Hey im looking for some help and advice on a swap. i have a 83 f250 quad cab long box 4x4. it has a c6 tranny in it and it had a 351. i would like to swap it with a 7.3 if at all possible, but the goal would be to make it a diesel in general. so are there any diesels that will swap right in with that tranny, if not are there any adapter plates or other kits to make it work with that tranny. the idea is to do this kinda fast and cheap but right at the same time. so any ideas?

 

A small block trans won't bolt up to a 7.3, you need a diesel specific trans. Engine perches, rad, and core support are diesel specific. You may be better off to find a diesel truck, either as a platform to start with or to swap parts to your truck.

 

thanks for the quick reply, thats what i was thinking about doing. ill probably just put a 351 back in for now and swap it later

 

Put the 351 back in for now, and later on put a cummins diesel in it if you are going to the trouble to swap it to diesel.

 

yea I've thought about doing the Cummins swap but I'm not to sure I want to. I a big fan of trying to keep the same brand of engine in the same brand of car or truck, even though its an international engine it was still available in a Ford. Honestly if I had the money I'd run a complete 6.7 set up from the new truck, but my dealer down here says they aren't available yet and they would probably be insanely priced anyways

 

Well ifyou want to stick with engines that came in Fords the cummins is still an option. Larger ford trucks like water trucks came with them, and I believe I heard a rumor that Ford Australia fitted these trucks with a 5.9 from the factory

 

That would be a crate engine with a stand alone controller? The engines from the trucks are all tied into the dash computer and the engine computer, and it's a big mess. I read somewhere that the older powerstrokes in school buses and some other applications had a stand alone computer mounted out at the engine.

For a clean no-fuss install that's what you are going to want, though I guess you are still going to need something to control the tranny. That's why I would stay with the older simpler cummins setups that can make some power but are simpler to work on.