350 vs 351, GM vs Ford

Until recently, I have never been much of a Ford fan. To show how far I go back, my earlier boats had Chrysler 318 ci / 225hp engines, seems like that was the power choice of the early ‘70’s. Then I moved to diesels.   I must say that I have enjoyed the PCM 351 in my ‘Fish’. It was rebuilt by the former owner, so that is a big ???, and not being a “gear head” I am not about to build a “stroker” as many of you guys have done - changing spark plugs is about as far as I am going to go. But I must say, this past year my Ford always started easy and got me out and back with no problems (I’m knocking on wood here). In the ’89 ‘Fish’ the PCM 351 is a standard rotation engine and when combined with the PCM 1.23 transmission with the downward angle, seems to be a nice setup, the engine sits nearly level and that’s got to be an advantage from a lubrication and cooling standpoint. Does Chevy have that as well? Also, in my friends 24’ Slamrock has the same Ford setup with over 3,000 hours on the meter…we’re not sure of the history, but the engine is strong. Given a power option choice, certainly I go for the 454 big block, but in the 5.7- 5.8 liter category I’ve been impressed with the Ford. I do understand that PCM has got a batch of new Ford 351's and will have them marinized and ready for sale in a few weeks, if anyone is interested. Jerry

well seems how we are on the ford chevy issue, maybe one of you chevy fans can tell me why my 454 manufactures 330 HP and requires premium fuel. When the ford 460 in the same boat maufactures 340 HP and only requires regular unleaded.

Like I said I like my 454 but I woud trade it in a New York Minute for a BFN with a 460.

eric lavine wrote: 87 what would you rather drink jack daniels or george d*ckel? sammy adams or bush? i really dont know the reason on the premium or the regular but all i know is that it says to run premium in my volkswagon and i dont, im to damn cheap

Are you implying that george d*ckel isnt premium whiskey?

I had the pleasure of driving a 2003 Maulibu Response LXI with the Chevy Monsoon with 335hp.

Not as much torque as the GT40, but extremely fast and will rev up to 5700rpm wide open. They make up for the torque with speed to rpm ratio reduction ( whatever ) 3800rpm at 32mph.

as i said earlier on that ho boss motor, the cover has 4800 max on the ford and 5200 on the chevy i guess its give and take because i believe the ford is more torquey on the bottem end and the chevy has the top end

well I have not met anyone that does not run premium in a BFN with a 454. I have tried regular in it myself and, the results are very poor. Fill her back up with 93 and away she goes. Now I am sure I could retard the timing and lose HP but why.

Just put 93 in her and have a ball.

By the way in reply to a ford running out of lungs at the top end, if you get out of the hole fast enough the race maybe over before the other guy gets to top end.

The 351 has more guts out of the whole than 350's from its era, but they don't compare with the Vortec 350's that they're making today. I like my 240 hp PCM 351, but my 310 Indmar 350 will walk all over it at any speed.

As a Ford Fan, I will pipe in and give my two cents worth. Just so you know, I am a Ford Fan, because the Chevy I was running when I was younger sank.

4 Bolt mains, Chevy used them alot of their heavier applications, to a$$ist severe duty applications. Chevy has been known to have more HP than Ford, so when they increase their HP rating to heavier applications they put 4 bolt to harness the increase. Ford has been known for Torque, and with their block design they added 4 bolt to Boss motors, and crate motors. They do have a mexican block 2 bolt that is known for higher strength also. It is also stated that the 1970 and 71 2 bolt blocks I believe, were made of a stronger material, and hold together better than standard 2 bolt blocks. Mostly the 4 bolt is for increased HP/Torque applications.

As far as increasing HP in a given block, Chevy is my chioce for aftermarket upgrades. I can find more Chevy parts, and prices are usually lower than ford parts. Chevy is easier to work on in my opinion.

Bang for the buck, if I were building a block from scrap, I would go with Chevy, even though I am a ford person. I would get a cast Dart block, and build a 383 stroker, using AFR heads, and Eagle Crank.

Ford strokers are good, but a 347, or even a 393, is prone to problems more so than Chvey's 383. Especially the 393 with the increased stroke length, they start having problems at the bottom of the stroke.

I have a 88 fox body mustang, with a mildly built 347, utilizing the Mexican block for stated, AFR heads, and Eagle Crank, with a T series turbo charger. It seems to be a good build, but I am expecting to take it apart soon for maintenance, its starting to push water a little.

One of my buddies had the 310 indmar carbie 350 in a Malibu Sportster. That boat went like the devil. I've never driven a faster inboard (from the factory). Just an outrageous amount of power. The boat topped out at 50+ mph. Flew out of the hole. You could be going 40, floor it, and get an absolute surge of accelleration again. It would mop the floor with my old 90 351 SN in any possible contest of speed or accelleration. The bu uses a chined hull so it rides with less wetted surface, but still. The engine was a monster.

Malibu Sportster is about 2200 lbs. What's a Nautique, 2400 lbs?

the great thing about the chevy small block is that there are so many combinations and variations, you have 265,283,327,305,307,350.400 and most of the parts are interchangable. even about 100 different head configurations. the old .202 fuelie heads were from the 60's and today are still even better than some of the off the shelf heads. the 400 was a torgue monster but no top end, the 283 you could wind up to 8000 grand with no problems. i look at the whole package and the 350 falls right in the middle because you can do many different things to it and customize it for torque or horsepower without breaking the bank

Riley wrote: Malibu Sportster is about 2200 lbs. What's a Nautique, 2400 lbs?

Ski Nautique is about 2350. Beam on Ski Nautique is also 5 inches wider than the sportster. BKH