When improbable circumstances meet up with good fortune, the results sometimes turn out better than anticipated. And everyone loves it when their expectations are exceeded, right? For overachievers, surpassing expectations is not a problem, even though the means to reach that level of performance is occasionally troublesome.

Building a 351 Cleveland-based 408 cubic inch stroker is a case in point. Certain components are critical to extract maximum power from the engine, according to the Cleveland cognoscenti. The problem is, even the knowledgeable don’t always agree on what those critical components are.

With remarkable foresight, Ford anticipated a need for high-performance hardware when it first introduced the 351C (335 series group) in 1970; it was offered in both two- and four-bolt main configurations, with the four-bolt block destined for performance-oriented applications. Even though the 351C shares displacement and cylinder bore spacing with the earlier-offered 351W (a tall-deck version of the 289/302), the similarities end there. The block was an entirely new design that precluded interchangeability between the two.

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