Well if you feel like a road trip I'd sell you mine. I've got too many vehicles.

 

I have a '53 F600 with a 390 in it.....Power? You bet! Lots of power....Mileage? Not so good...8-10 mpg empty or loaded, don't seem to matter much. Bottom line, it still only goes 50 mph top speed. All of this is fine for around the farm or on back roads, but totally worthless as a daily driver. JMO

 

That's where an overdrive gear or two comes in handy.

 

Hi, all! I picked up a '54 F100 to build, and the farmer I bought it from had dropped a 351M with a C6 tranny into it at some point. The job he did was a real kluge, so while the body's being prepped and painted, I'm reworking the chassis and rebuilding the engine with a little muscle in it. I want to convert the front end to a more contemporary suspension with disc brakes and power steering. I've heard different recommendations from several people, regarding which donor vehicle would be the best for the front end. I thought I'd ask if anyone here might have some experience in front end upgrades, specifically with a '50s vintage F100, that'd care to offer their thoughts/recommendations. I really don't feel like spending a grand on a ready made kit, when I already know that I can have just about any car in the yard as a donor for a couple hundred bucks. So what do you think? Mustang II? Nova? Something else? This is going to be a total rework from the ground up, and the engine is going to be my baby. Jumping the compression up to close to 9.5 with some new pistons and a head job, adding a decent cam, boring to .030 over and topping it with a decent intake manifold, 4bbl carb. and some Hedmans. Still haven't decided what to do with the rear end yet. Some custom body work, hood kit and I figure I'll have something that I can show without being too embarrassed. But this baby isn't going to rot in the garage between shows, so I want it to be a pleasure to drive, too. Hence, the front end mods. I'd welcome any input ya'll would be willing to offer. -Doc

 

Hi Stephen- If you are thinking about swapping for a diesel engine you would probably need to swap rear diff also. I put a 1992-5.9 Cummins into my 56 Merc coe M-500 and wanted to stay as original as possible. To keep original diff I upped tires from 7-50x20 to 8-25's, the OD 5 sp. wasn't fast enough so added a OD 4 sp. A-box. If your having problems with one trans you probably wouldn't like two. This gave truck about the same final ratio as a Dodge pickup, about 60 mph @ 2,000 rpm. I haven't got it on the road yet but on paper it works out. The reason I used 92 was you don't need the computer .93's need it. I have some pics on photobucket under old ugly if interested. If you want more info would be glad to help.

 

I love the 390's, great engines, so it would be very tempting for me. But, as already been mentioned, you won't get any MPG from a 390. The last one I had got 10MPH, empty, full load, driving easy, horwse beating it, it didn't matter...10MPG. I think the 351W would be a great option, they make good power, can be economical, they are readily available and have good aftermarket support.

With a big truck like yours I'd sure be tempted to go the deisel route. I think the best thing you can do when once you decide on what powertrain you want is to find a complete donor vehicle. You'd be surprised how many extra doo-dads, wire terminals, brackets, thing-a-ma-jigs, whoosits, etc that you'll need. Plus, if you buy a complete donor vehicle you can better assess the condition of the powertrain you are buying.

Good luck
Bobby

 

Not mentioned, unless I missed it, you will probably need a new drive shaft if you change engines and transmissions. Motor and transmission mounts too. Then there is the whole exhaust setup that needs changing.

The trouble you mention shifting seems like there is syncro issues in the transmission unless it doesn't have syncronizers. When I was young we had a 56 F600 and it wasn't hard to shift. In some truck transmissions the 1st gear(granny low) wasn't syncroed, but the rest were. On the old farm trucks we had the only one that was a bear to shift was a '61 Binder. It didn't have syncros and it was hard not to grind gears when shifting.

5 mpg for a gas big truck is about average. 4-6 is the norm for those old trucks.

 

If you;re still using the original rear axle, you don't have a parking brake do you? (I.E. you still have the tail-mounted parking brake)

Go with a newer Ford engine out of a F-150/250/350 that will bolt to a ZF-S 542 etc. That will allow you to use the same parking brake assy that I have on the back of my E4OD.

You'll have an OD transmission and a good parking brake too.

You can also do a 300 cu-in 6 with a ZF and the same parking brake.


btw, I'm expecting around 15 mpg driving mine on the freeway on the "flat" when empty. It'll turn around 2100 RPM at about 60 mph. (it's still a 7000lb [empty] truck though)

If you're getting 5 mpg, you must have REALLY low gears and the engine is tired. A good running Y will do better than that.




What rear axle do you have?

 

A 300 in a F600 doesn't give you power or mileage!

 

Stephen, are you still looking at changing your axles? If you are, one suggestion is to buy a donor vehicle with the drivetrain you want and just do the engine, transmission, and axle swap all at once. As you have shortened your truck and put a fairly lightweight bed on it, it probably does not weigh much more than a late model 1 ton 4x4 pickup. For mileage and reasonable performance a pre 94 Ford F350 DRW diesel or Dodge DRW diesel (pre electronic Cummins) with either auto or stick (your preference) will get you all the pieces you need with the exception of frame crossmembers and hardware items. Or you can stay with a gas engine, the Ford 351 and 460 are not all that economical, but not really that bad. Either way, that way you will have a matched drivetrain that you will be able to easily get parts for in the future, and a better selection for wheels and tires.

 

I won't speak to the mileage a 300 would get.......

Built right, a 300 would run pretty good though........no F600 is going to be a hotrod......

If you want mileage.....put a 12 valve 6BT in it with "tall gears" ..........you want it to turn around 1700-1800 on the highway....... There's one guy on here getting around 20+mpg in his 56 Cummins powered F600

 

I'm a 300 fan I'm owned close to 20 of them. It can get very expensive pretty quick when you try to make a lot of power with one.

They are a very tough engine but not something you'll get even decent mileage with when pulling a heavy load. Even in a F150 you'll be lucky to get 10-12 mpg when loaded. In a F600 which just guessing I would say weighs in around 8,000-10,000 pounds. Even with the perfect gearing you'd be looking at a best mpg of maybe around 8 if that.

Me I'm a Ford guy so I like to keep my stuff powered by something that actually came in a Ford! That's why I suggested the good old reliable 6.9L/7.3L V8 IDI diesels. They are very simple to work on and can get 20+ mpg in 3/4 & 1 ton trucks. With the right set up in the F600 I think one would work out great. Plus they sound sweet!

With the steep gears the F600 has I'd run a ZF 5spd with a spicer/brownie auxillary transmission for a second OD. That will give much better mileage and more top end speed.

 

Another option may be to find I believe late 80's early 90's Ford mid size truck (want to say F600) as some of them came with the cummins. Then you might be able to use the rear axle and maybe even front axle and modern steering. Don't know if they would work in your truck or not but just throwing it out there. I think the one I use to drive had a five speed with a 2 speed rear. The truck was HEAVY but managed about 6-8 mpg.

Good Luck,

Paul

 

I have a 390 in my '54 (still being rebuilt). I'm hoping to be the odd one and get around 15-16 mpg...I'm going with a mild rv cam, headers, edelbrock streetmaster intake, maybe a 600cfm or so carb, electronic ignition, 3.0 rear gear and 30.4 tire. Like said above find one with all the brackets and trans (FE and trans are FE only), then you'll need to get engine/trans crossmembers, the drive shaft modified, radiator modified, if it's an auto trans then shifter modified and clutch pedal modified. then all the wiring, fuel lines, if a/t cooler lines......

 

I'll probably find a full donor, trick is finding a 1 ton around here, then finding one that has what I want. Good chance I'll end up running Chevy parts (axles are still Dana's, only difference is the pumpkin is on the passenger side instead of the drivers.) Had a lot of people tell me to find a 93-98 1 ton Diesel Dodge.

I'll be running Hummer wheels off on it (37"x12"wide) so I need to have a Dana 60 upfront (1 ton), which sucks because one of those tends to run around $1000, where as a Dana 44 (3/4 ton and 1/2) tends to run about $200. Pickings are slim around here, but I know the right parts will be there at the right time. I know it's going to annoy some people to loose the duallys, like my brother, lol, but I've never honestly been a fan of duallys and since before I found this truck I just wanted a big 4x4 with a low stance.

The F600s don't actually weigh all that much, they DO with the bed they had (was what, like 4" thick of wood?), but as far as the weight of my truck verse an F100, I have a thicker frame and heavier axles. Rest is pretty much the same. A set of 1 ton 4x4 axles are about 1,000#s, maybe a bit more, so I'll probably be around 4,000#s (or somewhere around there, I lost the info I had that showed the weight of an F600 without a bed...)

Be heavier than an F100, but it will need to be. Lighter than a stock F600 though. Not running six 22.5" rims is bound to cut some weight too, lol