Gotta 351 Cleveland. What would you put it in?

[Lunchmoney]

I’m working here in the motor city. An ironworker brother gave me a 351 Cleveland and most parts for rebuild. It came from a 72 Mach one its not the mean 4v its 2 v but still a lotta motor. Just wanted to hear ideas. I was thinking an old dinky square body ranger pickup..?

 

[Dime]

I’m working here in the motor city. An ironworker brother gave me a 351 Cleveland and most parts for rebuild. It came from a 72 Mach one its not the mean 4v its 2 v but still a lotta motor. Just wanted to hear ideas. I was thinking an old dinky square body ranger pickup..?

Id swap to 4 bbl heads and get the edelbrock package ,even their heads if you can afford it and put it in a late 80's fox body as a lot of stock parts can be used or if you don't mind some work then 70's maverick/comet makes a good home. Good looking cars,good aftermarket support,you can buy parts at any jobber, and plenty of power. We once put a 429 out of a 70's lincoln in a fox with a flip front end.The moter was dirt cheap. You can buy conversion kits to simplify swaps and reap the benefits of someone who tore the skin off their hands to make it work.

 

[Lunchmoney]

Id swap to 4 bbl heads and get the edelbrock package ,even their heads if you can afford it and put it in a late 80's fox body as a lot of stock parts can be used or if you don't mind some work then 70's maverick/comet makes a good home. Good looking cars,good aftermarket support,you can buy parts at any jobber, and plenty of power. We once put a 429 out of a 70's lincoln in a fox with a flip front end.The moter was dirt cheap. You can buy conversion kits to simplify swaps and reap the benefits of someone who tore the skin off their hands to make it work.

Hell yeah there was an old maverick rolling around when I was a kid tiny thing I remember. Gonna keep my eyes peeled for something small to put it. Or maybe ranchero

 

[armedoldhippy]

had a '72 Cougar with that motor & a 4 bbl w/auto transmission. damn thing would fly straight out of the showroom. a Maverick or a small truck would be fun with that in there....

 

[Dime]

Hell yeah there was an old maverick rolling around when I was a kid tiny thing I remember. Gonna keep my eyes peeled for something small to put it. Or maybe ranchero

Hell yeah there was an old maverick rolling around when I was a kid tiny thing I remember. Gonna keep my eyes peeled for something small to put it. Or maybe ranchero

There's a good looking one IMO

 

[Stankwilliamsjr]

80’s fairmont…I don’t know I just love em when they’re rodded out.

 

[Dime]

80’s fairmont…I don’t know I just love em when they’re rodded out.

Just cause we're talking Ford

 

[Three Berries]

I had 351 2V in a'72 Ranchero. Didn't know what I had.....

 

[flylowgethigh]

I suggest if you have a PU truck that you put it in that. In the back. Haul it to the scrapyard and get back bucks. That is the high point of your financial dealings with hot rods.

Thank me later. I emptied out my Mopar stash, lost my azz, but the $45k feels a lot better than having a bunch of junk around. I got lucky that there is still a greater fool around.

 

[Lunchmoney]

I suggest if you have a PU truck that you put it in that. In the back. Haul it to the scrapyard and get back bucks. That is the high point of your financial dealings with hot rods.

Thank me later. I emptied out my Mopar stash, lost my azz, but the $45k feels a lot better than having a bunch of junk around. I got lucky that there is still a greater fool around.

I do hear you brother I have a lot of junk which I need cash in. This motor was given to me by good friend and has sentiment I guess really. I have dreams of tinkering with my boys one day building hot rod.

 

[flylowgethigh]

With the junk was a Mega block 540, Keith Black alum water block 500, a stroked 340(416): a strong 340, 2 good 360 blocks. A set of ported polished heads for the 340. A bunch of race carbs, pile of headers, junk, junk, junk. Good riddance.

 

[moose eater]

I’m working here in the motor city. An ironworker brother gave me a 351 Cleveland and most parts for rebuild. It came from a 72 Mach one its not the mean 4v its 2 v but still a lotta motor. Just wanted to hear ideas. I was thinking an old dinky square body ranger pickup..?

An early to mid-90's Ford F-250 extended cab or crew cab 4x4. Heck of a good engine when properly assembled and maintained.

 

[Lunchmoney]

Those are good years for ford trucks. Are you suggesting a more daily driver reliable work truck type direction with the motor? Definitely open to all ideas. I know a guy who still drives an old two tone ford square

 

[moose eater]

Those are good years for ford trucks. Are you suggesting a more daily driver reliable work truck type direction with the motor? Definitely open to all ideas. I know a guy who still drives an old two tone ford square

It won't be fuel efficient, per se', though you can make it less of a gas-guzzler by changing out some of the oem gearing; maybe find a suitable 5-speed w/overdrive you can match up to it.. Modifications?

But as an all-around vehicle with room to sleep in the back seat if necessary, room in the bed for what ever, including hauling cargo, and room for family/friends, it's the way to go in my opinion.

I'm partial to short-beds (6.5' on average) as they don't need a half of a football field to turn around in, nor hunt for a half-hour to find a parking spot at the store.

And if you want to, you can still find campers/canopies to fit a 6'+ bed nicely.

A wedge-shaped canopy gives you some aerodynamics for fuel efficiency while not limting your cargo to cab-height in the rear of the canopy near the gate.

My trucks have had locking canopies on them for years (more secure load, and a locked canopy with no front-cab access requires a warrant in most cases for a search.

On the last couple canopies I've had (different trucks) I lined the interior of them with a thick wool liner of sorts (maybe close to 5/8" thick?), glued in with a heavy-duty adhesive by a custom truck shop, so that when I slept in the back of the truck in late fall/winter, often when hauling large amounts of fresh meat, the moisture/frost from my breath and from the meat didn't result in frozen condensation on the inside of the the canopy ceiling dropping on my head in the night as the humidity/frost built up. (*That's beyond what you asked, but it adds to usability, imo).

Edit: and a spray-in Rhino-Liner, or similar, completely throughout a rust-free bed, up and over side-rails, down the outside of the bed rails for about 2". It'll retain the value of the truck by not having it turn to a rust bucket.

 

[Lunchmoney]

You’re a savage man! Sleeping with carcass! Hell yeah that’s hauling no doubt! Good stuff. Keeps my whining about the cold in check hearing from your neck of the woods. We’ve been very mild anyway happy bloody new year!

 

[moose eater]

You’re a savage man! Sleeping with carcass! Hell yeah that’s hauling no doubt! Good stuff. Keeps my whining about the cold in check hearing from your neck of the woods. We’ve been very mild anyway happy bloody new year!

Can you locate a rust-free derelict in good shape, of which ever model you decide to go with?

For rust-free vehicles, I tend to look for estate or barn finds, preferably in regions where there's no sodium choride brine or salts used on the roads.

Arizona and S. California are often good locations to search, but many folks know what their stuff is worth, and the sun in those places can take a toll, too.

Nevada, same-same, but stay away from Tahoe and the places that get buried in snow.

Places right on the coast can also have airborne salt damage, but inland a ways, away from the immediate sea air, but still temperate enough to not be blizzard country. Good as well.

Slightly inland from Portland and Seattle can be good places.

I've had good barn finds in Eastern Washington, though I believe they use salt there, though not sure.

Where you're working now they used to use shitloads of salt on the roads, especially heading north toward the bridge.

I brought a rust-free 4-wheel drive Honda up from Tucson a few years back for my wife that had spent its life in S. California and Az. Clean as a whistle, and put together by a reputable shop I'd watched for years rfmo a distance before jumping.

A rust-free later 80s Chevy camper van I brought up a month and a half ago or so from South Central Washington that was primarily rust-free because the owner was afraid to drive in snow and rain, so didn't.

And about 37 years ago I acquired a 1953 Chevy 3/4-ton from a barn in Eastern Washington, where it had sat with what had been brand new re-tread tires (checked to hell on the barn-window-side of the vehicle) for who knows how long. ($300 on that purchase). Had a 216 Babbit bearing engine in it, with 6-volt electrical and raw-hide wrapped vacuum operated wiper system. Put a double-fan Caterpillar auxiliary heater in it for the extreme cold back them, replacing the 12-volt fans for 6-volt..

 

[Lunchmoney]

I’m surrounded by junk yards full of rusty shit. Also surrounded by parking lots full of brand new trucks waiting on components to be moved down the line rows and rows of them anywhere “safe” they can put them. It’s definitely the motor city. It’s a cool place really very industrious. Very. I was thinking earlier of a small ford and thunderbird crossed my mind hell I even liked those big boat thunderbirds from the 80’s. I have a buddy who visits family in Colorado often he always hauls back something he says the same thing it’s rust free he dragged a c-15 back if I’m not mjstaken had a camper insert said the truck was made for it.

 

[moose eater]

I’m surrounded by junk yards full of rusty shit. Also surrounded by parking lots full of brand new trucks waiting on components to be moved down the line rows and rows of them anywhere “safe” they can put them. It’s definitely the motor city. It’s a cool place really very industrious. Very. I was thinking earlier of a small ford and thunderbird crossed my mind hell I even liked those big boat thunderbirds from the 80’s. I have a buddy who visits family in Colorado often he always hauls back something he says the same thing it’s rust free he dragged a c-15 back if I’m not mjstaken had a camper insert said the truck was made for it.

There's some finds to be made in New Mexico, depending on where and how they were stored. Lots of vehicles in NM travel back and forth to Colorado, and Colorado can be hell on a vehicle; RUST CITY.

 

[Dime]

Can you locate a rust-free derelict in good shape, of which ever model you decide to go with?

For rust-free vehicles, I tend to look for estate or barn finds, preferably in regions where there's no sodium choride brine or salts used on the roads.

Arizona and S. California are often good locations to search, but many folks know what their stuff is worth, and the sun in those places can take a toll, too.

Nevada, same-same, but stay away from Tahoe and the places that get buried in snow.

Places right on the coast can also have airborne salt damage, but inland a ways, away from the immediate sea air, but still temperate enough to not be blizzard country. Good as well.

Slightly inland from Portland and Seattle can be good places.

I've had good barn finds in Eastern Washington, though I believe they use salt there, though not sure.

Where you're working now they used to use shitloads of salt on the roads, especially heading north toward the bridge.

I brought a rust-free 4-wheel drive Honda up from Tucson a few years back for my wife that had spent its life in S. California and Az. Clean as a whistle, and put together by a reputable shop I'd watched for years rfmo a distance before jumping.

A rust-free later 80s Chevy camper van I brought up a month and a half ago or so from South Central Washington that was primarily rust-free because the owner was afraid to drive in snow and rain, so didn't.

And about 37 years ago I acquired a 1953 Chevy 3/4-ton from a barn in Eastern Washington, where it had sat with what had been brand new re-tread tires (checked to hell on the barn-window-side of the vehicle) for who knows how long. ($300 on that purchase). Had a 216 Babbit bearing engine in it, with 6-volt electrical and raw-hide wrapped vacuum operated wiper system. Put a double-fan Caterpillar auxiliary heater in it for the extreme cold back them, replacing the 12-volt fans for 6-volt..

You're exactly right,Michigan borders Canada and the older vehicles are mostly rotted junk,even as parts/trim the winter and salt destroys them. The only good ones are brought there from no salt areas and have a solid shell,otherwise,most are patched scrap or had a few body jobs or ready for another. I'd rather spend money on bolt on parts than screw around with rust,it's a waste of time. I would never buy an old car that spent it's life in Michigan or that part of Canada. If you find a good one it's high priced and usually turnkey.

 

[Lunchmoney]

it’s not only the salt on the roads in this city it rains idk what. There is forever a film of suit slurry on my truck that needs sprayed off regularly.