[maxbell]

How many of us have put a Cleveland in our Mustang II? Let's talk about problems encountered and solutions with positive results.

[1978jackII]

thats kind of what i want to do. i have a 2.3 in the car i have now, and would like to make it into a rod. im not sure if i want to go the 302 route, or the 351 route... any advice or pointers, or things i that would work best? thanks.

[BullRider]

I have a 351 in my lil pony. Boy she can scream. But whatever you do, make sure you put strong enough transmission with her to match. I bought my car from a couple fellows that lived down the road, they just pulled out 4 cyl, and dropped the 351(to what im geussing) straight in their. Ive had it apart for 3 years, slowly working on it.

[maxbell]

Changing from a 4cyl. to a V8 requires V8 motor mounts, the bottom half, from a 75 to 78 that bolt to the subframe while the top half of the V8 motor mounts bolt to the engine. That is what I did to get my Cleveland in, this will allow the following V8s to be bolted in 289-302-351W-351C. The 4 cyl transmission housing will not bolt to the V8 block so a different tranny will be needed, I found that even though the 4cyl trans will unbolt from the bellhousing it is to light duty to be of any good. Stick with a C4 transmission as clearence is very tight in the tunnel where the trans will fit upon installation. C4s can be beefed up to withstand a lot of abuse. I never tried a AOD trans or a 5sp stand-
ard tranny since the car came with an automatic. I did not have to change the trans. mount or frame cross member although the double hump style helps in the exhaust installation later.

[nigel]

When I put my 351C in, I used the V8 motor mounts but it made my engine sit 1 1/4"s off center. Which in turn made the drive shaft out of line. Had to go with a mount plate to fix the problem. Plus there is a huge difference if you use the front sump oil pan or the rear sump. The rear sump pan fits almost perfect except you have to hit it a couple of times with a hammer to make it clear the steering rack and pinion. But if you use the 351C Cobra Jet with the front sump. You may have to cut the hood just to make the carb clear.

[maxbell]

Now that the motor is in along with the drive train let us talk about exhaust. I had no luck with any factory exhaust manifolds without modifying the subframe (which I do not want to do). So I bought a used set of 351c 2V headers and along with some extra tubing , made my own. The only problem is that they are two piece and leak at the splices. I did not move any of the original locations of oil filter or fuel pump either. What have some of you done for this problem?

[T_RAT]

My turn to chime in well i bought my II when i was 15 and always wanted to do the exact same setup my dad had in his cobra. 351c 5 speed so over the last 3 years i have been building it. I have the cobra jet block and i didnt bother with mounts i did plate no clearance problems however if you want to set the motor as far back as possible your going to have to run a manual brake booster plate. also you might want to run a manual steering rack as well. as for headers i had a custom set that were made from my dads car but i ended up scoring a set of headman hustlers for cheap. They are the headers that headman makes specifically for the cleveland in a mustang II. also im running a T5 i had a c4 before but i swaped it out. hope this helps. as for clearance issues with the hood i never had to cut the hood but i cut it for a custom ram air that im making for the car.