Tearing Down a Pair of 351 Small Blocks: Windsor vs Cleveland
- Thread starter SID297
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Episode 2:
I liked the Clevor engine!
Cleveland lover here. I built a killer stroker while still in college - sadly had to sell to pay tuition 
Heads on these are MASSIVE for the CI, I punched mine out to a 377 to take advantage. The stat that stuck with me is that the intake valve on these is the same size as Chevy's killer L88 427. The 351C head could handle another 100 cubes of displacement no problem.
Heads on these are MASSIVE for the CI, I punched mine out to a 377 to take advantage. The stat that stuck with me is that the intake valve on these is the same size as Chevy's killer L88 427. The 351C head could handle another 100 cubes of displacement no problem.
Cleveland lover here. I built a killer stroker while still in college - sadly had to sell to pay tuition
absolutely, just look at the power/torque the Windsor with edelbrock Cleveland heads made on the 408 stroker...460ish/500ftlbs...That clevor combo is the best of both worlds, windsor blocks are cheap and easy to get, that coupled with cleveland style heads with big ass canted valves is a recipe for a monster.
Are canted valves less efficient than typical?
there is some debate here... The intake/exhaust valves are tilted on different planes, so you can run bigger valves and move more air thru a canted head vs similar sized head with inline valves.
Putting a Cleveland in my 56. Biggest drawback is the exhaust port angle. One reason aftermarket heads ave raised ports. That and the oiling system sucked at high revs.
The simple answer is no, look at what Pro Stock does to see if a canted valve design isn't better, those guys leave nothing on the table. What makes it so good is opening to the center of the bore, air wants to move to bore center when the valve opens anyway, I've seen air make almost a 90* turn for bore center using smoke on a flow bench. However the stock cleveland heads are to big for the small engines and like stated could use more displacement to really take advantage of them or just invest in good valvetrain and spin it higher, Bob Glidden showed that in the 70's.
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