hi, i have a 01 f250 with a 5.4l that has 160k miles on it. i just shot out the second sparkplug in under a year so i have decided that its time for a new motor. i also have a 96 f150 with a 4.9l i6, im thinking about rebuilding the 4.9l and swapping it into the f250. i know its possible to swap the cummins diesel into these trucks i was just wondering if anyone had done anything like this with their trucks.
the truck isnt going to be used for any major hauling anymore just occasional camping trips and hauling hay so with a mild rebuild im sure that a 4.9l will be more than enough for this truck and i dont care that it wont technically meet emissions anymore because they dont test for that in WI.

 

Never heard of someone swapping a 4.9L engine in, but I'm sure it can be done. Remember that you're going to have a very noticable decrease in power as that 4.9L engine only has 148 HP compared to the 235 your 5.4L has. Even with a performance build you're going to lose a lot of power.

You're probably going to need to fabricate engine mounts and swap the transmission over with the engine because the PCM from the I6 probably won't know what to do with an electronically controlled 4R100.

I would rebuild the 5.4L before swapping in a 4.9L I6. You would also destroy any potential resale value with this type of swap.

 

thanks. i was already planning on swapping trans and transfer case from the f150 with the 4.9l. i know it wont have as much power but as long as it has enough power to pull my sleds and the occasional hay rack and make it up to 55 mph ill b fine. the trans in the f150 isnt the original idk what it was swapped outof but its only a 4 speed with some really low stump puller gears so it wouldnt be that fast anyway.
do you know how much it would be to get the driveshafts shortened or lengthened? i know its way too low of a chance that they would still fit with the new driveline
and the cost of rebuilding is too much. a new set of heads that wasnt designed by ford is 3k and i could do this entire swap for less than that and have greater reliability. and i was given the truck by my dad and he always talked about how the 4.9 was the greatest motor ever built.

 

Have considered maybe buying a wrecked F2 or 350 and yanking the engine out of it?

 

yes i have but ive had nothing but troubles with the 5.4l. and if im going to pull the motor im only going to do it once. i dont want to have to rebuild again in a few years

 

lol i thought ive seen everything until now.. no offense but most people say the 5.4 is gutless...the 4.9 is the weakest POS i have ever driven in my life. i would consider other options. 03 and 04 5.4's dont have the spark plug issue because ford redesigned the heads.... 2valve 5.4 is 260hp/350hp...4.9 liter is 145hp/225tq?

 

just a suggestion but if the total cost of this swap would exceed 2k i would look into just replacing your heads with trick flow's 2 valve heads. the guy i talked to on the phone said they were about 2k and with stock cams it would retain stock low end but really improve top end. these heads were designed for mustangs of course but they are advertised as and the operator confirmed that they fit all 2v modular v8's and 5.4 in 3/4 ton trucks in particular. I have the same truck as you.
just my 2 cents
~Joe
Trick Flow® Twisted Wedge® 185 Cylinder Heads for Ford 4.6L/5.4L 2V - trickflow.com the heads

Trick Flow® Twisted Wedge® Top-End Engine Kits for Ford 4.6/5.4L 2V - trickflow.com full top end kit

 

im pretty sure that i can do it for under 2k, ive already got almost all of the parts and the truck needs more than just new heads. the trans is shifting extremely rough and the trans fluid is filthy. and it wont even go into overdrive anymore.
i know the 4.9l wont have nearly as much power as the 5.4 did but that shouldnt matter with how i want to rebuild it it will be around 200hp and i have a line on a older 4 speed that has stump puller gears i almost never have to get over 65mph and a 200hp 4.9 with proper gears will be more than enough for what i intend to do with it.

 

To add to that I would also point out that there is a considerable weight difference between these two generations of trucks.

I have owned a 1977 F-150; a 1982 F-150; a 1986 F-150 and now a 2003 F-250. Personally, I have always loved the 300 in-line 6 and have literally used them to pull stumps. Somebody please corrrect me if I'm wrong, but I think Ford may have still been putting that engine in F-250's perhaps as late as 1997-1998? I know it also a common choice in those log grinders the electric line clearance crews use. (work I used to do)

ok I'll get to my point finally.

There will be a big power-to-weight ratio difference going in an unfavorable direction if you take an engine designed for a previous generation of trucks and put it into a Super Duty. My '86 F-150 weighed 4300 lbs with me, my tools, and fuel in it. My '03 SD weighs 6500 lbs.

That's 1.5 times the weight of the '86.

I know I'm comparing a 1/2 ton with a 3/4 ton which is a bit of an apple to orange move; but in the previous generations of trucks there was not going to be that much weight disparity between the F-150s and the F-250s. From '77 to '97 the trucks really weren't all that different in terms of overall mass. The main difference here would be simply that this new generation of truck is just so much bigger and heavier.

All that said, you can accomplish a lot with gearing . . .

Good luck bud!

 

thanks for the input. they kept putting the 4.9l in f250s till mid 97 i think. and i just found something that said the 80s and 90s f250 still weighed in at around 5700. and theres a video of a 72 ford with a i6 dragging a bigblock chevy around on youtube. that 72 should weigh in at about as much as mine does
im going to rebuild it and bump up the power as much as i can. im looking to have at least 200hp and that is 50 hp over the stock rating. that should be plenty of power for how heavy its going to be.

 

[quote=suzuki0702;934462903 and 04 5.4's dont have the spark plug issue because ford redesigned the heads.... 2valve 5.4 is 260hp/350hp...4.9 liter is 145hp/225tq?[/quote]

True, they made it so the plugs don't come out at all usually.

 

I would rather stay with a 5.4 and go ahead and redo all the plug threads with inserts than do a swpa over it.

 

Or, maybe go with a 3V 5.4L engine that doesn't spit spark plugs?

Do not think you will be happy with a 300 I-6, they only put out 170HP.

 

5700 lbs; I stand corrected. That's a sight more than I would have thought.

If you can soup up a 300 in-line 6 to squeeze 200 hp out (and I'll bet you surely can with all the engineering available today) I'm sure you'll be fine for what you say you want to do with it. Especially if it's geared right. Plus you'll have one of the best bulletproof motors ever made (imho). I think it sounds great & bet it lasts you forever.

So are you planning to hype it up with Offenhauser manifold, headers and all? I will be very interested in what you do as I have a restore project on my Grandfather's old 3/4 ton '58 Apache with a 235.

 

This place would be a good start for your 235.

Clifford Performance: Chevy 235