Hello FTE,

few months ago i bought a 1977 highboy with a tired and leaky 351m and a C6, car is in a good shape and rust free, PO restored the exterior and the interior well, but I'm not confident with the engine, transmission and drivetrain. parts for old fords are rare around here and i can see why he had difficulties with that side, Luckily for me that dropped the price.

now to the future of the truck. I don't plan to sell this car at all, I'm 23 and it will be my first project car, built to be reliable, carry stuff around and go off-road.

So, my first step is to engine swap the truck, we own a 1991 E350 RV that no one wants to bother with and i can take the EFI 460 and E4OD and other stuff from it, I'm currently researching what parts would i need to do the swap ( i need to think ahead because i have to order the parts from the US and that takes time and i cant afford ordering the wrong parts nor ask for refunds or send the wrong parts back)

and i got some few questions about the 460

• is it good enough to keep it EFI or should i change the intake manifold and cylinder heads and go carb im aiming for around 350-400hp, sand is ruthless and power is appreciated.
• i think id need a TCM if i change to carb if im not mistaken
• what are some manual transmission options do i have?

lastly i'd like to rewire the whole truck and upgrade the ac. any thoughts about American autowire kits? and did any one try the vintage air kit ( truck has factory AC)


thanks !

 

That's an ambitious project! I've looked at doing a 460+E4OD swap on my '78 and decided to build the 351M into a 400 and keep the stock undercarriage for now. Maybe an E4OD in the future when I have access to fab tooling. I didn't get too far down the road but it's definitely possible.

Given your location and desire to DIY, you may be better served with keeping it closer to stock. The 351M can be built up as a decent engine by an experienced engine builder and the C6+NP205 is a very reliable combination offroad.

Doing a complete drivetrain swap would be a major undertaking for an experienced builder here in the USofA with relatively good parts availability, but maybe you guys have some experienced offroad fab gurus that can come up with some drivetrain wizardry. These trucks are very good at taking all manner of odd engine and drivetrain swaps, so maybe there's something locally abundant (Toyota? Nissan?) that might work really well under the hood of your rig.

 

Correct me if I am mistaken, but I believe the transmission belhousing pattern, or the 351m/400 is the same as the 460 .
if so , there are many post on the swap here.
no need to change heads , just I take , and go carb. And duraspark .
My 76 was a 360 ,a 4 speed and 205 . Now has a 460 with the same trans and transfer case.
I believe ther is a company called L&l that makes a swap for the 460 I to these trucks .
Fakebook has a group of highboy enthusiasts, and a lot of nonsense, but good information.