Last October I parked my 66 CC in my home shop next to a 1978 F100. Over the winter months I swapped the disk brakes, traded my 240 for the 300 6 cyl, traded the 3 spd manual for the C6 automatic and added the power steering from the donor. I worked on it off and on losing motivation and hitting a couple of roadblocks along the way. I appreciate all the good advise I received on this forum. I've had it on the road for about a month now and I've worked out just about all of the kinks. It sure is great to pull into a parking lot without looking for the spot with the least steering wheel wrestling and the automatic transmission was a great upgrade. My only disappointments are my own fault. When I swapped engines I decided since the donor engine wasn't leaking oil I was going to install it without replacing the rear main seal. As soon as I got it started I had a pretty steady drip It has slowed way down as I have put a couple hundred miles on it but I do know better! I also wish I would have upgraded to power brakes. The new disk brakes stop well but it does take a pretty good effort. I'm sure I can go back and make that swap at some point. I swapped my old points distributor into the new motor but I saved the electronic system from the 78. I've never had any problems with the points so I don't know if there is any reason to wire up the electronic ignition. I have a 3.50 nine inch differential. I would like to go with the highest gearing available. It looks to me that 3.0 is as high as I can expect to find. Does anyone know otherwise? I don't plan to tow or haul much with the truck but I would like to take some longer freeway trips and it seems like I'm pretty wound up at a 70 mph speedo reading. I'm pretty sure I have at least a 10% speedo error (reading higher than actual) at that mileage. I won't try to deal with the speedo error until I have the gearing I want. A 3.0 might get me close enough to accurate anyway. I had a salvage guy out to the shop yesterday and he winched the hulk onto his flatbead. My shop cat's none to happy about this as she had made quite a nest on the driver's seat over the last 10 months! It is nice to have the shop floor space back. Thanks again for all the advice.

 

I'am headed were you just came from. enjoy

 

Sounds like your hard work has paid off! Congratulations!

 

OB, You might make a better choice with an OD tranny like an AOD. The 300 needs a little ratio to perform and the OD can calm it on the big road, giving you some mpgs.

I don't believe with a vehicle in high gear you can over-rev an engine and harm it. The noise can get loud but don't be concerned about over revving.

You would love power disc brakes.

You will figure it out.



John

 

John, I've seen some posts referring to the AOD tranny. Is there one that will match up with my 300? What years were these used? Would I have to remodify my drive shaft?
Your probably right about not over revving in high gear but it sure does get pretty noisy!
I was surprised at the nice power off the line. I did one full throttle launch from a standstill and I was shocked that I actually did a burn out. I didn't think that was even possible.

 

The 300 & 302 share the same bolt pattern, so finding an early 90s from a truck whould work. Yes you probably will have to modify the ds, but will likely make that up in gas savings quickly.


John