Why an SBC vs SBF?

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I been down that road plenty of time. first you cut the firewall out. Set the motor and trans in place using blocks and built the mounts to fit the motor. for the trans I would find the crossmember out of a full size Ford and work it to fit. For header sometimes you could use the mustang/Couger headers but there was some work to make them fit. Then there was the oil filter sometime you could get away with the short one and other time you had to use adaptors and move it.

Then came the fire wall and floor. Lucky for me I had a friend that ran a sheet metal shop and he would make up what I needed and only charge me the price of the meterials. Being 6'"1" moving the fire wall back on a Model A or 32-34 pickup made it right tight.

I got to say there was a lot more time spent welding and fabrication then a SB Chevy. If you had someone doing the work it would cast you.

But back then when people seen a SB ford in a car it made them look and ask alot of questions. You should have seen them when I put a FE ford in my 32 ford pickup. driving it was a bear.

I'm glad there are parts out there now to do the job.

My first project back in the early 70's was a 56 Ford pickup with a FE Ford (390) in it. That was pretty easy because of all the room in the engine compartment. But my next one was a 35 Ford pickup witha SB Ford that was a lot different.

Always ran fords and always will. Or maybe a early Hemi
 
one reason

The number one reason I was told by several different rod builders that the SBF is tougher to use is that darn front sump! It gets in the way of crossmembers, steering, axles and anything else up front. SBC engines, on the other hand, have a rear sump, which generally clears all the aforementioned parts up front.

That being said, Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs are rear sump, as are Dodge truck engines, among others.

No matter how a small block chevy is built, with whatever intake, carbs, valve covers, etc, it still will bore me. According to Novak Conversions website, 90,000,000 small blocks had been produced through 2004. No wonder they can be seen everywhere in everything!

Just my opinion, but I love oddballs anyway!

440shorty

215 Oldsmobile aluminum V8
249 Cadillac aluminum V8
340 Buick V8
403 Oldsmobile V8
455 Buick V8
(2) 461 Oldsmobile V8s (30 over 455)
 
Its the same question that I heard racing. Why always chevy and not that many Fords. I will admit I am NOT a Ford lover, but I would run one in one of my rods if need be. Its an engine and if it runs, what the heck. Like said before, I know chevy are cheaper to build, vintage and performance parts are everywhere. I like dodge engines probly more than Ford cuz firing order is the same as Chevy. They are imo easier to work on also. Parts on a Chevy can be interchanged from 55-99. There are few changes that were done on the sbc. Ford motors are all differant in so many ways. Certain heads won't bolt on with certain intakes, some starters will only fit certain yrs, the stupid ignition systems they have, etc. In the end its all about what you like, can afford, and are comfortable with.
 
Certain heads won't bolt on with certain intakes, some starters will only fit certain yrs

Funny thing. Chevy Vortec heads take a different intake than the non-Vortec; There are staggered bolt starters and non-staggered bolt starters for Chevy, and some blocks only take one or the other, and two different sized flywheels, allowing for mismatches that do not work. There are short water pumps, long water pumps, and reverse rotation water pumps for Chevy. Early heads had no accessory bolt holes, so the early accessories are all different than later (late 60s and up) ones. Big valve heads won't fit small-bore engines, cool early style and vintage valve covers do not fit late (center bolt) heads... I think we get the picture!

Oh, and nowadays one can buy an aftermarket GM-style HEI distributor for SBF or convert a points distributor with a Pertronix or other brand to electronic ignition.

IMHO, the playing field has leveled as far as price, availability, aftermarket support, and variety of parts available for SBF and SBC, and there are thousands of later 5.0 cores available. Last time I was in Crazy Ray's junkyard, there were at least 6 late 5.0 Crown Vic/Town Car/Marquis in there with complete engines. Heck, if you can score an 86-92 5.0 Mustang GT engine, it has factory forged pistons!

These days, I believe the old reasons (excuses?) for running a SBC over a SBF don't hold water.

440shorty
 
Well thanks for the input everyone. I ended up finding a cheap '84 F150 with a rebuilt 302 which runs great and I won't feel bad about junking the rest of it. All of the GMs I could find needed trans or engine work or both. The oil filter location is a bit of a hassle but remote filter kits are like $40. My main challenge with this is getting all the emissions junk off of it and still have it run well. Luckily the cat has already fallen off, saving me some work!
 

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The hardest part will probably be plugging all the holes in the carb spacer block and intake manifold. Not sure what the ignition system is on an 84. Find a 70's junk yard truck for any parts you need and you should be set.
 
I agree, its vacuum line central in there. It has some little module hooked up to it as well, was told it was an "ignition module". I'll just get myself a chiltons manual to figure out what everything is before I cut any wires.
 
I was raised in a Ford family. My grand dad, my dad, uncles, cousins, all ran Fords. I worked on them tried to go fast on a budget. Didn't happen. I found them cantacerous. Seemed like every one had different motor mounts, water pump set ups, pullies, tranys, bellhouseing. Seemed to me like the Ford engineers had nothing better to do than justify their jobs by changing everything all the time.

Then I bought my first Chev, a 65 Malibu SS in high school. Built me a hot little 350/350 set up and had $1800 in all of it. Droped right in, no fuss no muss. Not many guys gave me a good run after that. I was having waaaaay more fun in my Chev. Oh and never got beat by a small block Ford that didn't have at least tripple that much money in the motor alone.

I'm not boucing the Ford guys. I still like Fords, They built some to the best looking cars of all time, but all my Fords will have Chevys in them and no need for excuses.
 
i was raised with fords
had a 351W, 351C, and a 400M
gotta say i just really always loved the sound of a carberated bb with a low rough idle.
i developed my passion for ford tho with the bronco, then a 73 mach 1. just love the sound of a ford engine compared to chevy. But best sound in my opinion belongs to mopars usually
 
I've been raised with fords. Helped build a couple of 351C's for dad's 75 f-100.

I like look of the even spacing of the ford's exhaust ports with header pipes. When i first had a look at a chev i found the exhaust port spacings really wierd, with the two pipes in the middle close to each other. The ford's even spacing would be more efficient at distrubuting heat away from the engine/pipes too, would it not?

As for the comment on ford's distributor up front ruining the view, have fun breaking your back leaning over to the back of the engine bay come timing time, chevvy boys!

It's hard enough leaning into the front of the bay to reach stuff in a standard 52 F-1, let alone anything up the back.

HAHA, plus if you stick a chev in a ford or vice versa, you get hated by both the ford and/or chev guys.

If i was to build a performance engine i would build a chev for the reason of parts availability and price of the parts.
 
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- The Ford engine is just NOT an attractive piece IMO. Frankly I think they are just butt-ugly. Weird valve covers, distributor sticking way up in front and offset exhaust ports that stagger the pipes when you compare left to right. I really think that the aesthetics of it also come into play, since in the majority of hot rods the engine is at least partially visible.

Performance may be comparable, but the Ford doesn't cut it in the bang-for-your-buck power department and definitely misses the mark looks-wise...

And you like Rat Rods...???

I thought that being pretty to look at wasn't a requirement in the Rat world :rolleyes:

I've got 2 x 351 cleaveland's for my build and I love their Ugly

Ugly motor , Ugly cab and Even Uglyer Driver :eek:

Thought for the Day : Beauty is only skin deep , Ugly goes to the Bone..;)
 

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