Hi I have a question. I have a 1976 f250, and I was wondering if I could swap in the drivetrain from a mid early-mid 90’s mercury (the same car as the crown vic) into my f250. I don’t use the truck for much in the extra heavy load range (a cord of dry wood once in a while, nothing huge). The engine from the car is a v8, fyi. What would that entail? would it be feasable? I can get the car for pretty cheap, so that is not a problem, but would it be a challange to swap a newer engine into an old chassy? elcectical? efi? anything like that?
Well,I’m not very familiar with newer Fords, so I’m not sure what transmission the Merc has, but I’m betting it’s an overdrive, and not the C6 3spd the truck probably has- and if that transmission is a different length than the C6, then you’ll also have issues mating it to the driveshaft. I suspect your truck has a two piece shaft, so you’d probably have to either find another short shaft that fit (unlikely?), or have one fabricated, or try and switch to a one piece.
Also, if that newer engine is relying on an electrical fuel pump in the tank, then you’ll have to rig an electrical one for the truck too, as the truck engine has a mechanical pump.
You’ll need the computer from the car, and yes, I imagine the electrical rewiring will be a chore.
Plus, you’ll probably need to fabricate a new exhaust system, or try and use the one from the car, otherwise the exh. manifolds won’t meet up with the exh. pipe from the truck. Plus, you’ll need the catalytic converter from the car, and some way to rig up the oxygen sensors from the car, otherwise the computer will get error codes and run funny.
I could go on, but I’m hoping you’ve been thoroughly discouraged by this point.
Why do you want to do this swap anyway? Why not just buy and drive the car?
The car is wrecked, it needs a new axle, quarter panel and rim/tire. not to mention that it might have frame damage.
I like the old trucks, that’s why.
It has a one piece driveline. My 73 does have a two piece though.
Not to mention all of the electronics the mid-90’s engine has that would have nowhere to go in the’76 truck.
Someone has, probably lots of people have, done this already. Don’t reinvent the wheel; find Ford PU boards and ask. This will probably not be economic unless you do it yourself. The Merc’s drivetrain is essentially the same as the contemporary F150s. The F250s probably have a stouter trans. If you load it and drive it like an F150 instead of an F250, you should be fine if the axle ratio is low enough and you stay out of overdrive while loaded. Some complications to look for have already been mentioned.
Motor and transmission mounts will need to be fitted and may require frame mods. You probably already understand this. The 4.6L engine has a relatively high deck height and is wider compared to the push rod engines (302 and 351W) and the heads are relatively bulky so it is possible that there will be fit issues. They did put 460s in these didn?t they? Keep in mind that lots of stock oil pans are available for the 4.6L if you are having trouble fitting that. You might have change the oil pick-up if you change the pan. You can look at Mustang, F-series, E-series, Continental, Thunderbird, Cougar, Mark, Aviator,?. The throttle bodies are arranged to open on different sides (front, right or left), as well, in case fitting is a problem. You may need to keep the original MAF sensor if you don?t want to buy a custom tune for a swap.
If you use the transmission from the Merc, (Early-mid 90s covers AOD, AODE and 4R70W so you have to get this down when you post on the PU board.) you will have the correct speed signal for the PCM.
IIRC, before mid ?92 they AOD used the same bellhousing pattern as the 302 and whatever trans was used behind them. Mid-year they switched to ADOE and a different bellhousing pattern. The ?E? is for electronic control. The AOD has a kick-down cable. The AODE does it electronically.
If you want to use the truck trans, … oh, ?. no, don’t try to use the truck trans.
Velo is right about the fuel pump, but how about trying to fit the whole fuel tank from the Merc? If you can strap it in there safely, it would be so much easier and less expensive. You will have to rig up a fuel gauge if you do that. If the Merc has a separate transmission cooler in front of the radiatior, use that too. (That depends on the year as well.)
I don’t think that the rewiring will be that much trouble. The only things that go to or from the PCM or engine come from the PCM or engine except the speed sensor and oxygen sensors. I can? think of anything else, but I am getting old. You just need the whole engine/PCM wiring harness from the Merc and find places to mount stuff under the truck hood. There should be plenty of potential under there.
If you are really, really lucky, the Merc exhaust system will fit until you get enough behind the cats to get the oxygen sensor ports. If you are running off-road only, you can use sensor fakers on for downstream sensors, but you need the upstream sensors to control the air/fuel mix.
That is what comes to mind first. Again, for the love of god, find the people that have done this before. Search with terms like ?F250? , ?engine swap? and ?4.6l? or ?modular motor?.