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Reply to "RE: DeTomaso's 351C SOHC Engine."

Somewhere in the Archives is an illustration of a Deauville with that 351 SOHC engine installed. Because it's far, far easier to mount cams on top of heads with inline valves rather than a polyangle valve head like the Cleveland,  I always suspected underfunded DeTomaso used 351-W heads for this one-off engine. Someone mentioned that after all the expense to adapt overhead cams, the power and torque from the cammer engine was slightly less than from a stock 351 C, which was said to be why Ford turned it down for production. Probably needed more development.

Same thing happened to Bruce McLaren's cammer-adaption for his early '60s  215 Repco-Buick in an open wheel GP racer. McLaren admitted they found no extra power with SOHC but did gain reliability over pushrods & rocker arms, and it did win a world championship- Buick's one and only, I believe.

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