I was hoping someone could answer a few questions about a truck I was looking into buying. A little backround about it is it is a 1965 F500 tandem axel grain truck. The body is in fair shape as is the wooden box and the hydraulics are said to work, and the rest of the truck seems to be in good shape. The bad part so far is that the engine is seized from stitting for over 10 years. The price is right at $50 though. I have also noticed that the master cylinder for the brakes seems to be sticky, it takes a long time to return from the floor when pressed. The questions I have are about the engine and brakes. Does anyone know what size the engine in it is? I was told it was a 400, if so I happen to have a remaned 400 in my garage, but when I look at the mounts it looks as though on the f500 there is a front mount, but not one on my block. Will the engine I have fit if I make mounts? Will it bolt up to the trans. My other question is with the brakes. Is it possible to rebuild that master cylinder or swap a differnt one in from a newer for vehicle, possibly one with dual resivors? I see that this one only has one pressure line out.

Thanks,

Nathan

 

You will probably get some more answers here, but the fact your engine has a front mount makes me want to say Y block, a 292. I thought the Y block was gone by '65, replaced by the FT (truck version of FE) series, which would probably be a 330 in an F500.

A tandem axle F500? Is the second axle a "rubber band" drive? Or dead?

As for a 400, that was a '70s smog motor, and not even on the horizen in '65.

Now, it will probably fit, as you truck has a fairly generous engine bay. There are aftermarket mounts, or you can fabricate your own. Do a google search.

Certain engines use the same mounts, but you'll have to get lucky and hope those folks respond here....

As for brakes: Your system should be gone through from top to bottem. Your wheel cylinders are probably all rusted and stuck. You can rebuild the original, and if the system is restored properly, you should have OK brakes. (based on our '58 with this set up having OK brakes, unless a wheel cylinder pooped out)

Again, try google on retrofitting brakes. If no kits are available, you certainly can make one work, but you need a long, straight road with no traffic to do your testing....

For $50, you could probably make a tidy profit parting it out. Axles, hoists, certain engine parts, and other parts might go for enough for you to move up to a $500 truck, or if you're lucky, a down payment on a $5000 truck...

 

The engine looks pretty big, and I believe I have a big block 400. Will it bolt to the existing bell housing. The second axle is driven, didnt check how though. Will the intake or anything off of the stock engine bolt on to the 400?

 

It is most likely an FT engine, 330, 361 or maybe even a 391.
Check out the answers to your post in the '61 - '66 forum for more details.

 

its a front mounted FT engine. the FT is the only thing that will fit due to the unique mounting setup. The FT mounts from the timing cover. the 400 you have will not bolt up. you can use a booster and master cylinder from a 73-79 ford f-350 truck to convert to power dual brakes