Hi, thanks for looking, I'm just wondering what year 300 will drop into my 65' F100. Currently has a 4.9/300 ci in it and I'm just looking to replace the junk motor with a fresher, used one and was wondering what years will fit it without many mods, Rick

 

Hi Rick,
Not much changed on the 300 externally for most of its run (or even internally for that matter).
Most any 300 should drop right in.

I'd look for one 1986 and prior. In '87, they went fuel injected.

 

Even that it went EFI he should be able to unbolt the EFI intake, keeping the EFI exh manifolds, use his stock intake and bout it up to the EFI head.
Now I do remember something about manifold bolts, think the EFI head had more and you should be able to use them with the older intake & EFI manifolds.

Only other thing to maybe look out for as I don't know this, if you are running a manual trany with clutch linkage the 300 six has a boss to screw in the motor side Z bar pivot that the newer motors may not have as they would use hyd clutch so it may not have been drilled & tapped.
Dave ----

 

I always forget about the pivot ball for the mechanical clutch. That would have ended in '83. I don't know if they removed the boss, or just didn't use it in later years.

On that note, though, that is a good point with the EFI. The hole for the fuel pump will have been removed. You'd have to get an aftermarket electric pump.

As for the EFI head, it has 16 bolt holes instead of 13, but the 3 extra are for alignment (since the EFI engine has 3 manifolds as opposed to the carb'd engine's single "combustion manifold"), and not clamping force.
Definitely not a show stopper like some of the other stuff.

 

I forgot about the fuel pump.
I know someone that drilled out the hole for the pump arm and drilled / taped to bolt that pump up to the motor.
IIRC he said the EFI cam had the pump lobe just had to make the opening & bolt holes.

So 2 things to keep in mind when going with 87 up 300: fuel pump mounting and the clutch linkage pivot on the motor side. and he could swap to hyd clutch.
Dave ----

 

Ok thanks, good info, I might be willing to rebuild also but would love to find a low mileage motor to reseal and paint up.

Having to change to a hydraulic clutch wouldn't be so bad..although if the boss is still there drilling and tapping isn't much of a problem. Not sure if I'd want to go electric pump unless it was an in tank type. What about the harmonic balancer? Will the v-belt pulley fit?

Thanks, I guess I'll keep it below 1986 and maybe go for a hydraulic clutch set up,,any ideas where to find one?

 

If I were you, I would look for a later year motor. The '65 was the very first year they made the 300 and there were a few design improvements that were implemented throughout the years.
Obviously.... your motor is 53 years old and ticking, so it's still plenty reliable, but it'd be nice to update it a touch.

 

Thanks/

I've been looking on CL and facebook so far and have seen a few decent deals but was too late or they're a little too far away.

I bought the truck, a 65' F100 4x4 as a rolling restoration. The previous owner did a ton of work on it rebuilt the engine with his father and got the truck pretty close to paint when his father got sick. It lost storage and sat outside for a little while and got water in the carb and then down to #3 cylinder and locked up the engine. There's enough work to do just to get the truck straightened out that an engine rebuild is out of the question. I do have the Offy manifold and Holley carb from the old engine though.

 

That's really unfortunate on the water. What a way to ruin a good engine. And it sounds like it's a really cool project (do you have pics?)

Where are you located? I have a 300 in my garage out of an '86 that's begging for a rebuild.

 

No pics, I will post some soon. Thanks for the offer, i'd love to take a ride and pick it up, Unfortunately I'm 50 miles west of Boston, so maybe next time haha.

 

The boss is still there and drilled but not tapped on my '94 and '95 blocks.

 

Good to know. That'd be a really easy $5 fix, if needed.

 

Some blocks like my 88 have the bolt holes drilled and tapped. Be careful cutting out the boss as just going off the gasket may cause the pump arm to hit the block, you need to cut pretty far down. While building it mock it up with the cam slid in and be sure the pump doesn't jam against the block.

 

Thanks guys, I'm on the look out for an early 80's block..maybe I'll go with a rebuild if I can get ahead of all the other stuff in my way. I'm afraid that the block I have is too rusted to go just .010" over stock bore, so I'll just keep looking on CL and facebook..

 

You can take them to 0.040" over without worrying. Some people go 0.060" over, but I feel that's pushing it. I usually like to keep them to 0.030" over when rebuilding them. A good machine shop should be able to sonic check the cylinders to make sure.