I have a 66 F100 that I should be doing the CV swap this summer. Right now I can find a couple of CV's in my area that are very cheap, and according to the people run. I think I could get a couple down to about $1200 dollars if not a bit less. So when my time comes to start gathering I think deals will still be around.

I plan to build my truck for cruising/driving, and not much else.

If I get the above CV I can get a 4.6, and possablely swap it in with the transmission. Then get it running with the factory computer, and cutting it down to suit my needs. I have seen a couple of guys here have done it, but how did they do it exactly. Did they have to use the CV guage panel to make the swap work. Or were they able to get it hooked up to there F100 guages.

I like the above option becouse I am getting lazy, and do like automatics now.

My other option is to buy the Edelbrock kit to put a carb on said 4.6, and back it up by probily a 5 speed manual at this point. I think a traditional 3 speed auto would be a hurt the 4.6, and make it over burndend.

I ask becouse as I get deeper into my truck I realize I would need alot of money to do the bolt-ons on my truck, auto tranny, 3.00 rear end headers, intake, and dual exhaust. FE parts are not cheap, and finding used ones is not that cheap either. Then how much mpgs is a good running 352FE really going to get? I think I may get close to 20 hwy without a modern it up rebuild. Plus OD's are compounded by the lack of bolt-on options and thus need a 500-700 adapter.

Or I can go with a 4.6, and I would have access to T5's for cheap enough compared to a 3 speed auto. Plus the 4.6 likes to rev, and a 5 speed with my 3.73 rear would be just about right. I also think the 4.6 could do very low 20's as that what heavier F150s roughly get.

Ideas, Thoughts, Suggestions? I intend to drive the hell out out this truck when I get back to work.

 

What year cars are you looking at using for a donor?

On the older cars, like my '97 Cougar, the instrument panel didn't really "communicate" with the PCM like the newer vehicles do.

Also, the speedo gear in my '97 Cougar, I read somewhere, can easily be modified to support a speedo cable. So whatever gauges you have should work just fine. Oil pressure, coolant temp, everything. The speedo gear I used in my '96 T-bird's 4R70W (same as my '97 Cougar and the CV's) was actually some very old C4/C6 speedo gear. I seem to remember is was an early 1960's part number like C3xx...

The things to remember are: the coolant temp sensor needs to stay, either "T" it and run your existing coolant temp sensor for the gauge through that, or find another location to tap. You MIGHT have two coolant temp sensors on the 4.6L - one for the PCM, one for the gauge. My '97 Cougar does. Of course, just pull the temp sensor for the CV's gauge, and replace with your F100's sensor.

Same goes for the oil pressure. I don't think the CV's PCM cares about the oil pressure, so just replace the stock pressure sender with yours.

Tach gauge: There should be an output from the PCM, you MIGHT need to get an adapter to work with your existing tach, or get a newer one that supports the Ford PCM output. My t-bird and cougar both have tach gauges in the dash, and they just use a signal from the PCM like the old points systems would. Different voltage, but same timing - 4 pulses per engine crank rotation.

If it were me, I would seriously consider a 5.4L in place of the 4.6L - but get the 4.6L in there and running and working well, and then maybe think about upgrading later.

Personally, I would stick with the stock computer and auto tranny. But I'm lazy too

 

The 03 and newer CV.

I have seen a few converted to taxi going for 1300-1500. Which makes me think I need to think about a full swap around.