Hey guys,

I am toying with the idea of taking out the 292 in a 59 F100 and replacing it with a freshly rebuilt 390 FE engine. The 292 needs rebuilding, but I think I'd rather go with the FE that's already been rebuilt; not to mention all the extra power that comes with it. I know a lot of people have made this swap. Does anyone remember exactly what problems they encountered? I would like to hear some feedback from people that have made the conversion. I know Transdapter makes a crossmember/kit for this unit that I will probably go with. From what I understand the transmission mount will work fine. Any and all feedback on this would be much appreciated. Thanks guy and have a great weekend!

 

Since I know this '59 F100 has 4WD, what fits a 2WD may not be the same.

 

I put a 352 w/3spd overdrive in my 60 using the front crossmember from a 56 Ford passenger car. I welded a flat plate to each end and used angle iron on top and bottom rails of frame to bolt the new crossmember to frame. One of the crossmembers from the vendors will work just as well. On the trans, I used the crossmember/mount from a 66 Galaxie and bolted it to the bottom rail of the frame. I had to fabricate a steel bracket to bolt the slave cylilnder to the engine and use longer shift rods. I used front pulleys etc. from the 66 Galaxie. There was a slight clearance problem with the bottom pulley to the truck front crossmember. I cut and filled a notch for the pulley and also did the same for the bottom radiator hose. I used the stock radiator but had to space it further forward to clear the fan. There were some slight wiring modifications for the dist. wire and temp and oil senders. The driveshaft had to be shortened. It was a simple swap and the FE looks good in the engine bay.
jt

 

I put a 351 Cleveland in a 1960 F-100. with the automatic tranny. The only problem was when I hit a big bump the oil pan would hit the axle. Maybe stronger springs would have helped. Yeah, all the components are available for just about any swap. But, remember you are putting in a much heavier engine. The suspension would need to be upgraded also. I have a rebuilt 390 that I need to find something to put it in. Good luck.

 

I used a 352 FE in a '60 F-100, that I kept for a few years. I got an Adapter Bell housing and used the T-98 Truck 4 speed. I made a mount for the Slave Cylinder, and used a frame mounted crossmember mount for the engine. Everything fit just fine, no problems.

After two years, I realized I did not need the "granny" low and advertised the engine and transmission. I sold the engine and transmission and crossmember engine mount. I built up a '69 351 Windsor, got a bell housing from an Econoline 240 engine, 6 bolt housing, which is cast iron, got a T-10, then without using the original bell housing crossmember, put in the engine with special mounts which bolted to the frame in the front, and added a crossmember to support the transmission pad mount. I did not remove the bell housing crossmember even though I did not use it. It is really not in the way. If I were doing this today, I would make mounts to fit the engine stock mount pads. I used headers on the engine, and everything fit just fine, and the Windsor weighed so much less that the handling of the truck was vastly better.

Oh yes, with the Econoline Bell housing which was drilled for the Ford Pattern and not for the BW pattern, I placed the T-10 on the Bell housing, marked the two lower holes and drilled and tapped the lower two holes. This bell housing has enough thickness to allow this. I also used a Ford T&C front bearing support on the T-10 to fit the Bell Housing diameter. You could also use the competition style steel housing (scattershield) which has both transmissions drilled.

Today, I would use a Ford AOD with the Windsor instead of a 4 speed. I am not convinced that a T-5 would be any better than an AOD. When you have an engine with as much torque as a 351W, and the torque converter in the auto transmission, you have very good gear selection in each gear when towing. You have to find a good builder and beef up the transmission, but the results are worth it. I really loved the truck with the 351W and the 4 speed and towed a jet boat with it that weighed 2500 lbs on the trailer and it worked great. I only sold the truck to get a '75 van so all our kids could ride inside when towing the boat. I wish I could have kept the truck.

Neither of these engine transmission combinations caused any problems with the front axle, even though they used a front sump. If the truck had been converted to 4WD, a rear sump pan would have been necessary. Each engine, an FE or a Windsor, has rear sump pans available. The large F-100 engine compartment, the large radiator, allows you to use almost any engine and transmission. I would caution anyone to use a light engine. like a 351W, or a Chevy because the trucks handle better, and the weight distribution is a lot better. If using new engines, the new Ford V-6s and V-8s are light and are also fuel injected and would be very good for driveability. I am using GM engines and transmissions and 4WD in old trucks. Good gas mileage and superb drivability.

Alanco

 

Strange as it may seem the weight of the two engines is very close depending on the year of each.
Ford Y block V8 625 (272-312 CID)
Ford FE big block 650 (332-428 CID)
Ford FE big block 670 ('59 352 CID)
Ford FE 625
Many thanks to 4tl8/Dick, this info was taken from his thread: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ight-info.html

 

Now that is very interesting! I had no idea the FE and the Y Block engines were so close in weight. I have had a 292 and a 351W on the floor together and knew the 292 to be noticeably larger, but I never realized they were so heavy.

 

These Y-Blocks are from the ''good old days'' and solid metal.........

 

FoMoKo you have a 6.0L? How does that truck do with towing? I work at Ford, and the guys there have mostly all traded their 6.0's off. How is yours holding up? I think the trucks look great, but I have never owned one.

 

So far I`ve done very little towing with it except for a short run with a10,000 lb load, straight hitch. While I didn`t really want to test the hitch out it seemed like this truck and the 6.0 handled it like it was hardly there. There`s tons of 6.0`s in our area and it seems that most are ok, not causing that many problems. Mine had a clean report before I bought it used with 90,000 km on it but I`m aware of problems with these 6.0, head gaskets, etc.......
Anything you can mention on your experiences with 6.0`s would be a big help.
I love this truck and I plan on keeping it for at awhile depending on what problems pop up.
It`s still under power train warranty with 94,xxxx kms or roughly just under 60,000 miles.

 

Hey FoMoKo,

I live down in Kentucky where these things are built. There are two plants in Jefferson County. My plant builds the Explorers, Sport Tracs, and Mountaneers. The other plant in Eastern Jefferson County builds the Super Duty trucks. Most of what I've heard from the guys at work that had them is you either have a lemon or a pretty decent truck. If you don't do a lot of towing then you're fine. Other people I've talked to (probably 20% of the whole) haven't had any problems. Most of the problems seem to stem from injection troubles from what I've heard, or using performance chips, etc. like we use on the 7.3L. People at work were putting programmers and stuff of like nature on the trucks assuming they would be as durable as the 7.3 Diesels are, but within weeks after getting their programmers, gauges, etc. hooked up they started blowing head gaskets, etc. Also when they first came out people were changing just the upper fuel filter not realizing there was a lower filter causing the injectors to fail prematurely. So they haven't gone over well at all with guys I know at my plant.
Now when I'm not at Ford I pull 5th wheel campers and travel trailers from the factories in Indiana to dealerships across the US and Canada. From what I've heard from doing that you can not tow that much weight with the 6.0L without having major troubles. All of the guys I know from the transport company I work for (or a great deal of them) traded their 7.3L for the 6.0L when it came out. 6 months down the road they were having tons of trouble and even blowing engines and turbos. So 95% of them traded again (and most went to a Dodge because they couldn't find another 7.3L with low miles). A few guys have had decent luck with them while towing these things. They say you have a lot more horsepower on the top end, but they just aren't as durable as the 7.3L. I tow with a 02 F350 and have a 7.3L manual tranny. I haven't towed a whole lot...the most I've gone so far is a 15,000 lb. 5th wheel camper at about 35 feet long I believe it was and it towed that perfectly well. I think the 6.0L can probably hang in there ok, but if you're going hardcore towing personally I'd prefer the 7.3L just from everything I've seen in my line of work. However you don't do it all the time so I'd say yours will hold up wonderfully if you haven't had any problems by now. They are incredibly well-set up trucks. I love the Super Duty pickups of all years, and test drove two 6.4L Diesels, both with Manual transmissions, before I found my 7.3L on ebay. I just wasn't enthused about the fuel economy on the 6.4.L. Sorry this was so long, but I hope I have been able to elaborate somewhat for you. ~SG

 

Thank you for the reply.