I always like seeing the occasional old car with a new style drive train... That said I'm toying with the idea of restoring an old ford truck and making it as rust proof as I possibly can. As far as old ford trucks go I like the 78 and 79.

Always having been a mustang guy, and owning a 99 gt, I like the 4.6 and I know it inside and out from rebuilding mine. I'm also going to be tearing it down for paint and adding a vortech over the winter, thats just sitting in my garage now waiting. I don't like carbed motors and never really have had good luck with them, so what I have been thinking about..........

Finding a cheap 78 or 79, and a donor 97-03 (which can be had so cheap), and using the entire mod motor drivetrain 4.6 or 5.4 from the newer. Then of course adding a vortech as well.

My goal being a nice looking older truck, with a newer drivetrain I'm familiar with that makes good power. Another plus is emissions won't be an issue due to the age of the truck too.

I can see it all so clear....

Only thing is I would definately want disk brakes all around, but not from the donor 97-03 for sure since they rust out so horribly. I could use suggestions for hubs/brakes donor.

 

If you are wanting to do that, check out this tread. I think that the crown vic crossmember will fit our trucks and that would make the motor a bolt in deal.

 

I want to go higher rather than lower though. and keep 4x4 too.

 

If you really wanted to go all out, you could do something like this:

Quint's Bronco Project

 

A lot of good reading here:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...has-begun.html

Personally I would love to do a linclon navigator DOCH 5.4, cobra supercharger setup, with a t56 and about 4.11 gears in a 61-79 shortbed, that would be a really fun dd, I love having the t56 in my bird (yeah I know), 6th is .50 overdrive. Crusing in 6th at 60 is about 1350rpms.

 

A Basic 98-up PI 4.6L is stupid cheap to build, even with all new parts. But, if you decide on a 5.4, I have a forged 5.4 crank if you or anyone's interested. It's new, but it will need to visit a machine shop to polish off the surface rust. Name your price.

 

Just put a LSX motor in it.

 

Yuck. .

 

Nothing wrong with more power and more mpg for cheap.

 

Man, I need to get out of the stone age more... WTH is an LSX motor?

(for that matter, I'm not sure which one the 4.6 or 5.4 is... newest motors I know anything about are the EFI 460s...

But this has been something I've been wondering about for my hot rod pickup build... The plan is a 512 built on my 460, with the new t-56 magnum behind it, but I've been wondering if there is a newer power plant that i could build to the same power, or applicably the same in use, and have some economy too from newer tech... I mean, for the $$ the build would cost, I can buy two or three newer parts trucks(albeit totaled) to get engines from... just don' know what to look at.

G.

 

the modular motors make a very poor choice IMO as suitable truck engines...they're severly underpowered and impossible to modify h/c/i (heads/cam/intake...n/a form) on the cheap....modular motors generally make low torque #'s, which is bad for a truck. My brother had a 96 cobra and put 4.30 gears on it, and it was still a LOT slower off the line than my mild 5.0 bolt on engine with only 373's...I've had a late model 04 f150 with a 5.4 in it and an 07 f250 with a 5.4 in it, and they were by far the most fusterating underpowered full size late model trucks i've had to date.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a massive upgrade over say a 351m...but if you're gonna go through all that labor for conversion, for the same price why not go with a different late model engine that makes a ton more power??

Though if I was going to go modular, a mark viii engine would be my first choice...$200 junkyard cheap and 300hp 4v.

However the next two choices...obvious brand mis-matching aside would be a 6.0 lq4 engine from a late model chevy truck....essentially a cast iron version of the lsx motors...they can be had for 800-1200 from a wrecking yard and are known to make big hp and torque cheapely when modified....to the tune of 400+hp (saw a horsepower tv buildup on one)...my next choice would be a late model hemi...same price and they make great power are are also a compact pushrod type style. Little more complex on the install though, as they have drive by wire for the throttle. As far as the hemi's go though, if you don't mind losing the cruise control feature, the drive by wire can easily and cheapely be converted to a throttle cable setup.

 

I think everyone missed what screamin gt is asking here. He is planning a mod motor swap, but is asking about how to get disc brakes all the way around.
If you get a 78 or 79 it will have disc brakes up front already. I know they make disc brake conversions for a 9" rear end for an f-150 but not sure about the dana 60 or 70 in the f-250 or f-350.