351 crate motor HP upgrade

I own a 351 crate motor that's never seen a spark. It comes from ford racing with the spec 250hp. I wish to pull it apart and increase the Hp. I'm not overly engine smart but this will be my take away in High Horsepower engines. The crate motor from Ford racing is the M-6007-S58. Can anybody get me started, is porting and resizing the answer or changing the cam.... I NEED SOME HELP

I googled your part number and came up with this.. 5.8 Liter/351 - 250 Horsepower M-6007-S58 | Ford Racing | Crate Motors | Crate Engines | FordPowerShop.com

It appears that this is a totally "stock" type engine so I would treat it as such when trying to modify it...A better intake,heads and camshaft would all be good additions..The engine has pretty low compression so a head with a small chamber would be a big help here....What do you intend to do with the engine and how much do you want to spend?

I'm interested in dropping it in a 1949 ford pick up. As for how much money not sure, I have $3800 into it now, would like to have maybe about 350 horses and like everybody hoping to do it a cheap as possible, until 350 HP just doesn't cut it any more.

Ford Aluminum Tri-Pro 5.0 302/351-W $299

Looks like $300 for an intake
And a cam shaft is $150
does this sound right? or am I on glue

Originally Posted by snorklepuss

Ford Aluminum Tri-Pro 5.0 302/351-W $299

Looks like $300 for an intake
And a cam shaft is $150
does this sound right? or am I on glue

What carb came with it? I have a brand new Holley Str, Avenger 650,used for about 6-8 dyno pulls if interested.
Is it a roller motor? i;ve got a new(6-8 pulls again) Comp roller we switched out too, but i;d guarantee it, its like new
its a Comp ,without looking it up, 274?? its around 214/218@.50

Originally Posted by snorklepuss

Ford Aluminum Tri-Pro 5.0 302/351-W $299

Looks like $300 for an intake
And a cam shaft is $150
does this sound right? or am I on glue

Big problem with new crate motor thats underpowered from the start, is you'll have to toss the top of the engine (heads, cam, intake) before you even begin to make any more power. Worse, is the cast/hypereutetic pistons and factory rods may not be the best components to handle the extra hp/tq, if you start to beat on it severely.

Since its a factory long-block, I think its a better foundation than a rebuilder special. But based on what you "should' replace; its on that fine line between accepting it for what it is or seeing if you could sell it and buy the next upgrade crate engine the 385 hp/ 351 which has all the good stuff which you really want.

If you want to take the plunge anyway, I'd change the heads and cam first. That'll change the whole character of the engine. That low rise manifold is more suited for a truck/RV, but once the engine is in the vehicle and running, its probably the easist thing to chage when you are draped over a fender. The others are much harder to do with the engine installed.

Good heads, aluminum...about 1200 - 1500, cam about 200 and decent 600 - 700 cfm carb... about 300 to 400; that should put you in the ball park.

I was going to say get some porting done on the heads and while they were off mill 'em to knock about 5 cc out of the combustion chambers and bump the compression a bit. Low buck and old school.

Then I saw how cheap these heads are at Summit

Ford Racing M-6049-X307 - Ford Racing GT-40 Cylinder Heads - Overview - SummitRacing.com

They're assembled and 58 cc chambers. I think the chambers are smaller than on the heads from the 250 hp crate motor so the compression will be boosted. The flow is way more. And they even have small valves that may not cause piston/valve problems? Only $480 for each head? Wow! That's cheap.

Buy two of those and a low buck cam like a Comp 268 high energy for $120

COMP Cams 35-218-3 - COMP Cams High Energy Camshafts - Overview - SummitRacing.com

If you don't have the bucks to get a Weiand Stealth or Edelbrock RPM intake just put an open 1" spacer on top the intake that comes with the crate motor and top that with a 600 Holley.

Boom. 325-350 hp.

Then sell the heads and cam that came with the crate motor to somebody doing a stock rebuild.

JMO,

paulie

Originally Posted by snorklepuss

I'm interested in dropping it in a 1949 ford pick up. As for how much money not sure, I have $3800 into it now, would like to have maybe about 350 horses and like everybody hoping to do it a cheap as possible, until 350 HP just doesn't cut it any more.

I'm assuming since its in a truck you still would like some good low rpm torque and this is not a race car?...If so I would go with something like an edelbrock rpm top end on it..You can find those parts fairly cheap used if you look around especially the intake....There are lots of much better racier heads but those should easily get you your goal with the proper camshaft carb and headers...Since the block is roller cam compatible I would take advantage of that and use one..

If you are looking for something a little more racy stepping up to a set of bigger heads (AFR 185s Vic Jrs etc)would be a good idea and allow more upgrades down the road...

Originally Posted by snorklepuss

Ford Aluminum Tri-Pro 5.0 302/351-W $299

Looks like $300 for an intake
And a cam shaft is $150
does this sound right? or am I on glue

Welcome to FM.

Please steer away from those cheap heads. They are made by a company named Pro-Comp which is not know for making a quality product. I piddled with a set of Jim's "Tri-Pro's" for a couple of years and was disappointed in the the engine's performance, the head's workmanship, and the fact that I was always replacing valve cover gaskets. I really wanted to make them work and did whatever was needed--even bought a custom cam specifically for the combo. I have nothing negative to say about Tri-State the company as they offered to replace a bad valve guide under warranty after a year of running the heads (yet another problem I had.)

One winter I got fed up and traded some of my junk for a pair of AFR's. Bolted them on the exact same motor and the performance increase was immediate. I gained a full 50HP from just a head swap. Then I realized that I wasted too much time on the Pro-Comp heads, just as others have done.

Pool a little more money together and spring for better heads from Edlebrock, AFR, RHS, Trick Flow or some other company. A little research will help in determining what will be best for your build.

By now you should be aware of this. A crate motor is only a good value when you use all the parts that come with it.. If you remove anything ( heads, cam. whatever ) then the value is much less, because NOONE will want to buy the parts you dont want to use either. I get calls all the time from people who have bought a crate motor, now they want to improve the performance by replacing the cam, or the heads. This is OK, but basically, you SHOULD NOT have bought the wrong thing in the first place. This could same you a few thousand dollars over the coarse of your engine buildup. THINK ABOUT IT FIRST


JOE SHERMAN RACING ENGINES