It isn’t hard to get 400 hp from a 351C. All you need is the right combination of parts, including CNC-ported, factory, iron-head castings from Powerheads and a budget stroker kit, and get ready for great street power. Here are two examples: one from MCE Engines and one from TMeyer, Inc.
MCE Engines
Marvin McAfee of MCE Engines welcomed me into his Los Angeles shop where he was working on a customer’s 351C-4V engine. The customer, located 1,500 miles away, wanted 400 hp and comparable torque from his 351C.
When Marvin received this engine, it was worse for wear and suffered from poor building technique. It was worn out before its time. Poor valvetrain geometry had damaged fresh Comp Cams Magnum roller rockers. Fouled spark plugs indicated cylinder-sealing issues.
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Marvin begins with a freshly machined D2AE-CA four-bolt main block. Nice thing about this block is its 4.030-inch bore that needs only a fi ne honing for good ring seating. There is no ridge and there was still a crosshatch pattern. That’s red GE Glyptol coating in the lifter valley for improved oil return fl ow and iron sealing.
Marvin looks to Eagle for his inspiration with this 393-ci stroker kit (#16800030) with a 3.850-inch stroke and 4.030-inch bore, which is affordable and offers the mechanical advantage of stroke. With a cast-steel crank, beefy 6.000-inch I-beam rods, and forged Mahle pistons, there’s all kinds of power (torque) to be made here. Though Marvin is content with 410 hp, you can push this kit closer to 500 and still be safe.
Marvin decided this Cleveland needed a complete teardown along with the full complement of machine work and the right combination of parts to achieve more than 400 street horsepower. When Marvin tore this engine down, he found 4.030-inch bores with minimal wear and taper.
Another affordable pathway to power is an aggressive hydraulic roller cam from Comp Cams (#SK32-431-8). When you reduce friction, you free up power. And when you allow a more aggressive ramp, you make more power. This Comp hydraulic roller is good for 2,000 to 5,500 rpm, with .566-inch valve lift, 224 degrees of duration at .050 inch, and 110-degree lobe centers. It has good idle and aggressive amounts of torque with a broad torque curve.
One of the cheapest ways to bolster your Cleveland’s bottom end is ARP main studs. A stud girdle delivers even more strength when power numbers court 500 and beyond. Never bottom out these studs, but instead leave about 1/8 to ¼ inch between stud and bottom.
Install and torque main caps one at a time and check rotation. You should be able to turn the crank with one hand and it should roll over smoothly. If you can’t, clearances are too tight.
You can free up more power with a Torrington bearing timing sprocket, which reduces friction. Every place you reduce friction, you release power lost to friction.
Powerheads did a nice CNC port job for MCE Engines on these Boss 302 heads, which have been modified to work on a 351C. Cooling passages have been plugged and modified for the Cleveland. With good port and bowl work, you can expect 340 cfm from these intake ports and roughly 190 cfm from exhaust. This masterful CNC port work includes 2.190/1.710-inch stainless valves.
Assisting Edelbrock’s Performer manifold and an aggressive Comp Cams hydraulic roller is Holley’s new Street Avenger (#HLY-0-8077) at 770 cfm at wide-open throttle. Whenever you conduct a dyno test, first perform a jet check to confirm air/fuel ratio. Spark plug color determines course of action.
Valve timing events and degreeing a new cam are everything to power. Closely examine valve timing events with a degree wheel to determine cam specs and what to do about timing. When you advance valve timing, you improve low- to midrange torque. When you retard valve timing, you increase horsepower and lose torque. Sometimes, you do little more than move the power band.
Marvin’s racing and aviation backgrounds make him more cautious than most builders. This doesn’t net power, but safety wiring bolt heads keeps things safe.
This is Edelbrock’s Performer 351C-4V dual-plane manifold for the 4V head. The Performer 351C-4V gives you good lowto mid-range torque coupled with highend power to 6,500 rpm.
This completed 393C stroker is ready for the dyno. With an MSD billet distributor with vacuum advance properly curved for the power expected, Marvin expects 410/436 HP/TQ. The beauty of Marvin’s street engines is a broad torque curve that begins to come on strong at 2,200 rpm handing off to horsepower at 5,200.
Tim Meyer’s tall-deck 400 made 396 hp and 449 ft-lbs of torque on its best pull using a single-plane manifold and a 700-cfm Holley carburetor at 32-degrees BTDC total. This is a great street engine for a Ford pick-up or classic sport utility because it pulls. If you want more torque, go with a dual-plane manifold with long runners.
TMeyer, Inc.
Tim Meyer of TMeyer, Inc., in rural Minnesota is a recognized and respected engine builder who has built a lot of 351C and 400 engines for clients around the country. Though the 400 gets a lot of criticism for being an underpowered smog slug, it remains a 351C with increased deck height and larger main journals; a small-block with the personality of a big-block.
If you strip the 400 of factory design shortcomings, it is an engine long on potential because you get big-block power without the weight penalty. The 385-series 460, as one example, weighs at least 100 pounds more than a 400.
When Tim took on this 400, he knew what it needed to make more power. The 400’s cylinder heads are open-chamber 351C-2V castings, which suffer from the absence of quench and are prone to detonation. This is why Tim went with Australian 302C closed-chamber wedge heads with 57- to 60-cc chambers on top of the 400. Good quench for the money amid a nice, small, wedge chamber.
With the 400, Tim has an opportunity to get 1 hp per cubic inch or roughly 400 hp from a 400 along with approximately 450 ft-lbs of torque. This comes from topping the 400 with cylinder heads that make the most of bore and stroke along with a good cam and an induction system. And he gets it done with 9.8:1 compression and 87-octane pump gas. This happens with Tim’s own custom KB #2344 forged pistons (30-cc reverse dome) for a 400 with Aussie 302C cylinder heads and a stock 400 bottom end.
TMeyer 400, Pull 1
Tim began his 400 dyno thrash with a Weiand Action Plus (#8010), an Edelbrock 600-cfm carburetor, and the D.U.I. ignition system from Performance Distributors. Here’s what happened on the first pull in Tim Meyer’s own words, “So far the engine has had a 25-minute breakin. We have started with the Weiand Action Plus dual-plane intake. After 25 minutes with 10W40 weight oil with oil temperature at 225 degrees F and water temperature at 200 degrees F, we were able to idle at 900-rpm and maintain 40 to 50 pounds of oil pressure.” The first pull net 365 hp and 425 ft-lbs of torque with total ignition timing at 25 degrees BTDC. There’s room for improvement.
TMeyer 400, Pull 2
“Best news yet: Exhaust gas temperatures are about 1,200 degrees F. Most low-compression engines have a higher exhaust temperature around 1,400 to 1,500 degrees F,” Tim comments. “This time, we went to 5,500 rpm and bumped the timing to 30 degrees BTDC total. We’ve developed a misfi re at 5,500 rpm. As a result, we’re installing another set of advance springs after trying different distributor parts. Despite the misfire, we’ve gained power: 370 hp and 430 ft-lbs of torque.” Tim adds he has changed the oil to 10W30, with pressure dropping at hot idle to 40 pounds. A compression check shows an average of 170 psi.
TMeyer 400, Pull 3
“Final pull with the Weiand manifold. We’ve changed to an MSD billet distributor with vacuum advance and a Holley 650-cfm carburetor with the Weiand Action Plus,” Tim comments. “We bumped the timing to 36 degrees BTDC and it did ping under load.” Tim retarded total timing to 32 degrees BTDC to get 384 hp and 450 ft-lbs of torque. With the Weiand Action Plus dual-plane manifold, you can see the TMeyer 400 is about torque, not horsepower, which makes this 400 in current trim perfect for a Bronco or F-Series truck. The dual-plane induction system is happiest between 2,500 and 5,500 rpm.
TMeyer 400, Pull 4
Next, Tim tried a Holley single-plane manifold and 650-cfm Holley carburetor just to see what happens to the power curve: 390 hp and 451 ft-lbs of torque. Total ignition timing is 30.5 degrees BTDC.
TMeyer 400, Pull 5
Next, Tim went with an Edelbrock 750-cfm carburetor for a drop in horsepower and torque (perhaps too much carburetor): 380 hp and 437 ft-lbs of torque. Disappointing numbers with a carb swap and the same 30.5 degrees of total timing.
TMeyer 400, Pull 6
Tim installs a 700-cfm Holley to achieve 396 hp and 449 ft-lbs of torque. The power message here seems to be the velocity you get with a smaller carburetor. With velocity comes torque.
TMeyer 400, Pull 7
On Pull 7 Tim decided to go with the Edelbrock Performer 400 dual-plane manifold and a 600 cfm Holley, probably not enough carburetor because horsepower is down at 387, with torque improved at 458 ft-lbs, which proves the velocity theory. It is all in what you want from your Cleveland. If you want highend horsepower, increase carburetor size conservatively in 50- to 100-cfm increments. If you want stump-pulling torque, go smaller in the 600- to 650-cfm range. Single-plane manifolds make sense for high-RPM use or when you increase displacement. They don’t perform well down low. Dual-plane manifolds such as the Edelbrock Performer and Performer RPM series make the most sense for drivers, tow vehicles, and haulers.
TMeyer 400, Pull 8
Back to the Weiand Action Plus dualplane manifold and 650-cfm Holley for the best results of this dyno session: 393 hp and 458 ft-lbs of torque. Tim kept timing conservative at 30.5 degrees BTDC, which I think could have been pushed a bit higher along with fatter jetting. With Ford’s 4.000-inch bore/4.000-inch stroke combination and conservative tuning, you can achieve 400 hp and 450 torque numbers along with durability.
Written by George Reid and Republished with Permission of CarTech Inc
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