FORD 351 CLEVELAND ENGINES SA DESIGN 252

DEL-TRON PRODUCTS Tech book

Part No. DEL-SAD252

Ford's 351 Cleveland was designed to be a 'mid-sized' V-8 engine, and was developed for higher performance use upon its launch in late 1969 for the 1970 models. This unique design proved itself under the hood of Ford's Mustang, among other high performance cars. The Cleveland engine addressed the major shortcoming of the Windsor engines that preceded it, namely cylinder head air flow. The Windsor engines just couldn't be built at the time to compete effectively with the strongest GM and Mopar small blocks offerings, and the Cleveland engine was the answer to that problem. Unfortunately, the Cleveland engine was introduced at the end of Detroit's muscle car era, and the engine, in pure Cleveland form, was very short lived. It did continue on as a low compression passenger car and truck engine in the form of the 351M and 400M, which in their day, offered little in the way of excitement. Renewed enthusiasm in this engine has spawned an influx of top-quality new components that make building or modifying these engines affordable.

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