Hello all....After much moaning and groaning and knuckle busters and cussing and yelling, I have FINALLY driven our 53 F-250 home! For those who have forgotten, I swapped the original 215 I-6 with a whopping 460 cubic inches of mountain motor! This was the FIRST time I have put in an engine and had it fire up the first shot on the starter! I had my son do the honors this time.....Maybe he has the magic touch or something. We had it in a storage unit about 50 miles away for almost 6 months and were only able to work on it on the weekends for about 4-5 house each weekend. This was the most fun I have had yet with my 8 y/o son! I had many questions during this whole transplant proceedure, and you guys were great and answered them all! THANK YOU FTE! I will have many more countless hours of restoration and fun with my son on this truck. For those who wonder what kind of mileage I am expecting with this truck, I currently got 13 today in pretty heavy traffic. Not too bad IMHO. I'm SOOOOO excited! Can ya tell???? For everyone who DOESNT know me or my story, read on:

I am using this truck (1953 F-250) as my tow vehicle to tow my 67 mustang from Washington State to Florida in 3 months. I decided that the stock 215 I-6 would be too weak and take too much wear to go that many miles.....Especially with the stock rearend which houses something like 5:14 gears I think.... So I went out and bought a 460/C-6 combo....and a 9" rearend for it.....I pulled the rearend, and put in the 9".....there were problems like the wrong brake line sizes from old to new and e-brake issues....There were more, but we went slow and steady and solved MOST of them.....The ones we couldnt solve, we just forgot about . Then came the day....That dreaded day that we pulled the 215 and transmission out.....I was seariously scared.....I have never done anything quite like this before, so it was quite the undertaking for me....I have changed out a 302 for a 351w befroe, but this was COMPLETELY different! Finding the headers was by far the most difficult job.......But then I asked you guys, and you suggested Sanderson.....I called them up and ordered up a set and off we went. I finally got all the parts put together, and put them in the right spots....Then today(the day before fathersday) I had my son turn the magical key and push the magical button......It FIRED UP RIGHT AWAY!!!!! I got his reaction on a short video clip....He was a little surprised as most of the time, I turn the kep after an engine swap, and the engine coughs and sputters, but never fires right up....I usually have the dizzy 180 out or something stupid like that.....NOT THIS TIME! About 1/2 hour later(after I did a final safety check and had welded up the exhaust) we took it out on it's maiden voyage. We went to the rental store to return the welder I had rented for the exhaust. It made the trip fine! No problems whatsoever! We came back to the storage unit, and packed up everything, and went to the gas station.......Filled it up, and set sail for home........50 miles later, we arrived at home......The radiator was doing ok, and so was the truck......It cruzed VERY nicely(although I need to put some bushings in the steering mechanism tomorrow) and it got 13 MPG. I was impressed as traffic was pretty heavy when we did the trip. It's looking up for us for the trip. Keep up the good works guys!!! Thanks for all the advise!

Dont get me wrong, I read other posts too and offer advise when I can and when I have had experience with something. Peace

 

I know what you mean - sometimes you get to thinking you owe more back than you can possibly contribute. But then remember that most of us would be talking cars even if you had not asked a question - you just gave us a subject to discuss.

I do bet that the truck has a bit more get up and go now!

 

Congratulations and Good Luck. All your hard work and many hours sure paid off. Now to shake that puppy down before your trip. Remember safety first. What a Father's Day Present!!!

 

Yeeee Haaaa !!! Congratulations!

Great story.

 

Congrats, now you have a fine tow unit that must be a ball to drive. Just imagine how many other drivers you will be able to surprise! I had a little 332 Ford engine in my 53 F100 and that was a blast! Almost double the orginal hp. It was great and ran so much better than the Flathead that needed too much work and the 332 was just sitting in my shop.

 

The really fun part will be when we get to Fla, and I turn it from strictly a tow rig to 1/2 tow rig, and 1/2 drag racer. I'm hoping to be able to get it to go 12's or 13's w/o nitrous....Then I'll add the bottle.

 

Can`t beat that! Sounds like a fun plan. What has been done to the motor?

 

Just the carb for tthe trip....When we get there, I'll add a cam and lifter set, and a decent intake......

 

With the headers that you have already that will be a good combo and you should be set for some fun times. Enjoy a fine truck, have lots of good times with your son and the sweet F250.

 

Love to hear about success stories as a lot of the time it's two steps forward, one step back. In some cases, one step forward, two steps back!

Sounds like you had your share of small headaches along the way, but that's par for the course. I really glad you got to share the fun with your son. Mine were never into cars much, but my grandson seems to be more interested in power tools and trucks. Great job.

 

Good deal. I bet you are dancing.

 

ho hum.....The sweet smell of success is sometimes overwhelmed by the bitter sting of defeat. I took the truck on a 22 mile trip today....Got to the destination, and it started running REALLY rough....no black smoke or anything....however, I am suspecting some sort of mad gremlin under the hood trying to kill my buzz. bugger! When I stopped the truck, the carb had fuel leaking out of it....drat....guess I'll need a rebuild kit.....Then the cooling fan shorted out....Drat....need some more wire now too....Then....oh, you get the picture....The ol beast (my sons name for it) just didnt want to go to the car show I guess.....Maybe next time...

 

Cograts

Nothing like driving the truck!


Bill

 

53wa2fl Too bad about the GREMLINS. You had a good story going but this is a small hic-up that you will get sorted out.
Congrats on the ride though
Don

 

See what hapens when you don't post any pictures for us all to google at. And put that boy of yours back on the job. I'm sure he'll get started for you again.

Seriously, I'm sure you'll get it squared away quickly. Good luck.