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What determines if a 1970 Mustang, Cougar, Torino, or Montego with a 351-2V received a Windsor or a Cleveland motor?

It was a random event at each assembly plant based mainly on the ability of the Cleveland engine plant to supply engines to the assembly plants. As cars would be lined up on the Trim and Chassis line and the build sheets were printed, Ford recorded which engine they installed in each vehicle based on availability of stock received from the engine assembly plants.

Originally, they were going to assign the letter "H" to 351 Clevelands and the number "8" to 351 Windsors. But they dropped the idea and used "H" for all engines.The Cleveland was to be the default engine; that is, as long as there was availability, they would install 351-2V engines from the Cleveland plant as this was a new engine design and they wanted to deliver as much product as they could to recover their investment in the new engine design.

No record was given to the customer as to which engine was installed, but Ford recorded it for themselves.

We have the data available. When someone orders a report from us with an "H" engine code for 1970-1973 models, the report lists if it had a Windsor engine. If there is no listing, it had a Cleveland engine since that was considered "standard."


Answer provided by
Mr. Data
Last updated January 7, 2009