Hello, I have a 1985 F150 and a 1990 T-bird that I must get rid of to make room in the driveway. The truck has an I6, 4-sp manual trans, and is 4 wheel drive. The motor is need of an overhaul. The truck frame and body are rusting out badly. The T-bird has a pretty good v-6 non turbo motor and auto trans but the rest of the car suffers from defect cancer. This is my only truck so I'm pretty bummed about getting rid of it. I need a truck to haul my boat, camper, and for general hauling. I don't have a lot of time on my hands due to full time school and full time work. I am thinking of buying a truck with a blown motor (cheap) and putting the motor and tranny from the t-bird in it. I don't know if this is possible. Never done a motor swap. I am mechanically inclined and will be able to do it if I have the correct information. So I guess I am looking for suggestions on what to do with these components that I have. Can I take the motor from the t-bird and drop it into a truck? Can I use the transfer case from the f-150 in conjunction with the t-bird motor to make a 2wheel drive into a 4 wheel drive? Should I just take the vehicles to the junkyard and get $50 for each running vehicle? Do I need to post more specific information about the drive train components? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

i donnt if T-bird V-6 will fit in there, but i do know that there is a Straight six for sale in the NW chapter for 600 bucks...rebuilt i beleive. If you can get 600 out of hte t-bird then you could buy the motor and swap it over into the truck. Just an idea.

 

I'm a few miles away in central Pennsylvania. The thing is, I don't believe the truck frame or body has much life left (very bad rust-mainly on frame). That's why I want to find a new truck. The easiest thing would be to buy a good truck with everything in working order. However, my school has me strapped for cash and time, so I'd like to go the cheapest route which would be to reuse some of the components that I have already. I just don't know if that is possible.

 

forget it.

 

if the frame is rusted.....then either its, put lots of time into fixing or swaping the frames, and you would still have a bad motor. Now if this truck was sentimental to you i would never say junk it.

You might be able to sell the Tbirb for a somemoney or trade it for a truck, and part out the truck and then get the scrap money for it.

A few ideas

DT

 

Don't think the 3.8 would hold up in a truck without some issues

 

Ford actually offered the 3.8 in 80-81ish in these truck (i've actually seen a few with this motor in em'), but for a truck its not worth at, as you have crappy power, very little torque at a useable rpm, and lots of work to adapt motor mount and exhaust and etc to fit, i'd hold out for a truck with a decent running motor at the very least.

 

A friend had one in a 80-81 f-100 truck had a 125.000 miles and 4 motors.unless the t-bird is a sc I wouldn't do it

 

Thanks for the replies everybody. It seems that the motor from the t-bird isn't a good idea for a truck. I will wait to find a cheap truck that runs next summer when my school is out and I can work more often. Any ideas about parting out the vehicles versus just taking the vehicles to the junkyard as-is? In this age of internet and E-bay, should I try to sell online? Or should I just use the local classified ads? Thanks again.