The Coyote isn't so much complex more as an incredible investment of your time and this swap will surely prevent overcrowding in your wallet to say the least. It's easily a $10-15K investment that you'll never re-coup. I am glad I did the swap and love how it will do 80mph all day long on the highway without even breathing heavy. If I had waited and if the engine was available 18 months ago, I would definitely have gone the route of the 7.3 Godzilla. It's numbers basically start where the Coyote leaves off and with the torque at the lower RPM's and has a smaller footprint. Possibly could have retained my factory AC saving $2K.

 

I was just at PBH they do alot of coyote swaps engine combos. They told me the Godzilla 7.3 right now is not swap friendly as only can get a manual, no control harness available and ford has not indicated they are going to make one. Plus the engine is something like 8" taller than a coyote form crank center to top of manifold. Not to say it cant be done but will definitely cost abet more than the coyote. I have a gen 2 in my 73f100 its awesome.

 

I would imagine PBH might say something along those lines as 100 percent of their income is Coyotes. I spoke with Ford on a couple of occasions in 2020. They initially said the manual trans control packs would be available fall 2020 with the auto coming spring of this year. When I spoke to them just before the holidays they said that would slide to Spring for the manual and Summer for the auto due to Covid. The 7.3 with that high arching intake manifold MAY take a little more hood clearance on some swaps but not for our trucks. Besides the aftermarket will have other options. The 7.3 will fit in every Ford car that guys will want to hot rod with no modifications to firewalls or fender wells or removing shock towers like the Mustang Fairlanes and Cougars.
The Godzilla Crate is even cheaper to begin with including shipping from Ford. Glad there is another option on the table

 

I hope they come out with a auto control pak as i just bought another 74 f250 2wd that i will be looking for an option to the coyote. I love my short bed f100 with the coyote but my wife is slowly commandeering it from me, so i got the f250. I want to build more of a daily driver.

 

I never saw how much you plan to tow. If a lot a Cummins is the best bet but then you will likely be pulling more than the truck should without other mods. An FE stroker with good heads, good power, is going to run you around $8,000 if you do all the assembly yourself but have a shop do the machine work. That is not including EFI. but with a Scat Kit, Customer Roller, BBM Heads(get the trick flows if you go this route) and RPM intake, new pan. It is drop in and done. Just a rebuild will be cheaper but pick a good shop which is often hard to find.

LS: Plentiful and a great platform. Easy to fit in the bay, overdrive transmission, and likely can pickup both for around $2,000 total. If you get a lower mileage one there is no reason it is not good for lots and lots of miles. However, the savings you have here are going to get eaten up by time, fab work, and trying to make things work. A harness will have to be had and I would guess around $1,000 for it and a computer. Fab up mounts, and linkages. Very intensive, lot of electronics etc.. In the end I would stay still cheaper than the FE but not by large margins. However it is a good platform, easy and cheap to fix. I will say I would expect a properly set up FE to out pull the LS unless you go into it pretty deep which is more $$$$ and lessens the gap.

Coyote/Godzilla: Let me get a loan from you HAHAHA.

One thing to note is some misconceptions on the FE being a bad motor and heavy. They are not really any heavier than most other big V8's if at all. That is a wives tell especially so when you run aftermarket intake and heads. Also, there are some quirks with it, but plenty of info on how to correct those flaws and add durability and none are something a home hobbist should not be able to accomplish.