Reply to "Those damn little Elves switched my Windsor out for a Cleveland!"

Steve,

C302 heads are great heads, I won't call them the best, but they are very near the best. I lean towards thinking the Blue Thunder & Brodix BF300 heads are better "canted valve heads", BUT the C302 heads have smaller ports which may translate to better performance on the street. Especially for a 351 cubic inch motor. It would take dyno testing to sort out the SUBTLE differences. So if you don't want those heads, sell them to me!

The 2V motors were equipped with 2 barrel carburetors & the heads featured smaller ports and valves, the 4V motors were equipped with 4 barrel carburetors, large port heads and larger valves. There are many subtle differences like the size of the harmonic balancer, adjustable valve train, camshafts, compression ratio, combustion chamber design, etc. But I beleive the difference you are concerened about is the blocks.

The 1971 351 Boss, 1972 351 HO & 1972 - 1974 351C 4V/Cobra Jet had 4 bolt main caps. No big deal. The 2 bolt blocks are just as strong in every way. In fact, some 4V/cobra jet motors were assembled with 2 bolt blocks, and I have seen a 2V Cleveland with 4 bolt mains, seems sometimes the assembly lines borrowed from one another. From 1972 to 1974 the 2V & 4V/Cobra Jet blocks had the same casting number (D2AE-CA), you had to pull the pan to determine if it had 2 bolt mains or 4 bolt mains.

You must understand, the issue with the main bearing caps is that they twist & squirm under load. The extra 2 bolts per cap is supposed to reduce this, and maybe they do to a small amount, but if you really want to control main cap squirm you install a main cap girdle, period! The only other way to design main caps that are stronger than those assembled with a girdle is to cross bolt them, like those in the 427 side oiler or the 4.6 modular V8.

The Cleveland engine is not known to be weak in the main caps, that is not a normal mode of failure for this engine. You can use either block knowing they are equally strong, and resort to a girdle if the power level or rpm warrrants it, which you should do even if you have a block with 4 bolt main caps.

There are MORE high performance parts on the market today for the Cleveland than there were in it's heyday back in the '70s & '80s. Many of the important parts are still listed in the Manley, Milodon & Moroso catalogs.

your friend on the DTBB, George