Hey yall, I just bought a 1973 F-250 2wd Camper Special (green) and it has no drivetrain. About a year ago I was given a free 1974 F-250 2wd as a parts truck (black) with no title, but it has a really nice good running 360/390 FE motor. My idea is to swap the nice motor from the 74 parts truck into 73 Camper Special along with a C6 automatic. This is going to be my first engine swap Ive ever done. It seems mostly simple, but is there anything I should know before I start ripping things apart? Or is it pretty straight forward? All help is appreciated, thanks!

 

How hard can it be. Take it out and put it back in another. What could go wrong? If you don't try you won't know what you can accomplish.

 

Go for it

Take pictutes along the way before removing bolts hoses lines, to help during assembly

 

Good project! Always helps to have parts truck!
Yep get at and post lots of pictures too!
Regards,
Chris

 

Get the donor truck disassembled first. If it were me, I would want the donor engine out of its truck, before doing anything to the recipient, and then I'd get the recipient ready. If you can remove the doghouse and radiator support, it will all be a lot easier with less lifting.
I would be trying to set myself up to be able to start installing the 'new' engine as soon as the old one is out. So maybe you will have a chance at getting the drivetrain all buttoned up in one day, and be less likely to forget something.

These trucks are pretty basic, and there's lots of good help available here. When I did my cab swap, I'd never done one before, and I don't think I even made any notes to help with reassembly, but it all went back together pretty easily, with a minimum of having to look at pictures or anything.

 

I would buy new motor and transmission mounts before install. Also, I would strip that donor truck down to a rolling chassis before getting rid of it. There no such thing as too many spare parts.