Hey all, I own a 1974 f250 that has recently started badly leaking coolant and subsequently overheating. Earlier this week I took it to a shop and was told that one of my 360’s heads had cracked and the seals were damaged to where there was coolant mixing with oil inside of the pan. Instead of repairing the existing damage, I’m opting towards a crate engine. What are common/cost effective swaps in these trucks? Truck pictured below

 

it would be cheapest and best to buy a rotating assembly and turn your 360 into a 390. FE heads are cheap. or put a 428 in it that's what I did in my high boy.

all the parts are available and who doesn't love an FE. and it's still basically original you might appreciate that down the road even if you don't today.

 

Thanks for the advice! The shop that my truck is at reccomended a 408, which honestly I’ve never even heard of before. 427/8 is my front runner right now. Any good sources to purchase one from that you know of?

 

A 408 is probably either a bored out 400 (335 series engine along with the 351M and 351C) or perhaps a 390 bored and possibly stroked?
Unless they're a big fan of the 335 (some of us are, but most are not when compared to the FE family) they were probably recommending turning yours into a 408.

I'm beginning to think that there would be nothing wrong after all, with "downgrading" to a 351 Windsor in the form of a later model EFI setup from the '90's trucks instead. They can be bored and stroked to big numbers too, if desired. But it seems like even a mildly tuned EFI engine could out pace any of our older ones if you didn't rely totally on low end torque and had decent gearing for the tire size.

With computers and accessories and upgrades being so prevalent for the Windsors, it could still be considered an upgrade over the old FE if done right.
And unlike the Broncos and passenger cars with low hood clearance, fitting the big tall EFI intake under our hoods would not be an issue. And along with the Windsor you could source the overdrive transmission that might be attached from the donor vehicle and have that benefit as well.

Just a thought... A ton more work to swap than it is to rebuild your existing platform, but it's at least one of several options.

Paul

 

Real 427's are super rare. you can get a 428 out of some of the old T birds, Mercury's and basic family cars. but today a 428 is going to cost quite a bit more than going with a 390. which is fine if you're willing to it's kind of fun.

Once you get a core engine and know what you have there's a lot to talk about on the build.

 

What's the budget and what do you want out of it? Stock swap, moderate performance, modern upgrade, etc? Do you want to be bolt in easy or are you willing to fabricate custom mounting for an engine you'd really want? Since you have a divorced transfer case it opens the option up of pretty much any engine/tranny combo that came in any RWD vehicle, you'd just need to modify the intermediate shaft.

 

Ideally a quick bolt-in is what I want, since it is my daily driver. At this point I think that any engine swap will be a performance upgrade since my engine has been on its last leg since I’ve owned it. My budget is around 5-7k, so I’m not sure how much I’d be able to do with the tranny anyways.

 

There is a popular deal of turning a 351W into a 408 too.

If me, if I were going to do a swap, I'd make a 390 of the 360.

 

The FE is one of the best engines Ford ever made, it made Carroll Shelby too. for well under your budget you can build a really nice one.

And you can add the emblem too.