Good Morning....Well I luckly recieved a good 302 EFI Engine out of a totaled Mustang GT Yesterday. Lucky Me. Thinking about dropping it in my 1965 Ford F-100, since my 300 has seen better days. I will drop the EFI off the 302 and carb it, not ready for all the wiring. What options do I have on dropping this engine in my truck, what motor mounts will I need and I currently have a 3 speed on the column, which I will change, what would you suggest. Thanks in advance...

 

Brian, that will be a real nice set up in your truck. You have, what I believe, is the best 302 Ford ever made. You will need to get frame towers/perches from any year up to '79 ford pickup. They will bolt right to your frame w/o any modification. You will need to get 302 motor mounts from a truck (cars are different). Napa stocks them new and they are reasonable. About $15 each. You will need a larger radiator for the 302 if yours is an original 6cyl. Again get one from a later model truck.

As for the transmission, you have to decide what you want. I like the automatics. An AOD would be real nice and fairly easy to install. If you go with an AOD get one from a truck or Mustang they are more heavy duty.

You should give more thought to scrapping the EFI set up. They aren't that tough to put in and you save the expense of a new manifold and carb. It is a bigger job to install but not that hard. There is a tech article on this site of how to do it. You can even get a "plug and play" wiring harness from Ford to make the install easier. Your motor with the EFI and AOD trans and a 3:73 gear will give you good power and great gas mileage. You will get around 18-19 mpg on the highway and have a great driver.

Mike/Ohio

 

Ok...Thanks for the reply. Just one more question, I have extra holes in my crossmember, where the engine perches are, what are these holes for.

 

The extra holes were put there by the factory to bolt in the engine perches or stands for the 352. Actually if you just slide the 6-cylinder stands back to those holes, a 352-428 will bolt right in. When you install the 302 engine stands, you use the rear set of holes on the passenger side. Bolt it in with the three that line up, and drill one hole. On the driver side, bolt it in on the front set of holes with three, and then drill your fourth hole. That's the way it went on my 65 anyway. You can drill right through the engine stand you're installing, and use it to locate where the hole has to be.

 

Brian,

I am just completing a 5.0 FI and AOD conversion. And while the truck runs great, I would convert the engine to use a carb unless you are really intent on the advantages of having fuel injection. Overall the savings in time and money by using a carb are difficult to ignore. The article in the web site is good as far as it goes but there are lots of details that consume time and $.

The AOD conversion is relatively simple with the exception of the shift linkage if you want to maintain a column shift. I used a late model tilt column that matched the transmission, modified a comparible linkage, and used a driveshaft from a late model Ranger 4.0 king cab without cutting and the u-joints and yoke matched. You could use an aftermarket floor shifter for the AOD if you wanted to hack up the floor.

I did use the rear trans mount from a 65 automatic but had to modify the mount holes where the mount bolts into the trans to match the trans. There are already holes in the frame that matched for the rear crossmember so that's not an issue.

Don't forget the cooling lines for the trans -- you'll need to change radiators or add an aftermarket cooler in front of the radiator. I used a 65 automatic V-8 radiator and formed my own cooling lines.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 10-Mar-02 AT 11:22 AM (EST)]when we installed a 5.0 and AOD in my son's 63, we used a late model steering column. The combo came from a 85 Crown Vic. The transmission shifted backwards from what the column did. Went to junkyard and got the shifter cable from a front wheel drive Chrysler K-car. One end has a tube with a 90* bend. I made a bracket to mount that end to the trans oilpan bolts. Then it pulled the transmission arm towards the rear of the truck. Modified the Chrysler bracket to hold the cable to the firewall and attached it to the column shift arm. Has worked great for 12,000 miles ( and a teenage driver).