I searched, and did not seem to find my answer. So, here goes.
I am looking at buying a 2001 F-450, with the V-10, and about 161,000 miles. It is in a tow truck. I am curious if it is possible, or worth it, to swap in a later model 3V engine to get better power. If so is it a simple swap, i.e. all accessories transfer over, maybe just a new harness?
I have had good experiences with the V-10 in the past, but, this is a different application, and wanted a little more expert advice.
Thanks

 

It's possible. If you have enough time and money you can swap in ANY engine into ANY vehicle.

Is it practical? No, it is not. The electronics are vastly different. You'll have a nightmare to get it to work.

 

You'd be much better off buying a 2005+ truck that already has the 3-valve in it. The 3-valve electronics are completely different, as Mark has already said. If you had an entire donor truck, transmission, dash board, ABS system, etc, you could do it.

 

What's different?

the throttle body off a 2v will go on a 3v, right?

both have cam and crank sensors.

shouldn't be too terribly hard, 3v V10s don't have phasers, right?

 

Variable-volume plenum.

Cam sensor on the 3-valve is different than 2-valve. Someone a while back did the swap, and always had a code for the cam timing sensor.

And no, the throttle bodies were different and required an adapter to be machined.

 

And the fuel and spark requirements are different. A 2V computer isn't going to run a 3V engine very well. So you'll have to adapt the 3V computer and wiring.