Hi all, I have a question I would rather ask than search for the answer lol. I have acquired my grandpas 1953 M350 he bought new in 53 and although the original flathead that's in it runs decent and has only a couple thousand miles on it's rebuild from the 90's, I find it a pain to work on, always having carburetor issues (running poor, low power when hot) and want to switch the engine out for something still period-ish correct but simpler to work with. I got a 292 for the cost of an hour of swapping stories and would like to know how hard it would be to swap in, and what factory parts are needed/available for this. Thanks!

 

 

it's not a hard swap .. just have to find the right mounts ,,,,cause in 54 the Us trucks whent to the 272 /312 motor ..so ,,,what are you gonna do with that old ..overheated flatty ??

 

Great looking truck, especially being that it was your Grand Dad's. Do the swap if you must, but a good flat motor shouldn't be any harder to live with than a Y block imho.

You'll also want to start learning about the dangers of the truck's stock wheels. Ford and Firestone marketed their outer rims under the name "Advanced Design", Firestone's technical name for them was "RH-5°". Budd mounted their centers in the rims and sold them under their part number 65720. They are 17" x 5.5". Today they are known by the term "widow maker", and are a pariah within the service industry. Most tire shops won't deal with them for insurance and lawyer reasons.

Our friend Ken above has been through all this and ended up having the centers of his wheels pulled and remounted into 19.5" tubeless outer rims. He and I have both seen that 17" centers are a perfect fit into 19.5" rims and can be welded to these rims along the rims' drop centers. He had his done locally, there are also shops that do this commercially.

Another option is to find a set of tubeless 17.5" x 5.25" F-350 dual wheels that were first offered in 1956. These wheels have 4.75" of offset which closely matches your wheels at 5" offset. They are either Budd #71320/Ford #B6TZ 1015-A, or Budd #79120/Ford #B6Y 1015-A. These are virtually the same wheel, the 71320 has six hand holes while the 79120 has three. Stu

 

If you watch ebay,you should find a trans bell to go y block to stock merc trans which should be same as the older style ford box in mounting.Someone probably makes them but I found one cheap.There was a couple on there when I got mine.Fairly common I think.

 

Thanks for the responses.it shouldn't be too hard to find a 54-56 for parts, they're everywhere in really bad, parts condition up here. The flatty I'd keep because it's the original, sorry if you were going to ask to buy it lol. I still may keep it in the truck too, it's just a toy so I'm not in a rush. Although the hoist and stuff works so I'd like to use it on the farm here again. The rims I cant remember if they're splits or not but there a tire shop 4 miles down the road from me that changes split rims still. I may upgrade though, to the better original type.

Some history. Grandpa ran this truck Sunday at 6pm 12 hours north to start his trucking job with this truck every Monday morning at 6am. Then Saturday afternoon he would drive 12 hours south to home and help farm every Sunday. Then back up after Sundays supper. Did this for 2 years, 52 weeks a year. This truck has some miles. Then my dad learned to drive in it. So grandpa would harvest and fill the truck with grain. Dad stands on the seat to steer, grandpa puts it in 2nd and pulls the throttle cable out. Dad steers it home where grandma would wait and she would jump in, take over and empty it. Same story back to the field empty. Grandpa ordered it new with a friend that also ordered the exact, exact same truck with him. That one although about toast now is my parts truck. Serial numbers are 2 or 3 apart. I have an attachment to the truck so I am not set on swapping motors, and definitely couldn't sell anything off it.

 

Your low power when hot problem may be ignition instead of carbuetor. The insulation in the coil or condensor can break down when the coil gets hot. This is more common of a problem in the older flatheads than in the post distributor flatheads.

 

Where are you located,I know a guy in Calgary with some good 53-56 parts conections.

 

I'm 2 hours south of Calgary.

So your saying possibly tossing on a new coil could fix it?

 

Possibly. Diagnose before you start swapping parts.

When the engine first starts and is running well, pull a spark plug wire out of the distributor cap. You should have a bright blue-white spark that will jump at least a quarter inch. If not, fix your ignition system.

When the engine is warmed up and has no power, pull a spark plug wire out of the distributor cap. If you still have the blue-white spark your coil and condensor are not the problem. if you now have a weak yellow spark, suspect your coil. If the coil is not the problem, suspect the condensor.