After 30 years of sitting idle my young grandsons have decided they want to get the old girl up and running.
I am the original buyer from Dec 1965. Only has one small dent on fron fender. Minor surface rust. No cancer.
Bed has some scratches and tail gate has been off since 2nd year after I bought it. Interior is in excelent shape except worn/torn driver's side of bench seat. Everthing original except I ditched split rims for steel wheels.
BAD decision.
It is a
1966 F250 Camper Special
Standard 352 V8 (blown up. Want to replace it with a 390 FE)
Cruise O Matic transmission.( Slips and needs rebuilding)
Power booster drum brakes.
No power steering.
Single gas tank behind bench seat.

I have located a donor. It is currently being used as a daily driver and delivery truck. Body in rough shape.
It is a
1965 F250 Camper Special
Rebuilt 390 with 4bbl carb.
3 speed Manual Transmission.
Non booster brakes.
Converted to power steering from later model truck
Dual saddle gas tanks.
$2100.00

Of course I want to keep my original truck so heres my delima.
I know the donor 390 will just drop right in. BUT I want to install the Cruise O Matic ( OR get rebuild C4) in place of the manual transmission from the donor.
Will the Cruise or C4 bolt up to the donor 390 if I use my original 352 bell housing,torque converter,and linkage?
I want to install the dual saddle gas tanks and eliminate the inside tank.
I also want to convert to dual header exhaust. Should be no problem with any clearances ?
Or I found a supposedily rebuilt 352 with a unknown condition C6 (From a 1965 F100) for $900. Its out of the F100 truck it was in so i can't hear it run.
Owner says it belonged to a farmer who had it rebuilt and only drove it less than 500 miles before retireing himself and the truck. (HUGE GRIN)
New oner said he heard it running and it needed a new carb.

 

Welcome to FTE. It's neat that your grandsons want to revive your old truck and that you are the original owner. Your (rebuilt) Cruise-O should bolt up to the 390 in the donor truck you located. The saddle gas tanks weren't stock in '65, but if they work then just do it again. Assuming you want to keep the power steering, be very careful to take EVERYTHING from the donor truck. Don't get rid of it until you are sure that everything is right. You will have an issue with the steering column if the P/S was on a 3 speed truck. Since that's kinda rare, you may have a bunch of people wanting the donor's column. You should be able to modify your '65's automatic column. Headers shouldn't be an issue. Lots of people on this forum run them. As far as I know, the C6 trans was not available on ANY Ford vehicle in 1965. It debuted in 1966 and then only in cars with certain upper end engines like the 428. Hope you and your grandsons have fun with your project.

 

Thanks for the welcome SS. As for the supposed 352 with the C6. I'm positive the guy is blowing smoke because I know the C6 was not avail when I bought my truck. Thats why i did (BIG GRIN)..
I'm plan to have both trucks side by side so I can switch any and all the parts I can use before getting rid of the donor.
I can see what you mean about the steering column. I'll check that out very closely.
If my ole 76 year brain serves me right the saddle tanks were either a San Jose,CA plant or a dealer option. I passed on them.

 

Welcome to FTE

C4's were not installed behind FE engines, C6 introduced in 1968 F100/350 360/390.

No 1965 or 1966 F100 or F250 Camper Special came with a 3 speed manual.

As part of the Camper Special package, either a 4 speed or C4 (300 I-6) or MX Cruise-O-Matic (352) was available.

So, this begs the question...is it really a Camper Special?

Measure the stroke to determine if it really is a 390, because on sale day, 352/360's magically become 390's!

Stroke: 352/360 = 3.50" / 390 = 3.78."

 

Hi Bill. Thanks for welcome.....Since I bought my truck new on order I know whats in mine. Its the other guys I'm not sure of. Mine is a "F250 Camper Special". 352 with a "Cruise O Matic".
I plan on having the motor from the donor spec'ed before install and might even overbore while there. ( IF it can be done).
I know I'm over paying for the donor ($2100) but hope it will have the parts to save US a lot of hassle.

 

richardps Welcome to FTE and the Slicks Forum.

As I read down the line on this, I did a little wondering of my own, reached over and grabbed my grandaddy hat and put it on. I know that you will not accept any payment from the boys, you will allow them to help rub & wrench on it. So why not pull the engine and tranny, then rebuild them both. They know a 390 is bigger but probably don't care as much. Adding a rv cam, 4 barrel intake and small carb, headers will turn out a pretty good power house. The 250 is a heavy truck so a race truck is out. It is gonna be hard enough for them to feed the hungry beast getting 8-10 mpg at best.

The frame layout is the same from 65 to 79, FE engine last used in 76 so brake and steering swaps are piece o cake.

No idea of your hearburn on the in cab gas tank, but they have been used pretty safely for over 50 years. Very little room gained if pulled. Mine is still in place.

I am glad that I did a engine & tranny freshening when I put my truck on the road. I set the O to 0 so I know how many miles are on the reset.

You do what ya gotta do, but I thought I'd pitch a couple things into the ring for you to chew on.



John

 

John;
Thanks for the welcome and reply.
I may have been a bit hasty in dumping the 352 already but I have always hated that beast from the 2nd year I bought it new. I put a 9' camper on it and with it on or off I never got better than 12mpg. More like 10. But that was when gas was cheap.
The main reason I disliked it most was loss of power at altitude. As soon as i hit 5k + feet it just lost it.Would drop from 65mph to around 40mph. Starved for air from that 2bbl carb.
"pops" won't cahrge the 19 and 15 year old grandsons to much. They are cheap labor.lol
My real concern is switching the manual trans from the donor to my existing CruiseO (or C4).
Donor just has a LOT of newer parts I can use.

 

welcome FTE yes I think you got it wright in keeping the donor as long as you can you'll find a lot of things you can use
where in cali are you

 

12 mpgs with a 250, that is good, doubt you get any better with a 390. AFAIK the only change for the engine is the pilot bushing or bearing in the end of the crankshaft that a manual requires and auto does not. I live in rolling hills in NC but not mountains, never had my truck up in elevation so I don't know why it was loosing power, other than a tuning issue. When I got my truck I pitched the 3spd manual for a bullet proof C6 auto, bought a 76 100, swapped the I-Beam set for the power disc brakes & steering. He's got gonads like a brama bull, call him Bossman, check em out in my gallery.

Do what ya gotta do, we'll be here to try to help.


John

 

DAMN,DAMN,DAMN
The guy reneged on the donor truck. He had my deposit, I had the title but not the truck. Now his bro totaled his own car and needs the truck for transport.
But THANKS for the info all..
Back to square ONE..

 

hopefully you got your money back.......if you did take that money and buy a set of headers for that old FE and find a 4bbl intake and a good 4bbl carb those 352's will really come alive with just that little bit of bolt on goodies and 12 mpg with a 250 is pretty dam good fuel mileage.... and if you and your grandkid's rebuild that motor it will stay in their minds til even they are old and senile kids never remember there best day of video gaming but they will always cherish building something with a loved one...... i know you had said motor was "blown" but how bad is it? rod's hanging out of the block and demolished pistons? or spun bearings? or what you never specified

 

Hi smoken.
Oh yeah I got my money back. I guess I didn't make it clear that I got rid of the 352 to the local pick n pull vehicle graveyard. I'm on the trail of 2 390fe both with C6 trannys. One is supposed to be rebuilt ($600) and other is disassembled but with all the parts ($350). Have to find a local machine shop to spec out the one i "might" buy..I just hate to buy a pig in a poke...

 

Richard, STOP, sit down bro, take a blo, you are sounding like my 5 year old grandson. If your truck has been parked for 30 years another week or two aint going to make a bit of difference 50 years from now. Let us help you start a plan on something workable, there is plenty of rubbing stuff that can be done to the truck this weekend.

What of the the original running gear do you currently have? Going to a different engine family can provide OD tranny options that the FE does not. I love my FE/C6, but if I were at your spot today I would be looking at a 2000 or newer engine set/tranny setup. The 4.6 in my 06 does an excellent job as a daily driver. I'm hearing these engines are going 3-400,000 miles.

Start a plan, work the plan.


John

 

1981, I bored my '65 F100's original 352 (4.00") to 390 standard (4.05"), then added the 390's crank, rods, pistons and rings. VOILA! 390!

Do not expect to get any better than 8-12 MPG city, regardless of what engine/trans you use.

These trucks have the aerodynamics of a brick, 105 octane was about 35 cents a gallon back then and no one gave a damn about MPG!

And...make sure those 2 390's are actually 390's by measuring the stroke before passing along the green. 360/390's use the same block and so...have the same casting numbers.