I might be buying a lifted "92 F-150 4x4 to put my Nite body on it.

Heres the ad description
"Up for sale:
My 1992 Ford F150 Single Cab, Long Box.
Roughly 125k miles
4.9 Inline 6 motor with a ZF5 Ford 5 speed manual transmission.
4x4 on the floor with manual hubs
3.73 gears limited slip front AND rear

Has a 3" body lift
2" front coil spacers
6" Skyjacker Suspension lift
A couple extra leafs in the rear.
Total lift is roughly 11" front and 13" rear.

Currently has 35x12.5x15 tires. Easily fit 38.5x15x15s on it.
Had 44's lined up but other things came up.
Has a flat tire at the moment... awaiting a replacement. The 3 on it are very nice, no cracks or leaks.
For the price listed, I'll throw in a set of 38.5x15x15 tires on rims. (1 is bad)

New front fenders and new core support were put on when I got it. (rusty)
One box side is mildly damaged and the wheel wells are rusty. (typical)

When I got it a little over a year ago I put new plugs and wires on it. New cap and rotor. Thermostat. Front pads, rotors, calipers, brake hoses, and brake lines. New Nitro Shocks all the way around. New drag link center bar and new steering gear. Also put a new clutch in it... along with slave cylinder and whatnot. (Has less than 10k miles on everything)

The front end is loose and it could use some camber spacers for the ball joints... other than that, she starts and runs fine every time.
Will conquer all but the worst mud holes with good tires.
Also has a 5th wheel ball in the box."

Now, my Nite is 2wd, and has a 302. So, I want to ask a few things.
1. How hard would that full body transfer be?
2. I heard the inline 6's had as much torque as a 350, True or false?
3. How well would the 4.9L Straight 6 run in that truck?
4. What would I need to shave down to fit 44's on it?
5. How hard would an engine swap be to my 302(5.0L)?
6. Is there an easy way to add power to the inline six, or the 302?
7. How much would rims that fit 44"s cost? How much would the tires themselves cost(guessing around $800)?


Thanks. Please get back to me soon!!

Edit: Also, The guy claims hes never gotten it stuck(But that may be because he never mudded with it!).

 

The pictures he posted on Craigslist.

 

I'll answer what part of that I know about. Body swap, not difficult as long as you have reasonable mechanical skills and decent tools as well as a good place to do it. Engine swap can be done while the body is off making it super easy too. I've done it, been a few years though. Mating your 5.0 to the 4.9 tranny I'll leave to someone else. I'd keep the 4.9 I think. Either engine will be a dawg until you re-gear to match whatever tires you choose. That's my two cents worth.

 

ZF never came in F150, make sure it was indeed swapped in, otherwise you'll have the M5OD. 3.73s are not enough gear for those tires with either engine you run, so you'll need to swap out. You can keep the rear l/s, but since the Dana 44 carrier break is 3.73, you'll have to get a different one for any lower gears.

You can bolt the 302 to the trans, the I6 n small blocks have the same bellhousing pattern. Also, pulling the harness, ecu n mounts/towers will make for a pretty straight forward swap.

 

How much will that cost me?

And Thanks for the help guys.

 

Why would you put the 302 in that? I mean, personally I wouldn't wanna change motors twice (when you eventually get tired of having no low end power and inevitably swap back to the 300.) but it's your call. The 302 can be made into a beast, but it will all be mid range/top end...it's just not gonna make low end power like the 300 will. And in that truck, you need low end grunt.

Gearing is key, and I'd say you're gonna need somewhere around 4.56-4.88 to turn what you wanna turn...with 44's you might even wanna consider 513s. As for body...why would you wanna mess up a perfectly good Nite to swap it's body onto a truck with a perfectly good body? All you're gonna end up doing is busting up a perfectly good Nite body when you inevitably off road it. Seems bass ackwards to me. Hell, spray that one black and buy some Nite decals...swap complete...lol.

But, if you're dead set on doing tons of extra/pointless work...the body swap is easy...just labor intensive. You can do it in a weekend fairly easy...and, to echo what was said...make sure that's a ZF. Never came in an F150 stock. Although I bet it was...because I can tell ya with fairly good certainty what happened to the Mazduh unit...running those tires without regearing probably destroyed it.

Anyhow, good luck bud...

 

Ok so the issues I see here are as follows...
The gearing should be closer to 4.56 to run those tires and not strain other components
You would recieve 2 incomplete sets of tires, so put a new tire of at least 1 of the sizes into the budget
The half-ton truck has a 5th wheel ball in the box...probably not a good sign.
From the appearance in the pictures the front end sits like this: \---/ Perhaps its just the angle of the picture, but thats not a good sign.
Personally I would put a 351w in it for the added torque.
Im also going to doubt that somebody swapped in a ZF tranny.

 

Much better off finding a 250 or 350 to body swap with especially if you want to run bigger than 33's without worrying about drivetrain. Also find a truck with a 351w if you wana run more than 31's and keep up with hondas.

From wikipedia:

4.9 L I6 1992–93 145 hp (108 kW) 265 lb·ft (359 N·m)

5.0 L V8 1992–93 185 hp (138 kW) 270 lb·ft (370 N·m)

5.8 L V8 1992 210 hp (160 kW) 315 lb·ft (427 N·m)

 

That Wikipedia excerpt is wrong. The 300 is closer to around 160-165 HP and, according to Ford's own literature, had anywhere from 5-10 lb ft of torque over the 302 in any given year. Not sure why that figure keeps getting posted. I guess because it's easiest to find.

 

Actually before buying the '94 I was looking at Rangers. I made up a spec sheet on both Rangers and F150's. Here is the F150 Spec sheet showing engine sizes/horsepower/torque ratings for trucks from 1980 to 1996.

 

Steve...THANK YOU! Exactly what I was saying...damn sure wasn't 145 hp...

 

Well, it depends on which year you're looking at. I was looking for a 87-91 but couldn't pass up the deal on this 94. Regardless, the 300 does generate it's power low end and the 302 mid to upper.

I'd like to know what the difference is in the 87-91 and the 92-94 to create that difference in hp/torque.

 

As would I. Anyone with a 300 knows those aren't real world numbers.

Personally I would never touch a half ton that has a fifth wheel in the back, let alone one that looks like a kid put it together. Your better off with a 250 or 350 if you want to run that big of a tire.

 

Yea, I'm curious as to why the power changed myself. And yea, I'd never touch a 1/2 ton that had a 5th wheel hitch...

 

Emissions differences to keep it 50 state legal for 92.

Gearing will be a minimum $1000 in parts, but could go up from there dependant on what diff you put in front.

So is it a gooseneck ball or 5th wheel plate? Either way, I'd shy away from a 1/2 ton with anything like that, as it's guaranteed to have been overworked.