:Hey all, new member. My first posts to the Forum were in the Dentside forum because I own 2 1/2 70's trucks(ones a parts donor) so I've kind'a jump ship. Short story: since the 60's when I was a kid, I always had my eye on ford trucks. My Dad was a Ford guy and I grew up with Fairlanes, Thunderbirds and a 64 1/2 Mustang convertible which my Dad bought new when they first came out. I used to straddle the transmission hump and shift when he would tell me. After a while I could just listen to the engine and watch my Dad and knew when to shift even though I couldn't see over the dash to see where we were going. I was about 6 or 7 at the time. Jumping forward...I now own 2 Mustangs and three trucks (3 1/2), a 74 f-100, 73 f-250 camper special and a 68 F-250 camper special. without going into all the details, the 68 I purchased first and had planned on restoring it to original. It was in excellent condition and didn't need much to get it there but.....it got stolen. I needed a truck so I looked in Craiglist and bought the first Ford I saw that looked good that day. the 74. It needed a bunch of work and as i started looking for parts, I stumbled across the 73 which was a better deal than the 74 a week later...OK...I'll use the 74 for parts, no problem. Again, looking for parts I stumble across my parts truck which was almost completely restored in better condition than either of the other two......for $400 not running......OK.....now I have plenty of parts and don't need to search for any. So now I'm slowly beginning to dismantle the trucks and sorting out which part I scabbing off of which truck to make one really nice truck.....but wait.....my 68 is recovered! A little worse for wear and tear but nothing horribly wrong. Since then, I've been stewing and pondering and trying to decide what to do and which one to keep for almost 2 years now and I finally made my decision. My heart belongs to the 68 and I'm going to do a custom lowered street ride. Yesterday, I bought a Crown Vic front end and rear end from a cop who had purchased a wrecked cruiser from the fleet. I t was a 2007 P71 and had 100,000 on it but he said they change the oil every 2,000 miles and maintain service cars better than even the most fastidious civilian. He threw in the Aluminum drive shaft, the radiator w/coolers and a few other tubes and hoses. So here's my question: He's offered to sell me the engine, transmission, complete wiring harness and just about any other misc part I would want included for $1000, which I think I can work him down a little from there. It;s all out of the vehicle and nice and clean. He was a diesel mechanic in the army and his shop was meticulous. So what about a 4.6sohv with a dual exhaust and a new manifold in a lowered 68 F truck? like in the Blues Brothers....it's gotta cop engine, cop shocks, cop transmission.........Is this a decent price for the engine and tranny plus all the extr's? I figured if I change the 3:27 gears to a 4:11 done right, it would still get up and go and the gas mileage would be much better than anything else I own right now. This would be my primary vehicle so gas mileage is a big plus. Any and all opinions welcome, please.

 

$1K is a decent price for everything ya stated.

Good luck on yer project.

 

That sounds like a great deal. I would jump on that in a heartbeat.

Jim

 

"4.6sohv with a dual exhaust and a new manifold in a lowered 68 F truck?"

I can tell you its going to be a wiring nightmare...Try to find stand alone controllers for anything your looking at buying first anything over 1993-4...(one of them) the rearend also has to match for the VSS and ANTI lock brakes...Do lots of home work before attempting any of these newer motors and transmissions they can drain your wallet FAST!....

I dont want to sound like a downer but some of these new motors are just ree-dick-u-lass when it comes to computers...

Use caution Id hate to see you lose interest after spending tons of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!

 

The first thing to do is get or download the wiring diagram. I installed a 4.6 32 valve in a 67 XL . I grafted a front clip fron a 93 cv in 2000. I carefully eliminated the wires not needed. Since the police cars have no PATS you should be able to get it running. If it does have a PATS it can be flashed out. I used a Cobra computer and had it re-flashed at a Mustang tuner shop. 20k miles later ,18to19 mpg with 3.70 and a t 45 @4200 lbs. I would be bs ing you if I told you that it was a piece of cake but was well worth it. I an considering converting my 68 Ranger to a 5.4 32 valve using a cv front clip. $1000.00 is a good deal, go for it! Kenny Nunez

 

So I jumped on this deal after all....He ended up selling me the engine, transmission, drive shaft, 3.23 rear end, front IFS, a 5.0 roller short block, the entire engine bay wiring harness, computer, radiator , all the misc. fluid resivours, fly by wire accelerator pedal, an X303 roller camshaft and a Canton 7 quart Aluminum oil pan for the 5.0 plus a bunch of gaskets for $1,200. For now I think I'm going to stick with the stock manifold and not try and complicate things too much and just get everything installed as is. It was a terrific deal since the 5.0 engine only had 60,000 miles on it and the crank and cylinders are within spec and don't need any machining. He had everything neatly disassembled and completely clean...just too good a deal to say no to. Thanks for the input Kenny, I may be hitting you up with some questions about the tuning you mentioned. Up until now I've been strictly and old school mechanic...no EFI's and computers so this is going to be a learning experience. Just to show you, I don't even know what PAT's are.....guess I'm gonna find out. Thanks again, I will try and post some photos as the project progress's.

 

I must admit that I do not have experience with a "returnless" efi system, and "drive by wire" which is what you have, as far as "PATS" it means passive anti theft , you must have an ignition key that has a chip that matches the car. Ask the person you bought the cv from if this car is so equipped. My set up uses a 98 Cobra computer and harness, the engine I have came from a 98 MK 8 that was coil on plug, I converted it to coil packs. I did this because I am using a 5 speed. If there are any Mustang tuner shops in your area I am sure they will be able to help you with this project. The ones around here were really stoked on my project and also it helps to know a Ford or Lincoln mechanic. I am a retired auto and marine mechanic and did all of the work in my garage. Many times on this project I wanted to give up but somehow I just kept on . I know of after market control systems but the Ford system is better even if it is more complicated, at least with the Ford system it is easier to get technical help on a one on one basis rather than a phone call or internet. You can order the manuals from Ford which you must have to keep your sanity.
Good Luck , Kenny Nunez

 

Once you get the correct manual get a notebook , then look at each wire going to the computer and write down it's respective purpose, this will get you familiar with them. The wires are color coded and their respective terminals are numbered. That is how I went about it, this way you will find some wires that you do not need and can remove them. The square plug which has 42 wires connects the engine to the computer harness, also study it and you will see that it is not that complicated. This harness also has a smaller harness which connects the o2 sensors which is really important. Under the dash is the data link connection on all OBD2 cars, you need to have one also. Have the computer reflashed to eliminate the after cats as you will not need them. That is allI can think of for now. Kenny Nunez ksnunez@***.net

 

Thanks Kenny, it really helps to hear these things from someone who's been there...it saves me from having to go through all of the trial and error and frustration! that's something that you can't put a price on...like in the commercial ad.........."PRICELESS." Thanks again, I'll try and put up some pics when I get to a place where I have something to show. Out of curiosity, the rear end that he gave me is an 8.8" 3.23 locker....at least that's what he said it was. He had his patrol car sitting in the driveway while I was there and I assume it was probably the same as the one that was wrecked. I'm wondering what kind of torque issues I'll have with this set up for my truck. I know it weighs a bit more than a CV. A humorous side note; I asked him what happens to someone who T-Bones a cop car.....he said " nothing when it's the officer's fault." I got from him that he wasn't the one he was referring to. (LOL)

 

I do not think it is worth the trouble to put the 8.8 on your truck, it is not that hard to install a locking center section in the 9" and they are easy to find either new or used. The first thing to check is the axle spline count either 28 or 31 before looking. If you have a 31 Jack Roush peformance sells used lockers at a good price. As far as your engine's control system, you can convert it to a pre 03 set up for a return style fuel system and a mechanical throttle if you can locate one in a salvage yard, but you must get everything. Kenny Nunez

 

I was wondering about whether it was worth the trouble to install the 8.8. My biggest motivation to do that would be for the disk brakes but I was also thinking about just removing them and using them on something else like my Mustang. I haven't done a conversion before and I haven't really looked that closely to see how much work it would take to get this to work as far as retro fitting is concerned. I've heard the 8.8 is pound for pound as strong as a 9" or at least the gears are. I know the whole unit is too wide now for my 66 Mustang but the weight (and hp to move a 9") difference in a Mustang + the disk brakes might make it worth looking into converting it for that...if that's even possible? I haven't had a chance to look into the possibilities yet for the 8.8 but I was thinking along the same lines that it wasn't going to gain me much over the 9" in my truck. Thanks again for your input...you the man.