and nearly finished. I suck at car audio and learned a lot installing it. I made it harder on myself but if there is a next time should be a breeze.

All that's left is to buy a pair of speakers for the kick panel, buy a new starter, and do the engine swap.

And put the interior back in.....

[440]

I started putting the interior back in and all was going pretty well. I've got a bit of a rant though, finding the correct products here are a nightmare and quickly grind things to a halt.

I'm currently making and replacing the door vapor barriers and needed some non hardening butyl sealer, I thought for sure the major hardware store would have some, nope. I head to a major auto parts store, nope. Frustrating....

A similar thing happened trying to find some 3m super 77 to glue the insulation in my heater box, I ended up ringing 3m Australia asking where to find it only to find one place carried it. Said place was nearly a 2 hour round trip. Trying to find some high grade bolts, same thing, only place about 2hr round trip again. I think this will be a similar situation  


So much for my plans to get them finished and the door panels on tomorrow.

[440]

I found some non hardening mastic but again it's a 2 hour round trip to get and they wont ship it either  

I managed to get all the old mastic off the doors which was messy   I also cleaned up the inner doors and fish oiled them to hopefully prevent further rust. This isn't a "tidy" car by any means but more of a toy, a sleeper. I also managed to get the rear insulation, rear carpet, rear seats, rear trim panels and the sill plates installed.

[440]

No love for the Fairlane but here's another update.

Front padding, carpet and drivers seat are in. I glued in all the moisture barriers and mounted all the door panels. I also cut out larger kick panel holes and mounted some 6 3/4" speakers. I just need to make some brackets to mount the tweeters.

I've got an idea on how to make the factory indicator work, this was quite challenging as the shifter moves a total of 1 7/8" while the indicator light needs 4 1/8" of travel.

[440]

After a LOT of messing around I finally got the gear indicator working great with no modifications made to the console.

I'm glad to see the tail end of this little project.

[Patronus]

Don't think I've ever heard of a 302 Cleveland. But hey, I guess there's plenty of 440 hemi's out there too.

[440]

I managed to get this done today by myself, now the fun of scrubbing ,cleaning and degreasing. The complete front wiring harness will be replaced as well as the steering box. I should also replace the power steering hoses while it's apart but where do you draw the line?

Christmas makes this a year long project. I originally thought it would take no longer then 2 months when I started, a quick engine rebuild snowballed into something more.


At least I'm getting closer to getting my pos back on the road.....

[440]

I finally got a start on cleaning the engine bay. Under all the crap it appears to be in pretty good shape, surface rust in some spots but nothing rotted. I was hoping to get a bit more done today but it was too hot to work in the sun. I 2ill sand back and repaint the battery area as this is the worst spot.

[440]

This damn pitman arm is starting to piss me off. I'm about to go mental on it with the biggest hammer I can find.

[440]

I finally painted the engine bay, I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I still need to rust convert and paint the join at the firewall.

I'm also replacing the brake booster, master cylinder, and the high pressure power steering line.

[440]

New steering box installed with new coupler and power steering lines. The old coupler was quite scary actually    With all the new parts hopefully it drives like a new 38 year old car.

[440]

Since my last post I installed a new power booster and master cylinder, bled the brakes, mounted an Optima yellow top battery, wired up the engine bay and tested the light /horn circuits. Tomorrow I will test the ignition and starter circuit. If everything checks out I'll try to drop the engine in tomorrow or over the easter holidays.

Pretty cool to see the car come back to life after being dead for over a year, turning the car on and seeing the radio come to life, seeing the dash light up and the headlights and tail lights work, indicators etc.

We're getting close to terrorizing the streets......

[440]

My hooptie will be on the road soon.

The engine is in finally, and it didn't go in easily or smoothly. I also had to pull and move the transmission cross member and remove 30 years of grease, dirt and oil as it was set up for an FMX which has a different mounting location.

It lightly rained on and off so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, plus I got a late start. Tomorrow I'll try to bolt up the drive shaft, torque converter nuts, splash sheild, exhaust, speedo cable, carb, throttle bracket, kickdown linkage, heater and fuel hoses, transmission lines and some of the accessories if I can.

Not far to go now... I've ordered a new power steering pump and just need to get a VPW trans cooler, overflow tank, make up some battery leads and lengthen the throttle cable.

[kokxville]

Looks great.

[Charger_Fan]

Looks great.

It sure does!
Won't be long now until you're firing that baby up! I love starting a new engine that first time.

[440]

Thanks guys, about one more days work and she'll be ready to start. Just gotta install radiator, power steering pump, hook up the B&M shifter cable and run vaccuum hoses.

The hood is now bolted on and there's about 1" or less of clearance between the air cleaner and hood.

[440]

Getting real close, not much to do now. Still need to mount power steering pump, run vac lines, modify the throttle cable and hook up a few wires...... Then vroooom...

[440]

I'm must say I'm pretty happy with how my modified throttle cable worked out. I was still able to utilize the factory cable for a fairly factory fit and finish. I was prepared to have take it to a cable joint and have them custom make something up. Originally these cars pull on the carb from the front being RHD, if you reroute the cable to pull from the back they tend to get stiff. I had a friend mill down one of the cable brackets that came with the throttle mount. I also had to pull apart and cut down the sheath 1 1/2". All in all it works fantastic and is nice and smooth.

[Charger_Fan]

Nice work, it looks great!

[440]

Everything is finally done and ready to go, the car goes back to the engine builder Monday for break in.