I posted this over on the FordSix forum, but I thought that since this is where I first got the idea 5 years ago, might as well post it on FTE too!

My buddies say I've all gone off the deep end, little do they know that happened a LONG time ago

It all started when a buddy acquired a good used 300 for his project, which got cancelled shortly after. The motor sat around for a while and a plan began brewing in my head... I thought about it and finally stopped just thinking about it and traded him a chain hoist for it. I got that engine, and a 240 complete from radiator to transmission in the deal.

Here's the motor after I got it cleaned up a bit and installed the HD exhaust manifold I had laying around...



Then I drug it down to another buddies shop and fired it up on the floor



Took it back home, finished the cleaning and shot some primer and paint



And then I backed "frankie" (short for frankenstein!) into my buddies shop and quickly passed the point of no return, in other words, we pulled the hood and disconnected the battery.



The 390 has served me well, and it will be missed. It runs great, makes tons of power and I don't have any complaints. But at heart, I'm a 300 guy. They're simple, bombproof and well, you guys know why! There's just something about an inline 6.



The space my buddy rent's has an overhead crane, needless to say, we use the crap out of it! It'll spoil a man real quick, I'm already scheming how I could add one to my 10x20 garage.



And here is the new motor in it's new home, looking good! By the way, that 1/4 ton HF come a long is worth every penny. I used it to angle up the motor to clear the core support.



More to come in a bit...

And my apologies for the crappy cellphone pics, I have to work with whats available...

Sam

 

And here it is all said and "done"

I borrowed a real camera and took these:



I'm very happy with the color, it's Volvo Penta green, a buddy works at a shop that specialises in volvo marine diesels and he got me a couple cans of it.



The mounts turned out to be a bit of a debacle, the catalogs list the wrong ones, and the 390 frame towers are close but not quite identical. I finally wound up taking a day and driving to my buddys place to get the mounts and towers off the 240. Fit perfectly!



There's a few homages to the 390 on here, like this air cleaner adapter. I'm genuinely proud of that one! I like to think of it as "high class hackery" It's still hackery, but with a *little bit* more skill and thought than a garden variety hack.

The dipstick is off the 390 as well



I also made some hose adapters, this 90* and a union on the lower hose.



Sam

 

clean install. I really dig the color. The fuel filter setup is nice as well. What's the accumulator for?


this is a great example of "using what you got." thumbs up man.


wish I could say I had an HD manifold just "laying around," haha!


how are you liking it so far? everything you expected?

 

Nice job! It looks great in there.
Have you fired it up yet? Test driven it? How'd you like it?

 

That is high praise to a guy like me! That has become my whole philosophy for automotive projects, I've been amazed at how cheaply things can be done. The hardest part is being patient, you just have to sit back and wait for the good deals to turn up. If you need something in a hurry it makes it cost twice or three times as much! I have less than $300 into this project, and about half of that got spent on the new oil pan, a flywheel, and gaskets.

The accumulator is left over from the 390, it liked to knock for a second on startup so I'd give it a shot of oil before i hit the key. Worked great, figured I might as well use it on the 300 too.

I bought the HD exhaust manifold 2 or 3 years ago when I stumbled across it at the JY, popped open the hood on an f600 and immediately said, "yup, this is coming home with me!"

Since the swap I've put about 100 miles on it, and I love it! Runs like a champ and pulls like a mule, I wasn't expecting it to push the truck around as well as it does, (as it sits it weighs 9,000lbs!) it works to keep up with traffic, but it does it. And here in Seattle, there's only two kinds of traffic, stop and go or flat out GO!

Since these pics were taken I've converted it to duraspark, (the vac advance can on the dizzy in the pics was dead) and I'm happy with it, runs good!

Sam

 

my dad told me through high school...
"Fast and cheap isn't reliable, cheap and reliable will never be fast, fast and reliable will never come cheap."
Always made me laugh until I got older (and MAYBE a little wiser,) then I started to understand what he meant.
Its always cool to see what the next fella is able to come up with using the parts they have in that dark dusty corner in their shop. That's what is so cool about the 240/300 community. There isn't a whole pile of cool fancy parts to choose from like the small block guys have...so we get to McGuyver stuff together. Everyone has something different and there's always new ideas out there from the next guy.


Glad to hear you're enjoying your setup. I've braved the traffic in the Seattle area a few times...cool place to visit, but WAY too much traffic! I'm in the Flathead valley up in Kalispell, MT.

 

"Fast, good, or cheap. Pick Two."

 

Amen. well said tedster.