i have a 59 ford f100 on a 61 4wd frame with 63 axels and it has a 292 in it but it is worn out and needs rebuilt and it will be about 1100 dollars to rebuild the 292 so i was thinking about putting a 351m/400 in it how hard would this swap be what would it require changing and what about cost this is gonning to be mainly a back and forth to highschool truck and gas milage is fairly important but ease of building is too what do you guys think hope you can help me out

 

Rebuild the 292! It will be cheaper! You think that a swap would be easier and cheaper cause the parts are "readily available" at every parts store in america. Wrong! You have to take into concideration the changes that you will have to make in order to make everything fit. There is that matter of motor mounts, transmission mounts, drive shaft ..... just to mention a few and easy changes, however the wiring, the carburation and all the other little goodies that the list just goes and goes and goes for ever. I looked into doing this same swap on my '55 and the lowest number I came up with was about $4500 to do everything need to make it go and I was going low budget too! So in my opinion and experience thus far leans strongly towards the re-build of the 292. The Y Blocks are good strong engines! Can be built for race or cruise and get excelent gas mileage and are durable as heck. Check your local part stores and you will be supprised at just how readily available the 292's parts are. Good luck!

Mason

 

The fact that it is a 4wd makes it more complicated, so, it might be easiest to source the new engine/trans/t-case as a complete set and swap that in. A couple of things to consider:

The 351M & 400 have unique motor mount boss patterns that don't match any other Ford engine; therefore you'll have to fabricate frame brackets. If you would prefer to swap something in, truthfully, you might have an easier time with a 351W, or a 302. There are mount kits for the other common Ford engines that make life a little easier if you are not inclined to do that kind of fab work.

Swap the 351M/400 trans in as well which likely will be cheaper and less of a bother than fiddling around with adapters; but then you will have to fabricate a rear trans crossmember, as your existing setup has the trans mounts on the side of the bellhousing. You might need to alter the driveshaft length and/or the yoke, & depending on where your t-case is now, attached or divorced, you might need to use a different case, or move it, & you also will have to worry about driveshaft angles.

The easiest way would be to rebuild the 292, which will also get fairly decent mileage if you keep your foot out of it. ("Decent", that is, considering it is a 4wd & heavy.) Also, you may find that it isn't very much cheaper to swap something else in after all.

I hope you'll take this next part in the spirit in which it's meant: you mentioned that you were in high school, & I (kinda dimly ) remember those days. The absolute QUICKEST way to get burned out on a project like this is to take on something too big, along with school work, activities, dating, (gasp) a job, etc., etc. You will have a big temptation to either: quit halfway through, thereby having either a pile of parts or losing money, or.... doing a bad job, sticking it in there with gum & duct tape, which will lead to it breaking down every five minutes.

All this really depends on your skills (or whoever you can talk into helping you). Good luck!

 

thanks for the info on the swap and it backs up a lot of what i figured and i was leaning towards the 292 myself and yes i am in high school and have home work and i work for the ranch i live on at night and on the weekends so it a slow project but with help from my dad its coming together and will be really cool when i get it done sometime thanks agian for the info

 

I am in high school to on a limited budget, I spent about 16 hundered on my 292 but in the end it will be like having a brand new motor.

 

16 hundred sound about right i figured it up to about 11 hundred on mine to do a full rebuild

 

Mine I had rebored and so I spent a few hundered dollars in .040 pistons. It will be cheaper for you probally. (because I'm Canadian buying American parts and shipping)

 

i was planning on maybe a 20 or 30 overbore

 

It is the same price, so why not a .060 over? That should leave room for one more over bore later down the road.

 

there all the same price and ive heard of 292 with a 90 overbore but my cylinenders are just slightly ringed so i figured a 30 would be plenty

 

go for as little as you need to clean up. If it's 0.030, go for 0.030. I also am all for keeping the Y in there where it belongs. Get your core rebuilt. I paid a couple hundred more for that option. Folks here will have differing opinion than mine, but balancing it is cheap and I'd do it. Specify this before the block goes "bye-bye"

 

I would just go to .030 at first. As you get bigger the truck may start to lean to overheight. I had to go to .040 because the motor already had worn out cylinders at .030.