I have made it through the engine pages and about 40 pages of this forum and have found nothing on swapping a V8 to a 300 I6! Don't I feel like a nerd. My story is I have a 74 hiboy that was beat for the majority of its like (previous owners). When I got it the body is toast frame and drivetrain seem suprisingly good and the moter is not bad as well. I believe its a 360 and from what i have been told that engine likes fuel just about as much as it does air. I picked up a 77 2 wheel drive with a good body that i plan to swap over and it happens to have a real strong 300 6 in it. a few of the people i know that have owned old fords tell me nothing but good things about it, lots of low end grunt, not to hard on gas etc. The truck is used mostly to plow snow in the winter and i am hoping as a daily driver in the summer (when it all goes back together). All the other conversions threads I have read seem to tell me its basicly a bolt on when it comes to the mounts and bell housing. If anyone has any helpfull info on this please let me know. This website has been a great help already and i just signed up last friday!!!

 

I am not too sure about the motor mounts, but when it comes to the tranny, I would take the entire setup out of the 2wd, as you have a divorced t-case. That way you don't have to mess with mixing stuff. If you are set on doing it, heres a little info. The 300 uses a lot of windsor-type stuff. It takes the same bellhousing as a 289, 302, and 351W. It is a good engine. Mine is modified, but with that being said, they will pull pretty good. I get a few strange looks about only having a I6, but it will do everything I need to do. Like I said, the easiest would probably be to do a motor/tranny swap together. You didn't say what kind of tranny each had, or what preferences were, but a manual has a removable bellhousing, but autos are integrated, so you may end up buying an entire new auto. Good luck, Ted

 

Ted, thanks for the help, my 74 has a manual 4 speed with bull low (which i would like to keep) and the 300 is bolted to a 3 on the tree. the motors should bolt right on to the opposing bellhousings right?
thanks again. Nice to hear from another 6 cylinder guy our there! what did you do to modify yours?

 

I am unsure if the bellhousing on the 3spd will work, but if it does, great! You will definitely need a different bellhousing on your 4 speed. Mine is a granny 4 speed t18. You can look in my pics to find out if yours is the same. As far as mods to the 300, I didn't do much. I bought my truck with it in, and was planning on switching it out, until I drove it. The guy I bought it from rebuilt it with a cam, clifford headers, offy intake and a holley 390 cfm 4bbl. It is a beast! I am pleasantly surprised. I am going to rebuild the carb, but as far as what I have done, not much. I put a set of accel wires on it and a MSD blaster coil. It is interesting to see someone with about the same thing for a truck. I converted to 4x4, and am running enough lift to sit about the same as a highboy. My truck is geared with 3.73s, but yours is probably 4.10s, so the 300 will have plenty of gearing to help it. Good luck with it. Ted

 

The granny tranny should fit the I6 bell housing and clutch setup. I am doing a similar swap. Motor mount perches should be different. But since you have both trucks complete then swapping over is not a problem.

 

The granny will not fit the 300, the 300 has the same bolt pattern as the 302/351Winsor series, the FE series has it own little thing. You will need the motor mounts out of the 77, the bellhousings on the grannys are changable, to go to a junkyard and ask them for one. Six in a Row will go. These are the swaps i like the see.

 

If you want more info on the I6 engines, check out www.fordsix.com They are great for lots of info. Ted

 

If you have a 360 in there now the engine perches are gonna be easy. After you yank the engine out just unbolt them from the crossmember and move them to the next set of holes forward in the crossmember. The 300 will drop right in them. Found this out the hard way after going and buying a set, coming home and finding out they are identical! I'm doing the same swap myself in my 79 F250 4x4 one of these days...from 302/4 speed to a 300/ C6.

 

A quick question to 78fordman: Can i unbolt my bellhousings and swap them as well (take the I6 bellhousing from my doner truck and bolt it right to the granny) let me know what you guys think? and thanks again for the help.

 

the bellhousing from the 3spd will work between the np435 and the 300.

70's trucks use the same mount towers for the 6cyl and bigblock (360-390), I seem to remember that you need to remove the towers and swap them to diferent sides, pass to drivers, drivers to pass to bolt up the 6cyl.
Use motor mounts for the 6cyl.

 

Something else I just thought of, Would using the existing rad from the 360 provide to much cooling (never get up to operating temp.)? and I beleive the oil sump on the I6 is in a different spot then the 360 (more over the axle of the hiboy) is this a sump location a non-issue due to the height of the engine over the axle?

 

Your thermostat would regulate the temp. Also, you will need the right sending unit to read properly in the cab. The light and guage use different senders. It should be more than adequate to keep it cool. My 300 is out of a 1980, and it is a rear sump pan. It clears no problem. It should be the same for all years. If it is in a 2wd, it should be a rear sump to clear the crossmember. Hope this helps, Ted

PS get some pics up when you can. I like seeing new projects when they are starting, as well as done.

 

I just had a quick look at the sump of the 300, it looks like it is kind of in the middle of the pan. This 300 is out of a 76 I Believe. Back to the rad issue, being to hot wasn't what i was worried about. Where I am from is cold for 1/2 the year so getting up to temp is sometimes an issue. I also have two rads for the 6 cylinder. The doner truck with the 300 in it also came with a bed full of parts from a 3rd truck.

 

In my drivetrain pics, I posted a pic of the oil pan. You can see if it is similar to what you have. If not, take measurements from the bellhousing forward to see how much room you will have to clear the axle. Ted

 

The sump is a non-issue. the 300 pan from the 76 with the sump in front is the correct pan for 73-79 trucks.

the later 80-?? rear sump 300 oil pan will work perfectly in 73-79 4x4 trucks.
It will clear the steering on 73-79 2wd trucks with HD or V8 springs (F150 and bigger). I've only had it be an issue on 2wd F100s with standard/light duty springs. If you hit bump hard and bottom the suspention out, you can drive the draglink into the pan.