Might toy with the idea of doing a 351 swap in my 95. Its got the stock 302 right now. Aode car.. I'd like to see about buying a bare 351 block and building it with my dad and having my mechanic swap it in for me. Couple questions.. Can I keep my transmission? Can I use the same longtubes? I'll probably need a bigger hood too. Is it a direct swap or are there different harnesses needed and stuff like that? Never looked into this before so I don't know much about it. I think I'd rather do this than build my stock block up honestly. And it would be cool to put a motor together.
If you keep the motor pretty conventional with standard port heads and what not, It is a a pretty straight forward swap. Your AODE will bolt up. Wiring harness will be fine. Longtube header selection will be a trial and error deal. Or get some custom made ones. You don't necessarily need a new hood, there are ways to get it under a low stock hood line with careful part selection.
It does all start to add up but do you do it yourself you will save A LOT. The labor is the most expensive part.
I would build the block with my dad. He knows how to do all that work. But I don't have a lift, engine hoist, nada.. So my mechanic would do the physical swap of the 302 for 351. I'm still debating but I'm leaning towards the top end kit. I already have LTs, full exhaust, cai, that will all work with the top end kit. I have a 70mm tb (not installed yet), 4.10s waiting aswell. All I'd need extra thats not included in the kit is lifters, fuel pump, injectors, maf, tb adapter and tune.
