Winter truck begins....Not a resto

So I have a 79 F250 with D60's auto with 400. No lift. Body is toast. The 400 runs really crappy and I'm done with it. I have the original 360 out of my 73 that was taken into my machine shop today. He has 390 crank and rods for free and is also throwing in 428 heads for really cheap($100).

My new cab is set up for 4 speed and I have the trans and transfer case for doing the 4 speed setup.However the auto trans from the 79 aint fittin the new engine.

So i'm debating on wether to 4 speed or not. 4 speed will require crossmember to hang the transfer case and I dont think the frames are the same height. I do have a spare frame the has the CM. I have the linkage for 4 sp but I am missing the transfer case linkage.

Staying with auto will require a new housing but I do have that also.

I kinda want a 4 speed truck but I just went through some serious swapping to get me 73 resto done and don't really want to go through all the hassles again.

Are the motor mounts the same? Any other issues that anyone knows of? Will the auto trans crossmember on the 79 be compatible with the 4 speed from a 75 highboy?
Maybe there is an adapter for the 400 to 390?

Thanks, Grin

 

As far as I know, the motor towers are different between the two. The 4spd swap isn't that much of a hassle, and when I did it on my 2wd truck the old c6-cross member worked just fine- I don't know about the 4x4 though.

I say go with the 4spd, now that I've driven one I wouldn't take anything else! My truck is way more useable, it's much better tranny, for me at least.

Sam

 

Motor mounts are different. I don't know much about the details of the tranny swap.

Just so you know, unless those heads are CJ heads, they are the same heads used on 360/390/410. Aside from CJs and the various 427 heads, heads were not cid specific on FEs. If that $100 is for a complete set of working heads then it is still a great deal regardless of what casting they are. Just don't want you getting swindled in the future by some mech telling you "these are 428 heads and will give you more hp " and you spending some coin based on B/S info.
What casting # are they?

 

Sleepy...He had both CJ and reg. I took the CJ's...thanks for the tip, while we are on the topic is there info online for casting numbers?
He has built many a race engine and Pro Mud Bogs. I've known him for 25 + years. I would hope he would not BS me.
My limited knowledge is that the runners are slightly different. What other differences and the advantages one over another.

 

sleepy...found a previous thread you were involved in. Thanks

 

Good stuff, just didn't want you to go buying blind. The CJs have a little larger chamber 73-76cc as compared to most passenger car and truck heads that are at 67-70 or 71-74cc. That adds up to about half a point of CR difference between the CJ and 67-70cc heads (CJ being .5 lower). The CJ heads also have larger valves, 2.09 int/1.65exh as compared to the standard 2.02int/1.55exh. Larger valves mean more power potential.

Aside from that, the CJs just flow better than the others (excluding 427 stuff). The Edelbrock RPM heads out of the box make virtually exactly the same power as CJs. Proven in Jay Browns book on the dyno. So CJ=Ed head (unported). That is a crazy good deal by the way. Any chance there's another set of CJ heads for $100?

I'm not aware of any online catalog of every head casting # and it's specs. Maybe someone else can help out there.

Edit: didn't see you had posted, glad to help.