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Ford motor swap options

bp71k5

bp71k5

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I volunteered to help rebuild or find a good replacement for the engine in a 66 ford camper special truck. It has a 4 speed manual in it and I assume it has a 351 or 390 motor. Any ford gurus around that can provide some schooling on engine options to search for on Craigslist? Even fuel injected might be ok as long as the trans will bolt up.
 
I'll say this will need to be extremely budget friendly. It's a "going to the dump" and hauling junk around kind of truck so it just needs to be reliable and enough power as the stock motor it came with. It has cracked exhaust manifolds which I hear was a problem on the 351, so I'm guessing it's one of those. The trans looks like a warner t-18?
 
There's a few 351s, and a 352 FE engine. The cracked manifolds is a big issue with the Windsor engines.

What about a basic overhaul on what's in it?
 
If it was still running you may be able to rebuild it. Or at least take it to someone see what it would take to rering it and replace seals and bearings. Unless it needs machine work would cost about a around a grand. Despends on what you want done. There are also a million 80s-90s ford pickups and Broncos to use as a replacement. Few hundred at the junkyard.
 
bp71k5 said:
I volunteered to help rebuild or find a good replacement for the engine in a 66 ford camper special truck. It has a 4 speed manual in it and I assume it has a 351 or 390 motor. Any ford gurus around that can provide some schooling on engine options to search for on Craigslist? Even fuel injected might be ok as long as the trans will bolt up.
Click to expand...

For that year of Ford it should have a 352 FE motor.
 
If it is the stock motor in the '66 it would not be a 351. It should be a 272 or 292 Y-block, or something in the straight six family. Motor mounts are different on these engines as they have one centered up front and one back under the bell housing area.
 
thatK30guy said:
For that year of Ford it should have a 352 FE motor.
Click to expand...

Wes is the winner here. Stock engine was a 352 FE engine so any FE engine will bolt up, 352, 360, 390, there are a couple others but they are slightly different as they were heavy duty engines (361, 391)
 
It does still run but barely. Compression on one cylinder is 20lbs and has very little power. I went to look at it and it has the "v8" emblem on it and a big "250" emblem which I assume means it's an f250. It is also supposed to be the original engine which kinda helps confirm the 352.

I'll check out craigslist for an FE engine. Is there a crate motor version of the gm performance, except for fords? I want to compare cost of used VS a rebuilt long block.
 
Apparently I need to check my sources then. Guy in my office has three 66 fords (f100, f250 and a f600 I think). Was the camper special different than an f250?

EDIT... I shamed myself and googled it. At least I was part right about the 292 being one of the options.
 
If all your doing is hauling junk around short distances any motor will do with a truck 4 speed and low rear end gears. 352 are turds. Bad mileage and unimpressive power. A 390 would get you more power, but still terrible mileage. Ether motor is good for a solid 8 mpg.
 
Too bad ford is so stupid with bell housing changes. I have no idea about compatibility, but an EFI 351 would be pretty decent in there.
 
79rustyk10 said:
Too bad ford is so stupid with bell housing changes. I have no idea about compatibility, but an EFI 351 would be pretty decent in there.
Click to expand...

This is why we love chevy.

Us: Hey how many bell housings you got?

Chevy: Who us? 2, front wheel drive or rear wheel drive.

Is: O ok thats easy...
 
I'd be looking for a decent used 361 or 391 out of a straight job truck,those are usually in better condition than a typical 360 or 390 ford engine that old,those bigger trucks usually had regular oil changes at least..the 360's always seemed to burn exhaust valves,the 390's we had always had broken exhaust manifold bolts or the "ears" they screwed into liked to snap off..

It might not be easy to find any of the FE engines around any more in useable shape as-is now...it does suck that Ford seems to use a different bell housing for every engine,it complicates things a lot when it comes to engine swaps..
If you could get a 460 with a transmission it would be worth the hassles..
A 300 six would be OK too,but probably not any better on fuel and would require some fabbing to install...

We had a '71 F-350 flatbed ramp truck at the junkyard with a dying 390 & C6,we had no good V8 Ford motors to put in it,but we did have a half dozen running Caddys..--so we put a 500 caddy & Th400 in it ,and without too much trouble...just had to cob up mounts and a crossmember..and a million other "little" things,but since we had several donors for parts it wasn't that bad...it was like night and day driving it after the swap though!..
 
332,352,360,361,390,391,406,410,427,428, all in same block, though there are some balance differences.
 
Stomis said:
This is why we love chevy.

Us: Hey how many bell housings you got?

Chevy: Who us? 2, front wheel drive or rear wheel drive.

Is: O ok thats easy...
Click to expand...

yes ford was stupid with bell patterns and engine mounts, but imagine all t cases bolting to all transmissions (most all) with no adapter, tailshaft, or input shaft changes.
 
I'll admit I wish GM did that too...its retarded how many different combinations GM came up with for T-cases,adapters and couplers...:screwy:..
I still like divorced t-cases best,then you can use any tranny you want with minimum hassle..
 
Probably cheaper to just buy another old truck and haul that rig to iron.

Martin
 
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