I already have a whole truck build over in the 73-79 forum, but I figured I would post this here too.

This is the story of swapping out the gas hog smog era underpowered 390ci v8 with a fuel injected 300ci straight six.

Nothing about this build is show winning, mind blowing, or impossible to complete on your own. I have seven ASE certifications, have worked for dealership service departments before, and graduated automotive tech school with a 4.0, and I still don't consider myself an expert on any part of this build. I regularly backtrack, redo things, make mistakes, and get a little frustrated, but it's all part of this hobby, right?

Anyways, onto what I have completed so far:



This is the state of my truck when I started my engine swap project. I have a factory ac cab, as such the efi manifold will not clear the ac box. My solution is to install a 3" body lift to space out the box away from the manifold. One problem caused by body lifting a 2wd dent is the steering colum won't line up with the steering box anymore, so I only installed the bed section of the lift before my engine swap. I end up lifting the cab later and using the steering colum from a 94 f150 2wd to fix this issue, as well as utilize the cruise control buttons.

 

I have heard that the instrument cluster is integral to the pcm working, so the 94 cluster will replace the 74. I have also heard that the trans needs a vss input to shift. I installed a sterling 10.25 from a 87 f250 to accommodate that need.

 

The donor for this project is a 1994 f150. The odo reads over 340k, the guy I got the truck from said the motor was replaced recently, but I can only assume that it was replaced with another high mile unit. I stripped the motor, trans, complete harness, rear tank, fuel lines, steering column, cluster, door speakers, cruise control components and rear window. I could have taken more, like the bench seat, complete dash, power door and window components, if I desired. I had zero wish to bring the f150 up to legal status, the title was the only paperwork given to me, no current reg or smog paperwork. other then that the body was trashed, tailgate didn't open, and there was (actually still is) cut up tire tread jammed between the back of the cab and front of the bed for some reason. But all lights work, and the truck drove smooth as glass on the drive home, which was about 45 min.

Stripped the motor apart, cleaned everything, lapped the valves, and threw in a sealed power gasket set.

I have bad experiences with reassembling transmissions, so I did absolutely nothing to the E40D, other then planning to add a giant 3 core cooler with e-fan.








I cut off and welded shut the secondary air nozzles.

 

Installed anchor brand motor mounts, pn 2332 and 2331. Had to notch one mount to clear the knock sensor.

 

Pulled the 390 and c6, moved the perches forward, and dropped the 300 in.

 

Installed the rest of the body lift, along with new poly bushings, and started assembling the rest of the motor. I fabbed my exhaust using a aftermarket y pipe, some of the original primaries, a thrush glasspack, and a muffler from a e250 van. Mounted before the glasspack is an electric exhaust cutout, for those times that I feel like being a jerk. I tried to get as much exhaust outside of the frame as possible, my theory is that keeps heat away from the trans.



Ignore the old body bushing in this pic.