Best V8 Engine For A 1949 Ford Truck F1

Hi
THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP...and Ideas,,,

I have a 1949 Ford f1 truck with original flat 6CY engine with 4 spd manual trans.
Would like to put a V8 with auto trans.....

Dont wana go crazy ,,,,What is my best choice,,,302 maybe ?? what kind car would be the best donor?
any ideas how much would be a fair price to be charged ?
Located in CT .....

Thank you for any help....



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Whoa, eating my heart out.

Most common would be a 302 or 351W swap with an AOD. You need to decide between EFI or carb. If EFI the best way is to make a deal on everything you need from a late model crash, engine, tranny, fuel tank with pump, rear end, drive shaft, all systems and wire harnesses needed to make the engine run. Could come out of a car or pickup.

Bogie

When my Dad built his '51 F1, he used a $ 500 '70 Torino as a donor for the engine/trans/rear (302-2bbl/C4/8"). Worked out very well. Still enough power to spin the tires, but reliable enough to drive anywhere anytime. The Torino had 50k on it and it ran so good that he never even rebuilt it - just replaced all the gaskets and seals. It really worked out slick. Gets 24 MPG on the highway.

For me, by far the baddest swap is an early Hemi.

It's not cheap, though, by any stretch. But the cool factor when you open the hood is off the meter, IMHO.

A big GM would be cool- any of the 455's, or better yet, Lux-Power it! 472/500 Caddy .

But yeah, a FoMoCo engine's the simplest, next easiest will be a SBC. But I'd keep it Ford, preferably a 351W.

I notice that no one is thinking ford big block. I've gotta believe there are lots of 390 / C6 combinations out there for under a thousand dollars. Most vehicles so equipped would probably also have a 9 inch rear end. I think this is an idea well worth considering.

Pat

The best engine/trans combo for your truck is whatever your preference is!! The best part of streetrodding is using whatever you want,building what your preference of style,performance,ect... I will put the target on myself,and say SMALL BLOCK CHEVROLET/350TURBO!! There are bolt in kits for most combinations, but I prefer the sbc/auto for a strong,plentiful easy to install combo. but... It's your truck,make it your preference, the only person you have to please is yourself!!

Powerstroke....

Yeah, where ever that engine goes the truck will be sure to follow.

Bogie

i just bought a '49 f-6 i want to make a car hauler out of it, problem is, it's soooo slow, the rear end is locked into high range (or so the guy says) but it takes about a half mile to get it up to 50mph, it has the original flatty in it, i want to keep the motor but what kind of rear end swap can i do, or where can i get new gears for the diff', the truck will only see maybe 1500 miles a year and will never carry more than 4500 lb or so.
does anyone know how to make a roll back out of the original bed, the truck has a really nice hoist on it.
this old truck is so sweet, it only has 33,000 miles on it with virtually no rust at all, i even think i'll be able to make the original paint look pretty good with a good buffing, it still has the 6 volt posi' ground ignition, what all needs to be done to convert it to 12 volt, just a voltage reg' and alternator? i switched a tractor over once, and that's all it took, a truck can't be much different can it??.
what's a good resto' part souce for this truck, fender welting glass etc...
thanks for any help you might have.
my e-mail is cowboydunord@hotmail.com. oh yeah one more thing, can a do a disc brake conversion on this truck.

Agree with Bogie. Donor car or truck for sure. I'd be looking for a '93 to '97 Lincoln Mark VIII. All aluminum 4.6 DOHC motor, 280 hp, AOD trans, IFS, IRS. I'd use everything out of it. Front clip, rear clip, motor, trans, cooling, computer, wiring.....everything.....except the air bag suspension. That was the Achille's heel of this particular car and the reason you can find 'em cheap sometimes. Replace with conventional springs.

I've seen several low miles, running examples here in the Phoenix area for under $2000. One of the posters on another forum said she picked one up for $800 running.

Even if it cost you $2000 for a donor, you'd have EVERYTHING you would need to convert your pick-'em-up to late model suspension, steering, brakes, EFI, etc., etc. Heck, you'd even inherit a dandy sound system with it.

If I were doing it, the only things that would still be F1 on the truck would be a short length of frame rails under the cab and the sheet metal. Everything else would be Mark VIII.

Joe G, that's one of the finest pickups I've ever seen. There's only one thing wrong with it.......it doesn't belong to me.

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You need to post this in the classified section, not the forum. Good part is it's free.

actully i didnt go the v8 route used 5.9 cummins eng was simple and plenty of power .also used 4 spd auto worked so well am now doing a 49 panel!!

Older motor homes are cheap and usually don't have many miles on them. If you want a big block engines -trans , and sell the unused parts for scrap, just a lot of work to scrap out.