Good morning, gentlemen,
New member here, but old shadetree. Got a gaggle of '96 F150s, all straight sixes and, of course, all fuel injected. One (auto 4x4) runs, the other two (5-spd 2x4s) are yet to be troubleshot. Unfortunately, the runner overheated the other day (for reasons we won't discuss), blowing the head gasket and possibly warping the head so I'm dead in the water. Pretty sure I've got enough pieces and parts between the three of them to get'er running again, but I'm having a hard time working up the enthusiasm to wade into all those hoses, wires and sensors. I'm thinking about shifting gears (literally) and doing the unthinkable...swapping a '66 long block with toploader 4-speed into one of the 2x4 trucks. I've been wanting to build a basic, no-frills, box-of-rocks simple hauler for a while now. Aside from instruments not working and maybe some driveshaft work, any reason this shouldn't be a straightforward bolt-in deal?

 

Different drive shaft lengths, inappropriate fuel pressure, wiring nightmare. These EFI systems are not hard to work on, and being a 96 means you can just plug any old code reader into it.

 

Hi neighbor. Welcome to FTE.

Best thing to do would be start a new thread of your own rather than tagging on to this old, very opinionated one.

Lots of folks could help you get a basic EFI education to get something running a lot easier that trying to get a 51 year old engine & trans with a mechanical operated clutch into a truck that never had one.

If you got more than one, what's to loose?

 

OK, the clutch is one problem I hadn't known about...didn't know the old ones weren't hydraulic. Will have to study on that. Regarding fuel pressure, seems like a relatively simple matter to delete the high pressure fuel pumps in the tanks and either replace them with a simple inline electric pump or let the mechanical pump on the engine do it's thing. A third option would be to keep the in-tank pumps and just plumb a fuel pressure reducer into the line. As for wiring, all the old carbureted motor needs is one hot wire and a ground.

I will probably get the 4x4 running again eventually by either swapping the head or a complete motor with one of the other trucks. To be honest, I'm using this situation as an excuse to get the oldtimer project past the comptroller, if you get my drift.

 

It is my understanding that, as a newbie, I can't a new thread just yet...but I could be mistaken.

 

You can start a new thread. Private messages & a couple other things require a few posts.

Good luck with your projects either way.

 

It's not just wiring the engine, but wiring the rest of the truck. You have the issue that much of the dashboard, not just the instruments, won't actually work without the original sensors, computer, etc., unless you want to do a *lot* of rewiring, with all the legal issues that go along with changing out the odometer. Cruise control, if it has it, won't work. And you're going to find getting a working speedometer to be a problem because the 96s don't actually have a mechanical speedometer cable or even provision for it to enter the cab - the 96s get speed read off a sensor on the rear axle that's sent to the instrument panel computer called the PSOM, and from there it's sent to the gauge and other places.

Fitting a 'fuel pressure reducer' in the fuel line is not a viable solution for the high pressure pump in the tank. You will either blow lines or kill the pump. You would have to fit a fuel pressure regulator and plumb it to the supply and return lines. A fuel pressure regulator capable of taking the full 100+ psi the EFI pump is capable of producing and outputting carburetor-compatible single digit psi is not cheap. Most of them aren't that reliable either. While it's possible that you could get an aftermarket low pressure electric pump (not that reliable) or use the mechanical pump attached to the older engine to draw fuel from the tank into the carburetor, I have seen and read of swaps where they attempted to do this and found out that with the evaporative emissions systems and sealed gas tanks of the later trucks, the electric low pressure or mechanical pump simply cannot draw sufficient fuel out of the tank and another method must be found. Either way, you will have to drop the tank, take the fuel delivery module out and apart, remove the fuel pump, replace it with a piece of pipe so you can actually draw fuel out of the tank, cut the live wiring that normally goes to the pump in the tank, and then put all the stuff back before you'll be able to find out if a low pressure electric or old school mechanical pump will work for you or not. If you have dual tanks... well, the truck switches between them by switching power between the pumps in each tank, so you'll have to do quite a lot of plumbing and re-engineering.

Another concern - it's actually Federally illegal to swap an older engine into a newer truck. May not be an issue in your state but can be an issue if you go on Federal lands, enter any Federal facility that performs a vehicle security inspection or drive it on a military base. The Feds can seize any such illegally modified vehicle on their property and they don't have to give it back. Remember too that this isn't terribly hard for them to figure out - the 96s will all be OBD-II trucks with easily accessible diagnostic ports. All they have to do to find out you've been screwing with it is plug in a cheap handheld pocket scanner and it's game over. (It is further illegal to convert an OBD-II vehicle to a non-OBD-II configuration.)

Overall, you're looking at spending $1000+++ in new parts not to mention an awful lot more of that electrical work you say you are trying to avoid just to convert your truck to run a technically illegal driveline swap and restore basic functionality and instrumentation plus all the fabrication and labor to physically fit the older drivetrain in the newer truck. For $300 or so you could get a used head, have it checked by a machine shop and for a few hours labor get the truck back up and running. That's right - you would actually spend far more time and money trying to downgrade your truck to the older engine.

The EFI systems used in these trucks are quite literally textbook - before the schools killed funding for auto shop classes in favor of teaching Why Heather Has Two Mommies and Underwater Basket Weaving instead, the Ford EEC-IV/early V system was one of a few systems used in course materials to teach children how fuel injection worked - even little teenybopper girls learned how things worked on this system. I should know, I was in class with them back in the 90s. :P It looks intimidating, but it's really not that hard.

 

...and I get that this may not be a good idea for multiple reasons. Be that as it may, what I seek is the most cost effective way to realize my perceived need for a completely non-electronic workhorse. While I would love to have a Model BB or some such antique, I can't justify the expense, not to mention the misuse of such a museum piece. Illegalities aside, practically speaking this truck will never go onto a federal reservation, doesn't have cruise, etc, etc. It will most likely spend most of it's time trundling between my house and the river, with the occasional Lowe's or Craig's List run in between. Now that we have established that it is not anyone else's cup of tea, does anyone happen to know (factually, not supposition) if the bolt pattern for the bell housing of the Ford 300/4.9) has changed between the 60's and the 90's? If not, using the '96 5-speed with it's hydraulic clutch release mechanism would seem to solve that particular problem, as well as the driveline lash-up.

 

The bell should be the same. Know a guy that put a 1995 4.9 with injection into his 78 f150 with a 4 speed

 

The most cost effective way to do this is to simply fix the truck you have, put it up on Craigslist for sale, then trade for or buy a pre-82 Ford truck. You may even wind up with cash out of the deal - in average condition, the 96s are still worth something where I've seen average condition 82s going for $500 in a running, road legal state. Sometimes people give them away just to be rid of the no-electronics beast.

 

Pre-1984.

1983 was the last year for a carbureted inline six without an engine computer. 1984 - 1986 models got the EEC-IV engine computer with a feedback carburetor before going to electronic fuel injection in 1987.

And, I agree with you. The 1980 - 1986 "Bullnose" trucks are the original design and look better anyway.

 

The reality is that the EFI system in general will be less finicky and more reliable than the "non-electronic" workhorse.

 

Especially a 96'. In my opinion these are the cream of the crop OBS half ton trucks. I definitely don't understand the rationale but best of luck to the OP.

 

The reality is you are stating your opinion as fact.


There is actually FAR more that can go wrong with an EFI system than with a carbureted system:


1.) How many sensors does an EFI system have compared to a carbureted engine?

2.) How much wiring does an EFI system have compared to a carbureted engine?

3.) How old are these trucks getting to be?


Now, think about all of those sensors and all of that extra wiring out in the elements for 22-32 years (1986 - 1996 Ford F-Series). And there goes your "EFI is more reliable" theory.

And just because you couldn't tune *your* choke correctly (Post #59), doesn't mean that everyone else's "non-electronic workhorses" (I like that! ) is as finicky as yours.


Just look at the thread titles on just the first page on the following forums. You will notice *quite a few* threads describing engine problems caused by an EFI system and/or engine computer compared to *hardly any* engine problems from the much older "non-electronic workhorses" that have carburetors:

1973 - 1979 F-100 & Larger F-Series Trucks
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum38/

1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum37/

1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum28/

 

And down the rabbit hole we go again...