Recently purchased a 1951 F1 Panel with no engine/tranny/radiator. Previous a V8 no motor mounts. Looking for advice on what donor vehicle would be easiest to swap in drive line including rear end if possible.

My hopes are as little modifications as possible as equipment at home is limited. Hoping for a 302 auto combination, prefer not injected to keep it simple.

Currently is set up for 3 in the tree, would like to keep the original shifter if possible. After engin/tranny/rear end change over would like to upgrade brakes.


Thanks in advance, from the sunny Okanagan, B.C. Canada.

 

I'll give this a little bump. Welcome to the forum! Can you share some pictures of your recent purchase? We like pictures.

You seem to have a pretty good vision for what you hope to do with your truck. Lots of forum members have done what you are thinking about doing. One of them is bound to come along soon with some advice and encouragement.

 

Frame swaps are generally discouraged here, although there are a few here who have successfully done them.

Two keep phrases you used would tell me you are way better off using your current stock frame and installing upgrades on it, "equipment at home is limited" and "keep it simple", neither of these go with a frame swap. There will be a whole lot of fabrication and most will be complex needing skills, different tools and money.

These trucks have pretty good frame, usually, unless yours is bent up or rusted out. There many places that sell disc brake kits and other modification parts for these trucks. If you can, you might not because you low number of posts, do search of this board for "frame swaps", you'll find many posts on the subject. If you can't use the boards search feature you can do an easy Google search.

 

Do you have welding skills and capabilities? Do you want to lower it, keep original ride height? Are you looking to not spend much money?

What is wrong with the existing rear end? You should be able swap in a rear end from the early 70's and then get the newest 302 with a carb you can get.

 

You can grab a small block and slushbox out of any of several dozen FoMoCo vehicles (trucks, vans, full-size RWD platforms, Mustangs, Cougars, T-Birds, Rancheros, etc.) from 1968 to the mid-1980's if you want to stick with a Blue Oval non-FI engine and auto tranny.

C4s were available through 1981 IIRC, then the C5 (C4 with a lockup converter) with the AOD coming up in '86. The big boy C6 was available until '96. Not sure how any of these would mate with your stock manual trans column shift, though.

You could probably use the rear from a donor vehicle, if it already came with a V8.

It's probably "easiest" to drop in a SBC, although some will say that's blasphemy. You can get kits to drop the bellybutton 350/350 into F1/F100 frames from a few sources, although here's one with options for either a Ford or Chevy mount:

https://www.performanceonline.com/19...nts-TCM4860-D/

I would also add the venerable 300 Six into the mix, but with limited space, equipment or skills, this might not be a viable option.

That is a sweet panel, btw.

 

I am not saying I am not a purist.

BUT how is it possibly "easiest" to drop in a sbc? You can get an engine mount and trans mount for a 302 with a C4 shipped to your house no problem.

 

It's not, really. Hence the quotes. You can get engine and trans mounts for mounting a lot of different combos in an Effie frame. Perhaps "easiest" in this case means...done more often than others? It's a pretty ubiquitous swap.

Perhaps a poor choice of wording on my part, but still only a suggestion.

 

If and when you score your donor vehicle, and your going with a ford small block/auto transmission, grab the steering column and related shifting linkage too if it is a column shifter. This will solve the shifting problem.

 

Your original post indicated that you were hoping for a 302 with auto and then you indicated that you wanted to keep the original shifter. It is one or the other.

If you want to keep the original shifter, the "easiest" swap is the kind of swap that was in my 49 done sometime before 1962 when the po bought it. It had a 56 nailhead Buick with a commercially available adapter going thru the stock flathead transmission, very close to a bolt in using stock mount locations (with donuts) for the engine, no changes to the clutch or brakes. I suspect that you may be able to buy new the adapters for some engines, not sure about a sbf but probably for a sbc.
I drove the 49 with the nailhead a number of years including a cross country trip.

EDIT: I checked, Speedway still sells the sbc to flathead trans for $360 new. You should be able to find one used for a lot less money.

2nd EDIT: I initially missed that there was not a trans in your truck.

 

He said he wants a 302 you can get cross members for the engine and tranny for under $100. Personally I would do a mod motor or a jag V12!

 

Hi Guys, thanks for the input.

I guess I was not clear on one thing, I will be keeping the stock frame.

I plan on changing to disc's on the front, and changing over the rear to the car bolt pattern was the plan, and hope to use the donor rear end as well, just hoping to get the best donor to meet most of my needs in one package.

Donor's I have been coming across locally with the 302/C4 combination have low HP ratings, mostly in part to the post 1972 vintage.

My short term plans are to get it running safely on the road, and once there, determine if going more exotic is where I want to go. Power brakes will be added, and once my wife has driven it with strong arm steering, there may be no need to upgrade to p/s.

I am hoping to retain as much exterior and interior original features, including the stock seats, fuel tank etc. I am hoping there is a way to use the column shifting with the auto transmission. The wheel/ tire upgrade is hopefully the only noticeable exterior changes, and hope find wheels in vintage 60's style.

I have some experience with resto mods, in the past, ( 72 C10 short box step side from stock 6, 3 in the tree, to 396/400, lowering, rear end and brake up grade, steering column change, adding p/s, p/b, complete window change, etc), but most of these changes were easy as it is with older Chevy's), 2 56 F100's, 48 Anglia pro street, 57 Ranchero, 61 Buick Invicta Bubble Top, 66 427/425 hp Corvette. It is time for me keep a vehicle that will meet many of our needs, like my wife setting up in the farmers market (hence the panel not only for the space to pack her product, but advertise on the exterior, vintage car meets, cruising the lake shore drives, and most importantly, taking the dog to the beach in the summer).

Everyone's input is valuable, and when it gets time for finer details regarding the tricks of installing or modifying components, I will certainly be searching those of you out. For now, it's just getting the best donor so I can drive/drag it in the yard, take out what is necessary and get it out of the yard ASAP, not much room for me to play and store the donor.

 

If you want an "all in one" package, what about a donor F150 for the 302/auto and rear end? Or lacking that, how about a Fox-body Mustang? The early FI 302s can be swapped back to a carb pretty easily. I'm not sure how the stock Mustang rear would hold up under a truck, but you would have to swap to 5 lugs anyway since they're 4 bolt axles.

Just thinking out loud...

 

If you want modern I would do dual donor if I were you, you said you wanted car bolt pattern.

Several people have done the CV swap the entire front end can be bolted on(after some mods) the rear end would need welded flanges for leaf spring mounts or you could try to change to rear coils.
It gets you good front disc brakes power steering and IFS.

Then you would just buy an engine and tranny from a junk yard or Clist and freshen it up?

 

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I stumbled across a 1989 F150 as a donor for my 52 project. The engine is a 5.8 (so in reality a 351W) with a C6 auto trans. I built the engine up as a 1969 Mustang....so stock 69 cam and cam timing gears and with a carburetor. It runs pretty well and makes all kinds of torque. When I bought the engine/trans I picked up the driveshaft too and later on had that cut down to the length that I needed. I had the driveline shop change out the rear yoke for the 9" rear end that I found later.

Using the C6 was do-able without cutting the firewall, but I did have to move the engine/trans forward for clearance. The trade-off there is that I wasn't able to use a fan on the water pump since it would have been too close to the radiator....I went with an electric fan mounted directly to the radiator. If you could find something with a C4 combination your life would be made easier.

Something worth noting is that there are also many threads regarding the rear cross-member. Many resto-mod guys were tempted to eliminate the big stock cross member. That can result in the frame twisting out from the loads put on it by the cab mounts. My frame had some pre-work done to it before I bought it, so the cross member was missing. I built up this:



My frame is also boxed....I haven't noticed any sag & I've been driving my truck around for a couple of years now.

The 89 pickup wasn't a good donor for the rear end because it would have been too wide. There are several threads with rear-end donor data. I used that to guide me to find a pre 1972 F100 with a 9" rear end. That is very close to a bolt-in rear end. The spring perches were perfect....I had to weld on shock mounts.
Regards,

Dan

 

I don't think a SBC would fit into that panel. Hehe. Looks like you have a good starter project there. Looking forward to seeing another panel truck get back on the road. I have a 50 panel truck and are going with a carbed 302 and AOD for the time being. I want to let you know that you CAN keep your column and shifter if you want. It can be done and there are a few on here that have done it. I plan on doing just that and have already started modifying them to work. There is a member on here(cant remember the name right now) that did it and outlined the process pretty well with pics and a write up. Just about anything can be done really. Good luck and welcome