Hey Everyone,

I am fairly new to this website but I know a fair amount of things when it comes to working on trucks. So long story short, my dad bought this 1985 F-150 brand new from the dealership and special ordered it with the custom blue on white paint and EFI. So needless to say, he loves this thing very much. This has been his baby for the last 25 yeas until I turned 16 and it became mine once he got the new ecoboost. The old 5.0 is a great motor but with getting close to 170k I'm getting nervous on long drives towing. This thing has been a champ but my dad and I are ready for a project and boosting up old Bessy.

We had the grand idea to slap a 3.5l in it. I realize the 5.0 has rough dimensions of about 33" wide(fenderwell to fenderwell) and 35" long (radiator to firewall), where as the 3.5 has dimensions of 28.50" at the turbo and 22" at the heads. So theoretically it should fit. Next we are contemplating leaving the whole driveline intact with the auto transmission but that means you need to replace the whole steering column as well. I have heard that the mustang MT-82 6-speed can bolt right onto the ecoboost. We are then planning on swapping all the wiring from the donor truck too.

We are in the very rough stages of planning this. We probably will not even buy the donor truck until next summer, we are just getting a little list together and a plan of attack. Has anyone ever heard of anyone doing this? I know there is a dude who swapped an F100 onto the ecoboost frame which didn't look too bad. I am open to any and all advice, if you want to bash me for such a dumb idea, go ahead. Just wanted to see if you guys have any advice about this kind of swap. Ill let you know of things I find as I go along and Ill try to post pics. I look forward to hearing what you folks have to say.

 

There was another guy that started a thread about swapping an Ecoboost into a classic truck('60 something IIRC) and after more research he discovered it would be wildly complicated both electrically and mechanically so he bought a late model ecoboost crash victim and a new frame for it, swapped everything over to the new frame and then dropped the classic truck body on it. So in the end it was more of a body swap than an engine swap, and that was because the powertrain control system in these new trucks is intertwined with so many other systems, PATS, ABS, Traction Control, and pretty much everything on and in the dash that there would simply have been too much custom work needed to put the powertrain in anything but a late model truck.
But that was then, apparently Ford has developed a stand alone control system for the Ecoboost but you still need the transmission and it will cost you serious $$. https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6017-35CNTRL

 

Yeah I saw that build of the 1960's swap. It does seem like that is probably an easier solution. However, I am in no rush to put all this together so Ill just keep doing my homework and see what I can find. Plus it seems like I'm gonna have to save up for this one..Thanks for the response and link to the ECU. Ill try to keep this page updated with other stuff I find along the way. Also another problem I thought of was linking up a transfer case to the MT-82 transmission. Got a lot of homework to do

 

I have a complete parts truck when your ready ill let go of at a fair price all the parts you will need for the swap. I want to see the swap done and ride in it and see what it will run 1/4

 

If you really want to do the EcoBoost swap, then go ahead. On the other hand, if you're concerned about the reliability of your 170K 302, then it will be a lot cheaper and easier to just rebuild it. If you want more power, consider building a 351 for it. Or if you're concerned about the operating costs of an old gas-guzzler, then do the math and see how many miles you'll need to drive to save the cost of the conversion (I'm guessing several hundred thousand).

Again, if you really want to do an EcoBoost swap, go for it. It could be a really fun project with a cool outcome. But keep in mind that there are really good reasons why there aren't a lot of people doing it.

 

The guys at Gas Monkey Garage put a truck ecoboost in a 72 Pantera on one of their shows. Ford said a stand alone motor could not be done, but they had some company that does custom tunes figure it out. Im sure they have it figured out by now.