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I don't know what you will run into on your swap, but I do know on my 78 F150 4x4 that I am putting a Cummins 4BTA in....the answer is "just a little"........my ZF sits on the stock mount and crossmember in the stock location and with it located there........I need to trim about 1/2" of width about 9" long from the edge of the hole for the tunnel .......on the drivers side.........the trans just barely touches it so need a bit of clearance for engine movement....other than that, even the shifter holes for the trans and transfer case came out in the correct position......I will have to relocate one bolt hole to bolt the tunnel down since what I trim out will go right thru one of the bolt holes.........I was pretty happy about the way it turned out........I would guess with an OEM engine......the best advice I could give you would be to get the tranny jack fired up and stuff it up in and see how you come out
Thanks. Maybe I'll just cut the tunnel out and have it standing by, in case it is needed.
Hopefully, it will not interfere with the heater, but then again, I could always mod that section a bit if it does sit too high. I don't see the tunnel costing more than $30 or so. Inexpensive insurance.
I just completed the ZF5 swap into my 77 4wd, required slight trimming up from the original trans tunnel about 2inches. Had to in order to be able to get the clearance needing to mount the tranny up. There was a small tab on the trans itself, drivers side that I also trimmed off so I didn't have to widen the trans tunnel. Then built a small removable panel to bridge the gap from the front of the factory four speed trans cover to the trans tunnel.
I also trimmed the tab that 79Ranger referred to. I am sure that utilizing a Ford motor will necessitate moving the trans back further than mine is so my setup may not help you........FWIW though mine utilizes the same crank centerline up/down angle and the same offset measurements between the framerails that my 351M/NP435 did and I didn't worry about trans removal.....with mine being a 4x4 and the trans crossmember also being part of where the rear of the radius arms mount.....I figured it would be just as easy to pull the motor if I ever needed to replace a clutch since the motor comes in and out very easily now.
Thanks for the help. I was just trying to be prepared. I have both a trans shifter cover from a dent and one from an EFI era with a ZF. I did not cut the floor out of an efi. I thought I would better be able to understand what is needed when the trans is sitting up there.
It is going on a 300, so I have to take the flywheel and have it surfaced, count the teeth to confirm it is the correct one. This should be fun.
I'm now busy rebuilding the pedal assembly, welding in sealed bearings, instead of the cheap-o plastic bushings.
I also found a pretty fun way to mount the clutch master on the left side of the brake master. The brace is welded on to the pedal brace assembly.