Ok, then. i Have a 223. it's the original engine. it's got 250,000 miles on it, and do i have to take special care of my engine, or do i need fuel addetives? if not can i rebuild it, because i was wondering if i replace the engine, will it even work with the old, rebuilt transmission in it? if i then just took it as replacing both the engine and tranny, how much would that cost? and what could i put in there. or would it matter if i was replacing the tranny anyway?



:-X11

 

You can replace the old motor and tranny with any motor and tranny you want, places like Sacramento Vintage Ford, Bob's F100 and Mid Fifty all sell motor mount kits for any motor you want to use......Vintage Ford 1-888-FORD-100, Mid Fifty 1-800-252-1956.

 

Dentless,

I've noticed you have made a number of posts and are collecting some good info for your truck. That's what we're here for and we like to help out fellow FTE'ers.

One thing that helps the rest of us a lot when we try to answer a question in a post is if the question is narrowed down as much as possible. Sometimes that's not possible but a lot of times you end up with either the wrong answer or answers to a lot of questions you really didn't ask.

After reading over your questions, I think I'm hearing that you are trying to figure out what you want to do with your truck? If that's the case, I've been there. I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a complete restore, rod it, or what. The most helpful thing for me was to take a couple of days and just surf through the photos and gallery info on the FTE web site and a couple of others. I really took my time and looked at what hundreds of other folks have done before I decided that I wanted to do a restoration as close to original as possible. Once I made that decision I started with each truck subsystem and asked specific questions as I took it apart. I'm now asking specific questions as I put it back together - very sloooowwwly.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what you are planning for your truck (daily driver, restoration, rod, etc.) and maybe that will help us answer specific questions you have. If you have general questions they are sometimes better handled through direct e-mail. Most of us have our e-mail addresses on the site. If you want to contact me off-line mine is ghartman@woh.rr.com.

Whatever you do with your truck take your time and have fun!


George

 

I just started putting Lucas Fuel Additive in my '59 with a 1968 302 in it. From the first time, it's helped. It "purrrrrss".
Regarding the engine/tranny issue: they're right... you can put almost anything you want in as a replacement. My thought on the subject is this though: if you have a stock truck and want to keep it that way for possible resale later as original or close to it, have the existing motor rebuilt. It can be done. Probably a LOT fewer headaches than what I've gone through,too !!!
Daryl Stone
Springville, CA:P

 

Pull the valve cover and check the rubber valve seals. On my 1959's engine those were brittle and crunchy.

If you can't buy leaded gas, consider getting hardened valve seats installed, or using some kind of lead-replacement fuel additive. I don't know if this is a real problem, or one of those things everyone knows but just ain't so.

Keep the revs down and don't do too much freeway cruising at 75 mph, unless you've got overdrive.

Watch the classified ads or place a want ad and pick up a good spare 223.