YEAR 2003, NOW WE BEGIN TO GET TO SOME OF THE BIG STUFF. TIME TO GET BOLD AND BRASSY, A MODIFIED FE EXPANSION TANK, A SET OF FE VALVE COVERS FOR THE 351W, AND A HOMEMADE DUAL QUAD INTAKE TO FINISH OFF THE MOTOR.

The winter of 2002-2003 is turning out to be a time to realize many thoughts that had been rolling around in my head over the past year. I decided that since there is nothing more impressive than seeing a Ford 427FE motor nestled in the engine bay of a Cobra I wasn't going to rest until I had that look for my car. I also knew that I didn't want that extra 275 lbs of engine weight up front nor did I want to spend the big bucks for that engine. The idea crossed my mind to disguise the 351W to look like a 427FE so I began research. First, I found an original coolant expansion tank and modified it to fit the 351W motor. Second, Marvin Matlack and I whipped up a pair of aluminum mounting plates to adapt pentroof big block valve covers to the small block head. Third, a chrome puke tank will mount on the firewall to the right of the engine. Finally, a dual quad carb setup will replace the single quad Holley currently in use.

I chose an original FE expansion tank that had the filler neck on the driver's side of the tank but still had the radiator hose outlet facing the passenger side. I figured using such a tank would afford me a little more hood clearance because the hood bows up in the center. This tank would also solve the problem of the filler neck of my radiator being slightly lower than the thermostat housing outlet which is a NO NO. In theory I decided that if I could cut off the original thermostat housing from the FE tank and modify a small block thermostat housing into a straight hose fitting I could connect the two parts with a 90° 1.5" radiator hose elbow and a couple of hose clamps and support the tank with a custom made bracket bolted to the front of the thermostat housing.

The first order of business was to prepare the tank by getting rid of the piece I didn't need. Measuring from the underside of my hood down to the top of the thermostat mount on the intake manifold gave me 4 7/8" of vertical clearance. Using a band saw I sliced through the 1 1/2" tube underneath the tank approximately 1 1/2 inches down from the underside of the tank. Then I cut through the rear support brackets approximately 7/8" down from the underside of the tank to separate the original FE thermostat flange from the unit. The lower segment of tubing, support bracket, and FE thermostat housing was then discarded. A mounting bracket was then fabricated from a piece of 3/32" thick aluminum plate measuring 3 1/4" square. and fashioned to fit around the radiator hose nipple on a small block thermostat housing and attach using the two stock bolt holes in the water outlet. I used a piece of cereal box cardboard to make a template because the cardboard is stiff enough to retain shape yet thin enough to cut and form easily. A water outlet gasket was used as a guide to locate the holes for the mounting bolts and the large center hole being certain to make the template perfectly perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the engine. I first cut a 2 1/8" hole in the center of the bracket blank to clear the radiator hose. Then I superimposed the cardboard template to locate the bolt holes. Finally I trimmed away the lower portion of the bracket so it would install around the radiator hose nipple while the water outlet was in place.

I chose a chrome Mr. Gasket 45° thermostat housing that uses a rubber O-ring seal rather than a gasket. The thermostat housing itself was modified by first sawing off the 45° angle radiator hose nipple. Then I removed more material down to the level of the bypass hose boss on the housing using a bench top milling machine and a 1/2" end mill to create a nice finished edge. A satisfactory result can also be obtained by chucking the housing in a vise and using a hack saw. I ended up leaving a 1 5/8" diameter hole and grafting on a straight pipe as shown in the photos below. I used a 1 3/4" ID to 1 1/2" OD (Pep Boys #548533) exhaust pipe reducer inserted through the rear of the thermostat housing. When the pipe was inserted and straight, using a scribe I marked the 1 3/4" end of the reducer flush with the thermostat ledge in the rear of the water outlet housing, removed the pipe and cut off the excess with a fine tooth hack saw. The rear edge of the 1 3/4" end must be flush with the recess for the thermostat. Then I measured 2" forward from that cut surface up to the 1 1/2" side of the reducer and cut off the excess 1 1/2" tube ending up with a 2" long length of pipe. All burrs and rough edges were smoothed. Using 220 grit sandpaper I roughed up the outside of the adapter as well as the inside of the water outlet housing, mixed up a batch of JB Weld and joined the two items together by buttering both surfaces to be joined and pushing the tube into the rear of the water outlet housing with a slight twisting motion to evenly distribute the adhesive. After cleaning off any extra JB Weld with lacquer thinner and making sure the assembly was straight I set the unit aside overnight to cure.

I connected the 1 1/2" straight thermostat housing to the 1 1/2" diameter pipe stub remaining on the underside of the expansion tank with a 1 1/2" hose elbow cut from a radiator hose (Pep Boys #D71821, has TWO 1 1/2" 90° bends) and a pair of hose clamps I had laying around. After adjusting the aluminum mounting bracket and remaining original steel tank supports for an installed height of 4 3/4" measured from the top of the intake manifold thermostat mount to the top of the expansion tank filler neck I leveled the tank and pop riveted the bracket onto the tank supports. Note that the aluminum bracket slides up between the front and rear original tank supports so the pop rivets draw the original tank brackets tightly against the aluminum bracket. 1/8" or 3/32" x 3/8" steel pop rivets work nicely. If I was running a 302 rather than a 351W I could have easily made the tank height 1" higher without hood interference. I then trimmed the radiator hose elbow for best fit. I ended up shortening the brass tube on the underside of the tank to around 1 1/8" so the rubber elbow hose would fit properly. The support bracket plus the radiator hose elbow yields a strong support for the tank. Since my thermostat housing uses a rubber O-ring seal I didn't have to mess with a gasket and gasket sealer. A 1/8" hole was drilled in the top of the thermostat to help relieve any air pockets that might form in the water jacket of the manifold. When mounting the thermostat into the housing I applied four tiny dabs of silicone gasket sealer around the edge of the thermostat to hold the thermostat in place in its groove. Many times while mounting the thermostat housing the thermostat wants to slip out of the mounting flange resulting in a leak when the bolts are tightened. The silicone holds the thermostat in place nicely eliminating that problem. I opted to use a pair of 2 1/4" long carburetor studs rather than bolts to attach the water inlet housing to the intake figuring the studs would make aligning the outlet housing and the support bracket much easier.

After mounting the tank I fabricated an upper radiator hose using a 90° 1 3/4" hose elbow off the tank to a 1 3/4" OD x 1 1/2" OD exhaust pipe reducer and then a 45° 1 1/2" hose elbow to the upper radiator inlet. In order to be able to easily bleed off any air pockets in the radiator I installed a 18 lb. Stant Lev-R-Vent cap on the radiator. I used a standard 13 lb. cap on the expansion tank along with a catch can borrowed from a 1973 MGB to complete the coolant recovery system.

My total cost for this conversion and modification including the cost of the tank, radiator hose, thermostat housing, 2 pipe reducers, 6 hose clamps and a package of JB Weld was well under $100. Although Superformance sells a nice tank to fit the 351W for more than $600 I enjoy doing things myself especially if I can save significant money while having fun. In my opinion, anyone who has a minimum of mechanical ability can pull off this modification without an excess of cussing.

Photos are below. Click on the thumbnails to view full sized photos.

                           

                           

The valve cover adapter plates were CNC machined from 3/8" aluminum alloy plate to match the FE valve cover gasket. The adapters bolt onto the small block head with 1/4x20 flathead screws. Instead of 5/16" bolts to attach the FE covers, I opted for 1/4" studs. This allowed a little more room to jockey the FE cover into place and allowed me to use the Ford Motorsports short retainer nuts. The adapters follow the shape of the polished 427 LeMans valve cover in order to hide them from view when looking at the motor. I chose a pair of polished pentroof covers from Ford Motorsports. On the right (passenger side) cover I installed the PCV grommet. On the left cover (driver's side) I decided to use a nifty twist-in oil filler tube (part #EG-381) from Virginia Classic Mustang page 124 of their online catalog. I thought this tube would make it easier to add oil without dripping all over. This tube uses a Ford Motorsports push-on breather also from Virginia Classic Mustang (EG-418, I think) similar to the small block oil filler setup. This setup costs a few bucks but I thought it would work better than aiming oil at the grommet hole. One thing to note is that when I finally installed the dual quad intake setup shown below I swapped the valve covers side to side to place the PCV valve on the driver's side of the motor. This is because the PCV tube in the base of the dual carbs ended up facing the driver's side of the motor because they were running backwards. See the photos below. By the way, these adapter plates are for sale. Contact me for details if you are interested.

                    

                    

                    

      

Now for the BIG project, the dual quad setup. As most Ford people are aware, NO ONE makes a dual quad intake manifold to fit the 351W motor. This left me in a dilemma. I could have used a 289/302 dual quad manifold with adapter plates from Price Motorsports in Indiana but that would have raised the air cleaners up so high as to cause hood clearance problems. Thanks to David Shelton (Kountzecobra on Club Cobra) who shared with me the details of how he modified a manifold for his 351C motor I decided to do the same thing. Also, a BIG thanks to Pat at Hercules Machine Shop in Palmyra, NJ where the machine work is being performed.
I began with an Offenhauser 351W 360* single quad intake manifold and had it milled down until the roof of the intake runners was exposed. The rear walls of the #4 and 8 runners were also milled down since the secondary carb mount extended beyond those walls. A new rear wall fabricated of 1/4" aluminum plate will be welded in place to allow full access to the runners for the secondary carb. A 1/2" aluminum plate will be welded in place, drilled and tapped to accept a dual quad blower adapter plate. A pair of Holley #8007 390 cfm carbs will be mounted backwards like on an original 427 and use an original dual quad linkage and a pair of Stellings & Hellings air cleaners. I also happened to find a single quad blower plate that had the same bolt pattern as the dual plate. If I ever want to convert back to a single 4 barrel I will be able to do it without removing the intake manifold from the car. Photos of this work in progress are below. The finished manifold will be 3 1/2" tall from the end rail to the carb mounting surface which should provide plenty of hood clearance once the carbs and air cleaners are mounted.

                    

                    

                    

                    

      

             

The date is July 17, 2003 and FINALLY I was able to set aside some time to install the manifold and other parts. As one might expect, nothing ever goes as smoothly as one hopes and this is no exception. Once I solved the little problems like finding a heater nipple for the manifold that would be tall enough and fabricating a housing to hide the heater shutoff valve against the firewall things went a lot smoother. Of course, the motor still won't run because the new Holley mechanical fuel pump I installed wouldn't suck fuel because of a crack in the inlet housing. Holley is shipping me a new housing. Anyway, from the photos below I think you will get the idea that the combination of the valve covers, backwards running dual quads, expansion tank, and chrome puke tank really does create the impression that there is a real 427FE nestled in my engine bay. My intention is not to deceive anyone but I do prefer the "look" that the big block appearance affords. Since these photos were taken I have cleaned up the routing of the spark plug wires and changed the valve covers to an original set of chromed steel pentroof covers with 427 plaques as shown on the next page.