this is prolly been talked about but, im wanting to go to a v8, the I6 300 has no upgrades, so i want a v8 that does, i have a 1994 ford f-150 4x4, and ive had a 390 in my 73 ford f-250 in the past but sold it but i loved how the power was in it. but like i said i want to upgrade to a v8, i dont want a 351 or a 302 ever one tells me to get a 427 or 460 but i dont think they will fit, im not for sure a 390 will fit, this truck is going to be for 4x4 use only. my question is will 390 fit or should i go for 427, but i think 427 is over kill for me, and what all other upgrades should i do? and sense im swaping a fuel injected 300 for a carped 390 or 427 would that make a difference on the computer on the truck? ill take any info on what i sould do

 

Well, first of all, good luck finding a 427. You can buy it all new now with aftermarket parts, but your engine will be a small fortune, and may well be the kind of thing that requires constant tinkering to make work.

If you want to go up to a V8, find out what was offered in '94. The 302 for sure, and it's probably a waste of time vs. the six.

Not sure about the 460, but if it was offered, that's your ticket. You will be able to find parts that fit.

351 can be stroked and poked out to 400 or so inches and made to produce 400+ HP with a little effort.

IMO going with "factory" set ups in swaps makes for an easier time of it, a better result, and increases the likelyhood that you will drive it again some day, vs. send it down the road with the scrappy after going broke trying to make it run.

Now, your mileage may vary, and if you have the money and/or ability to do you own "engineering" and machine work, and the time & patience to do the proper tuning, well then you can put an Allison V-12 in there if you like.

How's the rest of the truck? Why not just trade up?

 

A carbed I-6 can be modded not too expensively to around 250 easy, streetable, low-end grunty horses and a flat torque output a bit over 300 lbf from off-idle to 4 grand (around 320 or more, actually...) at the shaft. The head needs a little bowl work for it all to happen, but you can most certainly bolt on a header and a 4-bbl manifold etc. for about the $ame a$ any other Ford motor, and throw in any one of several good cam choices for offroad use (swap in a steel timing gear set, please, or else!). You won't make a race motor out of it without serious outlay, but you can have a surprisingly potent puller out of it.

A 460 bolt-in swap makes me a little nervous with the F150 chassis. Might be a little too much for that beast, but it'll sure be fun breaking motor mounts and driveshafts while you're in the middle of doing it! A 302 is indeed not much of a swap from an I-6. It simply won't give you the rock-crawling tractor grunt a properly built six will without a blower thrown on there, and I really wouldn't want to spit off a blower belt on a trail somewhere. A warmed-over 351W will give you at least 300 reliable horses and around 380 lbf of nice, flat grunt at the shaft, definitely suitable for offroad use. You want a wide, flat torque plateau from off-idle up to around 4 grand anyway.

If you live in a state where there are strict emissions policies and underhood smog equipment inspections, you're somewhat out of luck on the engine swap idea, unless you throw in the whole EFI-equipped mess from the same year or later---harness, computer, spaghetti and all, in any case, likely tranny+driveshaft too unless yours is the same, or they're both in front of a manual tranny, or can work with the new setup. It must have the same bellhousing bolt pattern, but you knew this already I bet. You can find a bolt-on bellhousing for a 460/T18,19 or NP 435 if needs be. If there's just a sniffer and driving cycle test, you can dial in a carb to burn cleanly with a mildly built fresh motor with a bit of tuning. I've done it, so it can be done. You can put a header on the EFI I6 (a bit easier with no smog pump or the air injection tubes in the head-you'll still have to weld in an EGR tube) and some bigger injectors out of a 302 HO if you like, and clean up the valve bowls a little to extend the power range without low-end dropoff. There will be a glitch or two in the powerband with the factory EEPROM map. Best way to avoid tuning hassles and keep the stock EFI (which is a bit better than a carb off-road, especially on inclines) and gain the ability to use a little more cam would likely be a MegaSquirt controller, (unless you find someone who can burn you some custom mapping into your computer---rots o ruck!) and map the fuel and timing curves from a laptop; you can increase the duty cycle of the stock injectors to meet fuel requirements. You won't have to mess with injector swaps, fuel pressure, and minor driveability glitches that way. You could make an optimum fuel and spark advance map for sniffer time, and fatten 'er up for performance after you get the sticker, and load the other map again at next sniffer time, etc. but you didn't hear this from me and I'll deny it to the end when cornered!

Swapping in a FE big block will be as much as a PITA as a 460, and unlike with the 460, there aren't any modern, emissions-legal choices for you, so if you insist on an elephant or charging rhinoceros under the hood without having to bribe anyone or going thru the rigamarole of applying for an emissions waiver, the 460 is your best bet.

The stroker kit for the 351W looks like just the ticket for a hot setup (if you can get away with it), with a nice set of Roush or Trick Flow heads or such-like, a potent dual-plane manifold like an Edelbrock Performer RPM or a Weiand Stealth, a torquey, axle-snapping roller cam, and a set of Jet-Hot coated headers with a 2 1/2" dual exhaust and H-pipe! That puppy will throw some serious roost! As with the 460, you'll be finding the weak spots in the rest of the driveline rather quickly, I expect. Your buddies will most definitely be hanging a respectable distance away from that volcanic plume of dirt 'n' rocks you'll be spraying the scenery with! I'll be wiping the drool from my keyboard now...

 

i really dont want to trade my baby for anything else, i love the body style to much to trade,so im going to look in to the 351W stroker Kit, so if I stroke it to about 400 i can get about 400hp is there anything i can do to crank more power out of it, ive thought about carbed 6 but i just want an V8,AND will my C6 tranny bolt up to the 351w with out a problem or would i need change anything and thank you for the info

 

If you can find the March Hot Rod, they give the specs on the 351's used in the Starsky and Hutch cars....435 horse. Paraphrased:

.40 over, (360) forged crank & rods, SRP pistons, Edelbrock RPM Air Gap dual plane manifold into Edelbrock Performer heads, 750 CFM carb, Comp Cams hydraulic cam, MSD ignition, 9.7-1 compression.

What does it all mean.....? Since a movie company was paying, I'm sure this wasn't an economy job.

But you get the idea.....good heads, nice 4bbl with good manifold, some headers, spruce up the rotating and reciprocatings, cam it up and gas it....

Happy Motoring!

 

The C6'll bolt up just fine. Whether or not it survives the brutal onslaught of a poked 'n' stroked 351 pumping out 400 horse in stock shape is another story...geez, how much more power do ya want than that? I know. You want to get there before ya left, right (may even be possible in this century with a bit of practical application of quantum physics, if we don't blow ourselves up or poison ourselves first...)? Believe me, I feel that way sometimes, too...

A good set of ~9.5:1 compression aftermarket heads and a roller cam could put you around the 450 mark...

 

well so your saying c6 will be fine for awhile, so what would be a better setup, and for the power i just want more out of this 351, going from a 6 to a stroked 351 you want more and more lol

 

IMO that C6 can take more punishment than any other auto, that's why they back the big motors.... Of course they rob more power at 30% than the smaller ones too. A nice little shift kit and you'll be set.

--Mike

 

they made a c6 in 94.

 

i donno but thats what my dad put in C6

 

A stroked 351 will bolt to your present tranny, with the correct balance weight flywheel. I know you said you don't want one, but it would be the easiest to do. They did put a 460 into the F350 in 94, but the only one I've seen was a 2 wheel drive with an automatic trans. It was a stake rack company truck we had, and it had gobs of low end grunt. Terrible mileage though. I think I would just sell the truck and buy what you really want. Fuel injection and computers make any swap tough, but in this day and age, I wouldn't want a newer truck without them.

 

I don't see why everbody seems to hate the 302.....I know the truck motor was rather anemic, but the HO was 225/300 stock and with a set of ported heads, 1.7 rockers and a good intake it can make well over 300HP and close to 400ft/lbs of torque. They are roller from the factory and have forged pistons in them.....VERY durable motors with lots of rev's and a broad power band. I'm in the middle of swapping one into my 88 F-250 with a C6 that has the 300 I-6 in it now....well, half in it at this point. It spun the nylon timing gears on me and cost me $400 in towing to get it home....I was not happy.

 

The 302 is a fine motor, but when called to duty for a larger vehicle, it leaves a little to be desired. Even a stoutened 302 putting out 300 HP will be sucked down by the C6 to 210 HP, then add the truck weight and where the RPM range the motor makes it power and you finding yourself looking for the bigger torque motors....

Just MHO, --Mike

 

That said, then what does it do to the I-6? Since its only 145/285 stock......

Also, I wonder if its possible to retrofit a T5 tranny into my F-250 Not wise for towing I'm sure but would steal less juice.

 

Are you saying that the C6 is backing the I6 now? I would have to question that being correct.... The C6 was usually reserved for the FE and the 335/385 series engine family motors.

The T-5 would be nice, but your heading in the right direction taking the tow feature out of the picture.

--Mike