OK I'm the guy who has (probably) decided to put a 390 in my 66 F100.(now has the 300-6cyl with 4 spd). Will the 390 bolt-up to my bellhousing, or would it be easier to go with the C6? What about front mounts? I don't have access to welding equipment, and would like to do this myself. Thanks for your help. You guys are great!

 

The 65-66's had the FE motors (352) so You can use the tranny, but not the 6 cyl bellhousing. I would try to find a 65-72 truck that had a FE motor to get the stands for the motor mounts. Beyond that, it shouldn't be hard to change over. Many parts fit from the 67-72 years.

Barry

 

if you have now or plan to add power steering latter. make sure you get the moter towers from a truck with power steering as they are diffrent than manual stering towers. i just found this out.

 

Brett, Motor changing is easy, I would recommend that you step back and think about what else you might want to do to your truck and make a plan to start with. You might want power steering and brakes, ac, auto tranny.

Any thing else on your mind besides a real motor?

John

 

What jowilker said is sooooooooo true, remember your stoping power was based on a 6 cly, So if your going to up the Hp ( with a V8 ) you want to be able to stop it as well.
Mine went like this
Disk brake convertion with pw assist
Power steering with steering coulmn
already had V8
Manual trany to Auto ( in process )

Sit down and make a list of everything you want to do then look at how things relate to each other, case in point
When I did power steering I changes the column, when i did that I lost my Shifter on teh column and at that point I had to get a floor shifer as a temp till I got all the trany stuff together for the convertion.
This site is great for helping get all the stuff together to do swaps and upgrades. and you will find it much easyer to have all the things you need ready when you go to work, insted of 20 trips to the local junkyards or parts stores

 

65 was the first year for the FE engine (in trucks), IIRC. Tried stuffing a 390 into a 63 and had so many problems....decided to wait and get a 65 or 66.....

 

the 65 and 66 trucks look a lot like the 64 but i believe they take the same frame mounts as 67,79.the 300 used the same frame mounts as fe 390.all you need are 390 truck motor mounts.plus stnd bell.

 

thanks 312! I know this stuff is pretty basic to you folks, but I've been away from the automotive field fo 28 years and it is truly frustrating when that I can't remember what will fit where!

 

Jowilker is right.

Hold up, think it over, plan your project and build your plan. Plan your budget too!! Real important!

I converted my 300 6 banger 65 to 390; manual shift to auto tranny; power steering and power disk brakes. Took 5 months,working weekends with LOTS of fellow Blue Oval truckers to help and 3 wheelbarrows full of cash. Was it worth it? YOU BET. Every cent and busted knuckle.

 

as far as the engine mounts go try autofab they offer mounts for 302,351,fe,460,and even 350 chevys from 64 to 79.and from what i remember they are all power steering friendly.go to autofab.com

 

thanks murphco - I'll check 'em out.


scamardo - got pics?


Trust me, I'm still in the planning phase.....wait, make that "earning phase". I still got another digit to add to the fund before I can start getting too serious about it. I just want to make sure I'm headed in the right direction.

I've had an ad in the paper for the last month or so asking for a 65-66 stepside.....guess I'll keep 'er runnin.....

 

I do have alot of pictures. Let me know what you would like to see. Are you going to auto from manual? The way I did it was hard, doing it all at the same time, but it isn't my daily driver so I could get away with it being in the garage for that length of time.

1. I pulled the old motor out first. This allowed me to clean up the engine bay, remove old break lines and run new lines, replace the master cylinder with booster and new mc; replace the steering knuckle and column; pulled the old pedal assembly and replaced with auto brake pedal
2. I drove out the king pins with a hammer. Damn hard to do. I would go the replacing of the ibeams as a whole like John said, if I had to do all over again. attach spindles and run your break lines. Don't forget the proportioning valve. I mounted my in the frame about halfway.
3. Installed motor and tranny (390/C6) You need to remove the crossmember. That is held by rivets. Need a coal chisel or air chisel. I used the air chisel. Mark the crossmember with arrows to indicate position before you remove the first time. This is a pain to remove install and putting it on backwards just adds to the frustration
4. You need the tranny crossmember from donor truck and the mount <-key item I forgot the mount.
5. Measure and get driveshaft cut and balanced
6. get duraspark ignition from donor if your distributor can use it.
All I can remember right now. Cheapest way to go is get a non-running 73-79 donor truck that has all the parts you want on it. Rusted or damaged parts can be used for core when you go to the parts store.

Good luck!

 

pics? just the finished product, bro.....


thanks for the help. I have access to a large pad where I'll probably completely disassemble and finish from the ground up. Ought to be a good way to teach myself body-work........(yikes!)