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I forgot to add, The Explorer route would be just a bit more difficult because it will need the weiring harness and computer for a complete swap. The upside is a fuel injected truck @ about 250 - 350 Hp depending on headers and cam. There is a great book witten by Charles O. Probst that you can get at Alibris books or Amazon or any of several others.
<!--ITEM START-->Ford Fuel Injection & Electronic Engine Control: How to Understand, Service and Modify, 1988-1993

The book covers all of the sensors, stratigies for warm up, open loop, closed loop and troubleshooting of fuel injected Fords. I consider it a must have book for the modern motor head.
BTW I was crew chief for a Boniville car this past August. Our car (#390)
running 342 CU IN (stroked 302 ford dart block normally asperated in a 2000 Mustang cobra R) ran 204.7 MPH. I am still learning about engines at 61 but having the time of my life. <!--ITEM END-->

I am building a 50 F2 on a budget so i am going through a lot of what you are but slightly different as mine sits on a 86 s-10 chassis w/ V8 conversion. Since mine too is going to be a driver who's sole job is to put a smile on my face, I would suggest a slightly different approach. First start big picture. if it is a driver then you need to concentrate on getting it back to that position. At first simpler is better. The explorer rear is good advice. if I remember well the 95 and older has drum brakes and 96 and newer has disc brakes.

I have mine rough but drivable and in doing so i have found some things I want to change. The driving really turned me towards the way i want to do my truck. My decision is not get carried away and always remember it is a driver. would i love 400-500hp? absolutely! How about a custom chassis? for sure but reality sets in and I do what I can when i can with my budget. For example this winter i fix the lighting and wiring.

The point of all this is you need some sort of goal or concept of what you want to do or other wise you will drift about spending more money than planned. BTW: that will occur anyway. :-)

Have fun with it and if possible invole your wife in the decision making process as later when you need to come back and use some money for parts you can always say it was what we talked about........

Hey Jim,
I have to admit I feel some difficult emotions - It was running (very rough not terribly
driveable) - then I put in the shop in June for the Mustang front end to improve braking & handling ... It hasn't run since - I feel like I killed it. I need to get it back breathing again soon _ I had no idea the front end would take so long & then the difficulties of re-installing the engine over the new front cross member - Lessons learned. I'm with you on getting it back driving & taking smaller projects & improvements.

The nice thing is it gives my 18 year old son & I something to talk about & work together on - not just dealing with teenage angst issues.

You guys are way ahead me on car skills - I'm just sitting & learning as we go.

Ben in Austin

Hi Everyone,
Ok - We are in the final stages of de-construction of the Old 1950 F1.
All is going well - they found the cab to be in "bad shape" with various layers
of linoleum & cheap wood panelling covered with carpet that disguised numerous holes in the floorboards, black mold, gasoline etc. The gas tank is out & a new floor is on its way from LMC Trucks.
Here are the next choices I need to make by Friday:
o Engine - We in fact have a 1969 289 engine in it - they can rebuild it or
install a 302 or install a 351W all for about the same price. Its gas mileage
vs performance - What would you do?

o Seats - We have 52 inches as the width limit of the cab seats - Do we go
buckets or bench?

o Tow Hitch - We currently have a pretty substantial tow hitch on the back -
Would you keep it or just use the bed of the truck for light hauling?

o Transmission - We have an old tired 1977 C4 transmission in there - I believe it's
a 3 speed. Would you opt for replacing the C4 3 speed with another one or
move up to something else?

o Side exhaust or Straight out the back? What size pipe 2.5in?

o Steering Column - New or Salvage yard? (The new Ididit ones are
nice but pretty pricey).

Thx for any guidance you can give us.

Ben D. Austin Tx

so whats your budget??? i,d personally go with the 302, lots of old mustang parts out there for the grabbin
-bench or bucket depends on how many people you want to haul around in it, i went with a bench seat because of my kids/wife
-hitch, if your not going to pull anything toss it!
-trans, i like aod`s,tough transmission when set up right
-exhaust,mine will exit at the end of my running board, saves you a bit of pipe and labour
-steering column-$25 bux at a salvage yard or200-500, you decide!!

Definetly paint the engine ford blue,if you are going to do some hauling
i would not go with a wood bed,i wish you luck on what ever
choices you make.good luck

Thanks Pitstop,
I don't have a set budget - just pain thresholds that I encounter from time to
time - Now if I had everything in Canadian $'s or Euros I'd be doing better!

Bench vs bucket - My kids are grown & so have I - I just wasn't sure
how much real space was on the bench for that third person - not sure an adult would make it there for long. Grandkids maybe - I'm just on the cusp of that one - 2 kids in college - practicing I'd guess but no kids yet. I like the look of the old ranger bench seats - where do you put your drinks/stuff?

The engine question is a major one - I've read through all the pros/cons on different
links here. If I go 302 will I forever be second guessing the 351W?

The steering columns I was seeing were $600 plus another $200 for steering wheel & another bit for collars, borgeson connectors, etc. What vehicle did you take your's out of?

Thx
Ben D.

Engine is something you need to choose what you want it for... 351 power 289 mpg or 302 something in the middle... Think Tim Allen!

Seat I like the look of a old bench seat... makes it look even more of a sleeper if you have the bench...

Trailer hitch... Love what Julie has a trailer that matches the truck.... cheap trailer and keeps the truck nice and clean... Keep but hide

Trans.... once again that's a personel choice...

Pipes... Like thepitshop said in... front of rear tires... just under the running boards...

Column... No Key or shifter on column, but have built-in turn signals

I went the 302 route on my truck! Pulled it out of a 1988 Mustang GT and am converting it to a carb. (I don't want to hassle with the sensors, computer, wiring harness, etc...) Here is my logic on the choice of the 302 over the 351 or 289. The 289 is harder to find parts/pieces for and they cost more in general. The 302 is a tried and true engine that has to be the most produced Ford engine made. (Not entirely sure on the production #'s, but they are very common.) That widdles it down to the 302/351W. 95% of the parts are interchangeable between these engines. They bolt up to the same trannies, and take up the same amount of space in the engine compartment. (The 351W is slightly taller, but who cares in these trucks.) It comes down to what you are building your truck for. These trucks are not real heavy, so both are going to get up and go. The 351 obviously will have a little more get up and go, but the 302 is going to get slightly better fuel economy. I'm building a cruiser. The slight power difference does not offset the fuel costs for my desired build. Do you want as much power as you can squeeze out of your truck? (351W or big block conversion.) Or are you fine with a truck that can still get up and go but can also acheive double digit fuel mileage. More cubic inches = more power = more fuel/wear and tear on the engine and drivetrain. There is always a trade off in this department. You can't have it all...

Edit = Oh yeah... :-blah:cool:

I like your advice on the 351 vs the 302 - I've been wrestling with
this one - I have an 18 year old son (devil) whispering in my ear telling
me to get the most horsepower - my brain says the 302 is enough with
teenage drivers around.... It could top out at 40mph is\f it makes good
growling noises he'll be happy enough.

My mechanic shop is telling me the 351 will get 12-14 mpg & a 302
would get around 16-18 mpg. Does that sound about right or is there
some optimism built in here?

This shop doesn't have a good opinion of the AOD transmission but on here
there seems to be enthusiasm for it - I'm kind of stuck. I profess ignorance on Ford transmissions - Is an AOD a generic term for automatic transmission with overdrive
or is it a specific model? Is it different from the c4, c6 , etc? Pardon my ignorance.

Thanks for all the help.

Ben in Austin

Regarding 351w's, I was getting 17 m/p imperial gallon. This was in a 77 ford van with the c6 trans. The motor originally came out of a 69 mercury comet.
I think you would be quite happy with one. They have real good bottom end. I used this motor in my Cobra for a while and it was a real good Mustang killer.
I'll be installing it in the 49 pretty soon.
Funny thing though, in the Cobra the gas milage didn't change much even though the car only weighs 2500 lbs.

The AOD is a decent transmission. It is similar to a C4 auto with an overdrive. The middle 80's ones worked off of carborator and are OK with modest horsepower. They need to be set up correctly to shift correctly and if done wrong can damage the tranny. We have a local here who has used a couple of them in vehicles that he has built and he loves them. He had one in a 302/AOD 48 Ford car he built and consistently got over 20 mpg on the interstate. He basically used the sedan as a DD.

Thanks Husker & Merv,
I'm driving an hour & a half down to the shop tomorrow to have lunch with these
guys - You drive up to the gate with a submachine gun welded to it & honk
to get let in - hmmm (Not kidding)

We'll sit around and make decisions on what to do - your thoughts & advice help -
I'd like to be comfortable at highway speeds so I need engine/trans/gears that allow for that. Can I get there without doing anything to the leaf springs in the back? I seem to have the full compliment of leaf springs. The bed is off to do the gas tank relocation - would be easy to address now.

Thanks for all the help.

Ben, Austin Texas

Leaf springs in the back will work fine if shackles etc. aren't too loose. It also depends on what it has for a rear end. With the body work done on it, it may have a different rear from original.

My 54 F250 has cruised down the interstate fine with the original rear leaves. I did change the original 4.86 rearend for a '72 F250 3.73 geared rear end so the top end was better than 50 mph it would do originally.

As was said, the AOD is a specific model of transmission. It was Ford's replacement for the C4. The fact of the matter is that the C4 is more bullet proof, and the C6 is even more bullet proof. However, an AOD can handle 350 hp stock and can be performance rebuilt to handle quite a bit more. I know a local guy that has the AOD in his Fox Body Stang built to handle 600 hp. If you aren't building a race engine, and aren't running it hard often the AOD will be more then sufficient. The C4 as I said is more bullet proof, and is the preferred tranny by a lot of racers for this reason. It is also cheaper to aquire and to build. However, the loss of that overdrive really hurts the mpg on the highway. The C6 is the most bullet proof of the group. However, it is hard to find a small block C6 and they are known for damaging gas mileage and eating a good 30 hp due to the heavy components. If you want to stay on the cheap and plan to run it at the track on the weekends, the C4 is the safer route. However, if you are like me and building it to be a cruiser and will have it on the highway more then the track I would lean towards the AOD. Oh, and all the AOD's can be used on a carburated vehicle. You simply need to buy the proper TV cable adapter, such as this one for Holley carbs;
4L60E 700R4 4L80E 4R100 E4OD 2004R C6 TH350 TH400 Transmission Parts: SONNAX 700R4/200-4R/AOD HOLLEY CARBURETOR TV CABLE CORRECTOR
The TV cable is critical on the AOD. If you go this route I would strongly suggest having a professional tranny guy adjust the TV cable for you. As was said earlier also. The TV cable is finicky and can damage the tranny if adjusted incorrectly. If you go the AOD route, make sure it is an AOD and not the AODE. Unless you're going fuel injected and doing the entire computer/sensor setup.