Hi guys, the name is Frank, im new to the forum, and I have a confession to make, I dont own a truck
but.. I own a 1964 country squire which has a tailgate so its almost the same thing, and I was hoping you guys could give me some advice.
This is my quandary, when I originally got my wagon, it had the original 352 and cruisomatic drive-train setup. I eventually swapped it out for a 460 C6 setup.

The wagon has been parked for the better part of 3 years now and I'm about to re-enter the college scene and wont be able to take it with me. The upside is a cousin of mine who is attending UTI needs a car to work on for his school program. Im going to hand him over my wagon for the next 3 years so he can fix it up, drive it etc. My uncle called me not to long ago about it and asked what I would like to have done to it. I told him the wiring and obviously fix up the motor among other things.
But I recently started wondering, would swapping in a diesel be a good idea? A friend of mine just recently bought one of the new F250s and I was blown away that the king cab version he has has an automatic 6 speed and get 30 mpg highway (according to him). I would love to get somewhere in the neighborhood of mid 20s mpg on my wagon, as it stands I only get about 10 tops.
What do you guys think? any suggestions?

 

30 mpg kind of raises my eyebrow a bit. Not sure where that number came from on a Superduty, even a new one. I'd be impressed with a solid 20 in the real world. Then again, with a wagon like that you might get better mpg since the weight will be "lower".

A diesel is going to be quite a bit heavier than a 460, by a few hundred pounds or more.

I can see a Perkins going in to it. Maybe a Yanmar? Just kidding. Go ahead and explore the option. You'll be a one in a million.

 

That's a tall order and I usually go on the side of "that's too much work" etc.... Then I picked up the Jan. '10 Hot Rod:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...and-38mpg.html

More of the same on line:

1994 Ford Mustang Duramax - Nitrous Express - Diesel Power Magazine

Now it is a Duramax, but read it anyway. LOTS of work to make that car go like it does. You up for that?

One of the other guys here runs a '64 wagon with an FE and Doug Nash 5er iirc, maybe even supercharged. Many ways to go with the old wagon...

 

(My Opinion) Would it be fun, Yeah, but would it be worth the money? No. Remember that there is a lot more to it than just buying a diesel motor and dropping it in. You pretty much have to change everything between the front bumper and the rear that touches that motor or is affected by it. It would be cool, but it would be a giant money pit. Oh, and if the car itself doesn't look cherry, than you have to take that into consideration too. What would be the point of investing 7K+ into a 50 year old car if it doesn't look awesome going down the road. That can be even more $$$$! Think long and hard about this.

 

It is a lot of work, but its the end result that if you want badly enough, it can be done reasonably! Some modification skills will make things easier!

 

Thanks so much guys for the advice.
One of the main reasons why I was really considering it was because I used to work for U-haul, and to this day, they have a lot of the older model trucks for sale, most of them were powered by fuel injected 460's but they also had a handful of the diesel powered F-350s, and the diesel powered vans. I figured that since they made the motors fairly similar in size and configuration a swap wouldnt be too far out of the question. Granted these were like early to mid 90's model trucks, I Thought that maybe a swap would be cool for my wagon, at least so I could maybe cruise up the coast at least once haha

Well I still have time before I hand my galaxy over to my cousin, Ill be mulling it over till then
Thanks

 

i say go for it.
get yourself a pre 94 F350 diesel , stuff that 7.3/C6 idi in there, and have some fun.

 

whats the benefit of a pre 94 diesel?

 

All mechanical, no computers. They only need one wire connected to the fuel shutoff solenoid to keep them running (plus a fuel supply to the mechanical lift pump, of course).

 

ahhh, one question then, what are the specs on one of those motors? hp, mpg that kinda thing?

 

From memory around 170HP and 315ft.lbs. of torque without a turbo. The motor weighs in around 1000lbs (probably more with accessories).
MPG depends a lot on gearing but in a truck probably around 14-17MPG.

 

non turbo 7.3 is 175 or 185 hp. and around 315-325 ft lb torque.
add a turbo, and you add around 50 hp and 50-100 ft lbs torque