Hi. I am looking on some advice as to rebuilding a 351M engine that has been sitting in a late 1970's Cougar XR7 for the last 20+ years. This engine has less than 50,000 kms on it, but it has been sitting and not running for at least 20 years. The best part of the deal is, it won't cost me a cent because its sitting in a car my grandfather used to own. I am thinking of pulling the engine and tranny and doing a complete rebuild of the whole drivetrain to eventually replace the straight six 300 in my 1983 F-150. I haven't checked to see whether it is seized or not, so I'm not really sure how deep of a rebuild I would be getting into. Of course, this rebuild would probably be over the course of a year or two, as I do not have alot of money to do it all at once.
I've done a little bit of research and so far it looks like some of the top end engine parts are compatible with a 351 Cleveland engine. To be honest, I am not looking to build a drag racing machine or anything, it may be a bit more for show and sound, but with a modest amount of HP and torque. But it sounds like it should be fairly easy to get parts for the rebuild. I'm also not completely sure how easy this will bolt up in my truck, but it looks like I have plenty of room for it. It may take a bit of rewiring and ingenuity to get the bugs worked out once its in there. Thankfully, there really isn't much as far as electronics go to the engine thats in there now. I don't imagine the 351M would be any worse.
Any advice or helpful websites to people who have done rebuilds on this engine and/or engine conversions in a similar F-150 truck would be great. Thanks for any input.
Sharky