I'm tossing a 6 in my 53 F250, I was first thinking to carb it (would have to convert the motor from EFI) but, now on second thought i'm thinking of leaving the motor EFI. What do i need as far as computer to run the motor?

 

If you're using a donor truck, use everything in the engine bay. If you just have the motor, go to the junkyard , find a donor truck, and take everything you don't already have. Makes the transplant MUCH easier. You might have to do a small amount of fabrication to mount some of the electronics and stuff, (like the fuse block sitting on the drivers side inner fender and the breather tube going to the airbox....and the airbox) but not much else.
I'm assuming you're not going to use the ac system or the braking system, so obviously don't worry about those. You're gonna need to yank the fuel pump as well, and might have to plumb some new lines for the older truck. The biggest pain you *might* come across is tying the old electrical system (read: lights and stuff) into the EFI electrical system.

Just my .02 cents. Might be wrong....but I doubt it.

Edit: just realized you wanted to know what to use for the computer. Just use the one the motor came with (if it came with one). But you're still going to need all the stuff I mentioned.

 

so is there just one magical box or are there more? I'm wiring it from scratch so would it be smarter to just get a complete harness and adapt it?

 

IIRC, there should only be 2 options for factory computer, one for an auto, and one for a manual. Best thing to do would be go down to the local parts store, and pick up one for the year donor motor you have. If you're feeling adventurous, you could pick one up at the j/y. As far as wiring, it would probably be easier to adapt the new harness to the old truck. Or, if you're "Mr. Moneybags", call up Painless Wiring, and see if they can get you a full blown harness built for your specific application. Also, while it might be a pain, and depending on the condition of the truck you're dealing with (and if you haven't already done it), re-wiring the truck might be beneficial. But if you're wiring it from scratch, you probably already plan to do that.

Scratch that. There looks to be about 28 dozen different computers for one bloody motor. If you still have access to the truck, use the computer that's in it, or yank it and use the numbers to get a new one. If it doesn't have the computer in it, but you can get the vin, call your local Ford house, give them the vin, and they should be able to tell you which of the 28 dozen computers your motor came with. If you don't have access to the truck...no computer, no vin....I don't know what you could do. I know, not much help, but that's all I've got.

Oh...if you didn't already know...if you keep it EFI, don't forget to put a bung in the tailpipe for the O2 sensor.

Jeebus, the more I think about this, the more I feel it would be easier to convert it to a carb. Glad it's not my project!

 

Yeah, carb'ed was my original choice, I didn't know if it would be just as easy to leave it efi than converting it. Looks like carb it is, thanks for the advice, I'm a first time builder.

 

4bbl manifold and your EFI exhaust manifolds and a smallish 4bbl carb and you are good to go. Oh, and you may have to go back to a prior model distributor, Duraspark II iirc.