Is that the stock radiator from the FE? Some of those FE rads were huge.....
Not sure one of those engines would be easy to shoehorn into a 73-79 with factory A/C, as the FE and 460 were already pretty snug.

 

That is a 70s four row FE radiator. I matched up hoses off the wall at the auto parts store, but I'm not happy with the upper.
The ZF fit just fine, but I had to extend the hole back quite a ways.

 

Latest truck surgery:


B&W turnover ball, intended for a flatbed but I'm making it work with the stock bed. I changed the rear end out yesterday, since my springs were trashed and the replacement springs came with a heavier rear end with better brakes.
This truck is such a mutt now-

 

Glad to see you could use the rear end and leaf springs off that frame

 

Glad to get them- These springs seem to be heavier than the old ones as well, or maybe it was just the wear on the old ones. The diesel has been really trying on it, and it was really bad when I was back down at about 2000ft a couple weeks ago. I thought this thing had some power here, it gained a lot more going down 3000ft.
It'll be interesting to see what it does at sea level in two weeks.

 

nice build, i know its a old thread, but im doing the same swap right now and do you have any pics of the mounts? or any other underhood pics? thanks!

 

I'm probably going to do this thing over again very soon, but in a different way. I am not happy with the way this chassis handles the power, so it's going to be built on an 80s chassis. That also solves the pan/steering interference issue. Right now the alternator bracket is contacting the hood, and the pan has a dent from the steering linkage, plus the frame had to be notched for the starter.
I also finally got sick of that open air cleaner, so I went junkyarding and came home with an intake off a Dodge Durango with a 318. This is so much quieter, and gives a nice throaty big block sound. It's an Airaide intake and filter, with the stock Dodge tophat, but was able to fit with a few tweaks to the tube bracket. I'll get pics tomorrow.

 

Just curious if you could go more into detail on what you dont like about this chassis handling the swap/power? Been contemplating it myself when my 390 finally gives up the ghost, but with a few differences, 6.9 idi and a c6 rather than a zf. My truck is an auto trans/disc brake truck so Id like to keep it that way.

 

Love your hitch setup. That will hide it really well

 

Well, the rear axle moves all over under power, and the frame rails are really small. The steering and oil pan are trying to occupy the same space, so a later chassis would fix that. They also had wider rear springs that are able to handle the torque, plus the frame rails are about twice as tall making it much more rigid.
Not to mention that these diesels came in 83-94 trucks anyways, so just track down one with an ugly body, buy it cheap, and put a bumpside body on it. The biggest challenge would be fixing the gap between the bed and cab, but stretching the cab isn't that hard. When I do mine, I'll likely start with a Supercab chassis, and stretch the cab out to fit.

 

What did you end up doing for your floor covering?

 

A combination of the ripped old floormat and rusty metal mostly-

 

i have been wanting to put my cab and bed on an 80s or 90 frame with the IDI. Have you seen this done before? You talk about the cab bed fitment like you have.

 

I read somewhere on here that the front cab mounts are in the same relative spot, now i can't find it. I know the swap onto a 2002 detailed out a few pages back they were in the right spot.