I have a 351M in my 1979 F-250, thinking about getting a 460 for more torque. I was told that I might have to modify motor mounts but that it would mount up to my C-6 trans. Are there any other considerations that I should know about before I try a swap?

 

other than motor mounts should be pretty basic

 

I just finished doing the swap a couple weeks ago in my 79 f150. I ordered my motor mounts from JBG and they worked great. Pas side manifold from a car engine will not work. I also switched to a rear sump oil pan. The swap was very well worth it.

 

good call boilermaker. yes you will need truck exhaust manifolds. drivers side will work but passenger side car manifolds will hit the frame. and a rear sump oil pan is a good suggestion. you would probably be ok if you have a lift but if not lifted and you drive hard you MIGHT hit the front axle on the pan and dent it. most likely not enough to matter but better safe than sorry.

 

check out L and L products, they specialize in ford to other ford converting. they have motor mounts, headers and full kits.

L&L Products

motor mounts arent too hard to build, but if the money outweighs the PITA it would take for you to do it sometimes worth it to buy the special made ones.

 

all you need is a piece of plate to move the motor mounts, drill it out, etc. its quick and cheap. Mine has solid steel copies of the L&L's that happened to be on a motor I got. ended up having to modify them. but they work well..

to make it fast and easy I'd get your 460 out of a 78 or 79 truck, then everything fits perfect and plugs up except the oil pan.

Without a lift you WILL dent the oil pan. happened first time I took mine out. Even with my 6 lift it still hits under flex.

 

460 came in the 2 wheel drive so factory mounts are out there , just hard to find. Front sump oil pan is okay for 2 wheel drive, that's how they came new in the F-150 2 wheel drive,f-250 should be the same.
4x4 is different and you need rear sump pan, mounts are not that hard to make. When I put a 460 in my 79 bronco i made my mounts. I used an FE mount that will drop on to the frame stands. Between it and the engine i had a 5"x5" X1/2" plate drilled to match the 460 block holes and the FE holes , making a simple adapter costing almost nothing accept for the FE mounts . The custom mounts are made almost the same accept in one piece and cost about 10 times more. Three bolts go though the FE mount in to the 460 block and one bolt is just though the mount and the plate, simple one hour job to make.

 

You will also need to modify your alternator bracket. And on an F-250 the power steering pump will hit the gear box so you need to modify that too.

 

You don't need FE mount, you can use the stock ones and use a piece of plate to space them back.

My alternator bracket worked fine, swapping from a 79 F250. have an F150 so not sure about the steering box... they are in the same neighborhood down there.

 

Steering box is fine on an F-150, its on the outside of the frame. And F-250 steering box is on the inside of the frame.

 

Yes I have seen that done too and probably less work. Well i did mine 20 years ago and it's long gone now. I did keep the mounts because i put the 400 back in the bronco before i sold it . At the time i thought i might want to do another one, but that's not going to happen.
I for one like to build my stuff, there's no fun in buying something somebody else has developed and some of the time it's cheaper.

 

yeah I know the F150 box is on the outside, thats why I pointed out that i have an f150 so I don't know if the f250 box would interfere. They would be in the same area though so it wouldn't surprise me if they would on a 4x4.

as for buying vs building I agree with you, honestly a few years ago I used to think I needed to buy things for them to be well built and fit well... and after doing some builds, I now believe an off the shelf solutions is something made to fit many vehicles sort of well, and generally constructed in whatever way was fast and cheap for the manufacturers. I know I can build something better that fits exactly because I build it right here.

My problem when swapping was I had a borrow garage for 2 days. So I was on a pretty short time schedule to get the 351 out and the 460 in and back out of the garage. But I managed to get it done... if I had to make custom mounts i probably wouldn't have been able to. Was glad the mounts that came with my motor fit, more or less.

 

West Coast Broncos: WCB Extreme Duty Motor Mounts 429-460

 

Good looking mounts, as much as i like building my own stuff i probably would not pass them up if i was doing a change. First time i have seen them and they look better than others i have seen.

 

Yes I have not heard a bad word about them, L&L on the other hand I have read mixed reviews among users on here.

I am giving them a try when the time comes to hang the 460 in this project, after I clean up some PO front end hackness...., lol.