351 Cleveland Rebuild - Part 1 - Teardown

     So during the tear down of the Cleveland we learned a lot about what type of block and engine that it was with all of the different parts the previous owner had used to rebuild it. My buddy Kody and I tore it down in one day bagging and tagging all of the parts as we went along just in case we decided to reuse them. The engine was running great when it came out of my uncle's mach 1. I know that it was burnout capable in what was an automatic transmission car at the time so that was a good sign! He is putting in a 428 Cobra Jet 4-Speed with line lock(awesome..). So we decided to rebuild this motor not only because we wanted to do a full restoration for the car but because my uncle had said there were a few problems with the engine. He said it had terrible low end..which led my dad and I to believe that the Torker II intake was the culprit for this problem. He said there was also a problem with the engine puffing white smoke sometimes while running which is a sign of the engine burning oil(definitely not good!). So hopefully a rebuild and replacement of all seals would fix this problem. Other than this we wanted to upgrade the engine a bit and use roller rockers in addition to a new intake and higher rated valve springs. A list of some of the parts found in the 351 Cleveland will be listed at the bottom. Enjoy!

 

Before removing the oil pan for inspection, we took a look at the casting number and what they indicated. This is a 1972 block. The D2AE-CA code for a 351 Cleveland could potentially mean a Cobra Jet block but ford did make blocks in this casting that were 2-bolt main caps as well.

A quick inspection with the oil pan off reveals the Cleveland block is indeed a 4-bolt main block. It's all serious business now!

There's me(left) and my buddy Kody(right) just after inspecting what's under the valve covers. The Cleveland had factory non-roller rockers sitting on stock 4V heads.

The Cleveland was running an Edelbrock Torker II intake manifold that somebody had put on the motor. This intake is great for high end applications as it has a single plane and full open surface where the carburetor sits. Our plan is to run a more mid range dual plane intake allowing the engine to run better at low rpm's.

In these pictures it's really clear to identify some of the main characteristics of the 351 Cleveland. The canted valve setup as seen in the top picture allows for a smoother flow of air in an out of the piston cylinders. Also take note of those MASSIVE intake ports. The Cleveland definitely did not have a hard time breathing that's for sure!

 The rockers and pushrods were then removed allowing us to then be able to remove the cylinder heads.

Looking at the bottom side of the heads, they proved to be open cylinder. This was a great site to see when we saw those high-compression domed pistons sitting in the cylinders. With this combination of domed pistons and open chamber heads the compression ratio is usually around 10.5:1. If you notice the what looks like a punched out hole in the top of the Cleveland closest to the wall near the distributor do not be worried. This is common and was used for better flow of oil in the system.

All of the main caps were taken off and pistons taken out here as Kody is showing. LOL

Here the Cleveland is down to the bare block except the cam. Sweet!

 So the 351 Cleveland is all torn down. We discovered that the engine was bored .30 over which is nothing to worry about. We also found a sleeve in one of the cylinders but also nothing to worry about because there are engines today that are purpose built with sleeves in all cylinders! Fun tear down and now the block and parts are ready to go to the machine shop for checking and honing of the cylinders.

351 Cleveland Specs and Parts

• 351 Cleveland Block: D2AE-CA with 4 bolt main caps
• Cylinder Heads: D3ZE-AA open chamber
• 1.72 Rocker arm ratio
• Nodular Cast Iron Crank
• TRW L2348 Pistons .030 over
• Camshaft: Hydraulic cam - Crane Blazer 292-2H