Hey all, This is my first post so bear with me, sorry if I'm asking for alot but im really time strained here, as I have to finish the truck in a week.... :!

My situation is that i bought a 1989 F150 4X4 W/ a 302 and 5 speed tranny,
I blew up the motor and the clutch is gone, as well as the shift forks. I already pulled the motor and tranny out..

I have a donor truck with a 351W and an auto tranny with the off switch for the overdrive. My questions are how hard will it be to put the 351 and auto into my truck? How hard will the tranny wiring be? I'll also swap the radiator and trans cooler, ect. so I dont have to redneck rig that in.

I heard I can use the 302 wiring and just put the 351 computer instead of the 302 one. Has anyone done this? And I will just be using a floor shifter from a c6, then hopefully get tips on wiring the tranny.

I don't care about the Check engine light being on, I just dont want to blow the tranny by wiring it wrong haha..

Other specs: 351 has 64,867 KM on it. Frame is badly cracked though and body is shot.
The truck I'm putting the 351 in has a 6" suspension lift and 3" body lift rolling on 37's. So the higher tbi thingey on the 351 will clear the hood

Thanks in advance,
Reece

 

I've never done this swap so somebody else can help out with those details, but a suggestion if I may: do you really want the electrically controlled transmission? Would you be opposed to a mechanical one like a C4, C6, AOD, etc.? If not and if you can get one of those easily, you may want to go that route. No extra wiring to mess with or relocating the OD on/off switch. I believe in that case you'd just need a computer for a 5.8/manual.

 

Thanks for the fast reply, and I'd like to stay with this transmission because I dont have any extra cash really at the moment.. I'm not even exactly sure which tranny is bolted to the 351. I have a buddy that said "All you gotta do is put the 351 comp in and run a switch for the o/d and a switch for the torque converter lockup." I dont mind having o/d always on, because i never turn it off anyways. And i don't really understand the lockup. Can I run this transmission without wiring it up or no? sorry for the noob questions..

Reece

 

It has to be wired up properly with the computer, yes. The signal from the PSOM (speedometer) is what tells the transmission to shift. Without it connected properly you'll fry the trans. The computer is also what tells the torque converter to lock up, then you'd just have to run a switch for the overdrive. Most of the electronic ones don't hold up well from what I can see, at least not the E4OD. The 4R70W I believe is a little better if that's the one you get. That's why I like the mechanical C4 in my '80 and it's also why I bought my '92 with a 5 speed manual. The fewer electronics, the fewer things that can fail.

 

As stated above, you need to hook up that E4OD to the computer so it can control the shift points, internal pressure, converter lock-up, etc. Anything less you will destroy that transmission in short order.

 

I completely disagree with that statement. The E4OD is a much stronger design right out of the box. The enemy of any automatic transmission, especially an electronic controlled version, is heat. I will concede Ford should have used bigger transmission fluid coolers from the factory, but beyond that I will take an E4OD over a 4R70W in a truck any day.

Either transmission will give years of service when properly maintained including regular recommended fluid/filter changes.

 

37" tires with probably 3.55 gears? It shouldn't be surprising that the clutch died, you will need to address that if you expect to get any life out of the auto trans, and the speedo needs to be recalibrated so the computer has accurate input to control the auto trans.
The existing 5.0 engine wiring will connect to the 5.8 no problem but you will have to add all the wiring for the trans and then swap in the 5.8 PCM. This isn't technically difficult just a little awkward since the PCM connector has to be dismantled on both trucks so you can remove the wires with pins intact from the donor truck and reinsert them into the other.
I don't think there is a PSOM on these early E4OD trucks since the dash cluster was still mechanical, if not that's one less thing to be concerned about.

 

Thanks, I'm thinking that I can just chase up all the wires from the auto tranny from the donor truck and re splice/put pins into the new trucks pcm connector. Does this seem correct?

 

The PCM connector comes apart easily so there's no need to chop wires. Start with the harness in the donor once the powertrain is out of the way and you have some room to work, once you see what has to be done it won't be so imtimidating to put it back into the other truck.

 

Thanks, so just swapping the harness would be the easiest way to go?