Ford Pickup 101?

OldSub · May 03, 2006, 01:50:04 AM

One of my buddies at work just bought a '59 Ford F-100 short stepside.

I'm a Chevy guy and he is a newbie so between us we know very little about what this truck is, and what the easier swap options might be.

The truck has an overhead six and a granny gear 4-speed. It was too dark to be sure, but I think it has a 9-inch under the rear.

Is there a good source of information on hot-rodding these trucks? Is there a modern V-8/automatic combination that goes into one easily?

My first though is to buy any 80's rear drive Ford and swap things. But I'm a Chevy guy and have no idea what works with a Ford. Can anyone give me some basics so I don't tell him to do something stupid?

donsrods · May 03, 2006, 05:37:13 AM

Usually Ford trucks of this era have really roomy engine compartments, so a swap should be fairly easy. Your plan to use an '80's donor car is a good one. I did the same thing when I swapped a 5.0 into my Jeep truck. Parked a Mustang next to it and started moving stuff over to the Jeep.

You could go with any mid-80's Lincoln, and pull off the injection stuff and swap to a four barrel intake, if you didn't want to mess with getting all the injection stuff to work. Or leave it intact if you feel up to making the injection workable (I didn't feel capable, so I went the four barrel route.) The reason I say Lincoln is because they are not usually beat on hard, and are maintained better, most times. Plus, they are plentiful.

You could probably even get a 460 to fit in that compartment, if you were looking for some more power. First step is to yank out the old engine and trans and see what you've got in the way. Steering and crossmember will be the two biggest offenders, but since these trucks were also available with Y block 292 or 312 engines, you should have lots of clearance.

Yeah, the rear is probably a 9 incher, and the gears might be a tad deep for modern hyway driving, especially if you go automatic, but if you put in an AOD tranny you will get overdrive, which will make it more drivable.

I think this would be a very easy swap, and cheap too if you find a wrecked, low milage donor, and use every possible drivelline component you can salvage off of it.

Someone on here has done this swap, so maybe you will get more detailed info than I have provided, but at least this might get you started.

Good luck,

Don

GPster · May 03, 2006, 08:24:47 AM

Somewhere around here there is a A/C installation supervisor named Sean that has a Ford truck (before Twin-I-beam) with a SBC in it. His problems seemed to center around headers and distributor clearance. One night on CHAT the king was telling a Utah SCTA member that he ought to put a Chevy in his wife's dearly loved Ford truck because it was soooo easy. * near anything would go into it but a couple of things I'd look at first. The sump on the oil pan. I don't know by the age but it seems like a lot of Ford car-to-truck engine swaps require the use of the truck pan on the engine. Starting with a six you'll not have one sitting there and even if it was an 8 cylinder truck it would have a "Y" block or an "FE" and those pans wouldn't work on a current popular engine. The fact that the truck had a six should leave you some room to the radiator to bring whatever engine foreward to give you some distributor clearance. A lot of the trucks pre-independant front suspension had fairly straight frame rails in the front and would be fairly easy to make engine mounts for and I think Ford transmission crossmembers can just be moved around to where you need it and drill new holes to fasten it. Maybe if you start at the bottom (sump) and decide how much room you have above you can decide. Then I would check with Chassis Engineering and see if they have someting to put the two together. Their mount kits seem to work to a common center that they have decided so that their frame mounts go to that center and their engine mounts go to that center and you put four pieces together and have a kit. I can type for 1/2 hour and not know anything. GPster

tomslik · May 03, 2006, 08:50:30 AM

Quote from: "OldSub"One of my buddies at work just bought a '59 Ford F-100 short stepside.

I'm a Chevy guy and he is a newbie so between us we know very little about what this truck is, and what the easier swap options might be.

The truck has an overhead six and a granny gear 4-speed. It was too dark to be sure, but I think it has a 9-inch under the rear.

Is there a good source of information on hot-rodding these trucks? Is there a modern V-8/automatic combination that goes into one easily?

My first though is to buy any 80's rear drive Ford and swap things. But I'm a Chevy guy and have no idea what works with a Ford. Can anyone give me some basics so I don't tell him to do something stupid?

how'd ya feel about a nice fresh 430 lincoln?

Okiedokie · May 03, 2006, 08:53:35 AM

www.ford-trucks.com then go to 48-60 forum. Great site.

OldSub · May 03, 2006, 10:55:03 AM

Thanks guys, this is exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for.

I've never heard of a Lincoln 430. Is that a 60's motor? I suspect its not what Brian is looking for, but who knows...

Ford-Truck.com is great. The one thread I've read was very informative.

enjenjo · May 03, 2006, 12:41:41 PM

Made from 57 to 63 Same block as the Edsel and Merc 383. It was called a MEL block. It was enlarged to 462 in 63 and used until the 460 came out.

Put one in a 60 Ford custom one time, made a good sleeper

We tried circle track racing them, but they kept breaking camshafts.

OldSub · May 03, 2006, 10:21:08 PM

Well that 430 might be fun, but if its in Colorado I'm pretty sure he will pass. Too bad I didn't know he'd be interested a month ago when I was in Colorado...

kb426 · May 04, 2006, 12:51:04 PM

The simpest swap would be a small block Ford. Use the 60-70's oilpan with the front sump. There are several companies that sell mount kits. The engine is small, light, and has plenty of parts available. If you use a clutch, the linkage from the pre 78 era will br simple to adapt.

tomslik · May 04, 2006, 03:55:25 PM

Quote from: "enjenjo"Made from 57 to 63 Same block as the Edsel and Merc 383. It was called a MEL block. It was enlarged to 462 in 63 and used until the 460 came out.

Put one in a 60 Ford custom one time, made a good sleeper We tried circle track racing them, but they kept breaking camshafts.

64 actually.....
it's from a 64 continental....
trans is there too...
i've been looking for a 59 4dr wagon to put it in (but not real hard, i don't need another project i'll never get done)

tomslik · May 04, 2006, 04:11:43 PM

Quote from: "OldSub"Well that 430 might be fun, but if its in Colorado I'm pretty sure he will pass. Too bad I didn't know he'd be interested a month ago when I was in Colorado...

yeah, sure, come to colorao and don't stop and say hi....

GPster · May 04, 2006, 09:39:55 PM

Quote from: "tomslik"
Quote from: "enjenjo"Made from 57 to 63 Same block as the Edsel and Merc 383. It was called a MEL block. It was enlarged to 462 in 63 and used until the 460 came out.
64 actually.....it's from a 64 continental....trans is there too...
i've been looking for a 59 4dr wagon to put it in (but not real hard, i don't need another project i'll never get done)

I'm going to hi-jack this thread with a question. On some old engines (like SBC) you can overlook the lead/no lead deal on the valves and seats by putting later model heads on it. How do you guys recommend getting around this issue with an engine that stopped being in production before lead free gas was manditory? Doing a valve job with new seats is not cheap and additives added to the gas tank might be a bother on a trip or is this a problem that I'm overly scared about? GPster

OldSub · May 04, 2006, 09:46:07 PM

Quote from: "tomslik"yeah, sure, come to colorao and don't stop and say hi....

Well it was dinner time and I didn't want to be rude... I did wave!

I came straight down I-25 so I was only a few miles away. I make this trip every couple years, maybe next time I'll stop and drink all your beer.

Best I can remember, it really was dinner time, and I was racing to Canon City hoping to make it before bedtime. If I was still a teenager I could say I made it.

OldSub · May 04, 2006, 09:51:10 PM

Quote from: "kb426"The simplest swap would be a small block Ford.

I think the small block Ford is the way he is leaning. I'll probably be lead tech on this project, so once a decision is made I may be asking some more detailed questions!

We got a chance to talk trucks today, and he was pretty excited about the Ford-Trucks.com site.

The issue we talked about most was what wheels to put on it...

Thanks for the help guys!

enjenjo · May 04, 2006, 09:55:50 PM

Quote from: "GPster"
Quote from: "tomslik"
Quote from: "enjenjo"Made from 57 to 63 Same block as the Edsel and Merc 383. It was called a MEL block. It was enlarged to 462 in 63 and used until the 460 came out.
64 actually.....it's from a 64 continental....trans is there too...
i've been looking for a 59 4dr wagon to put it in (but not real hard, i don't need another project i'll never get done)
I'm going to hi-jack this thread with a question. On some old engines (like SBC) you can overlook the lead/no lead deal on the valves and seats by putting later model heads on it. How do you guys recommend getting around this issue with an engine that stopped being in production before lead free gas was manditory? Doing a valve job with new seats is not cheap and additives added to the gas tank might be a bother on a trip or is this a problem that I'm overly scared about? GPster

Never been a problem for me Joe. I just run them. When they need a valve job, I do it.