I am looking at buying a 78 f-150 4x4 for a project/fun/muddin' truck. I have yet to look at it, but have talked to the owner.
It has a 6 cylinder in it, i guess it's the 300 inline 6, but i don't know. Is this engine worth having? and if not, can it easy be swapped out for a v8 of some kind?
It also has a four speed? manual transmission, if that matters.
Any other info about a 78 4x4 that may be of help in my purchase would be much appreated. Thanks.
Mudcat

 

I used to own one of those things.. great truck to go muddin with.... I can tell you that we took the one barrel carb off... replaced it with a 4 barrel (adpater place for the intake), added a cam and headder, and that thing could not get stuck if you tried... its not going to have a ton of HP.. but the numbers on the torque after our build figured to be well over 370 lbs... not bad for a six....

hell.. you cant kill those inline engines.. they just dont have much hp. .... but if you are going to need torque... you cant beat them

 

The I6 was originally and international tractor engine back in the 50's. It's built like a tank. As construction vehicles my father typically gets about 130K befor a rebuild is necessary. I have 92K on mine as a daily driver and it still doesn't burn a drop of oil inbetween oil changes.

 

The engine can be swapped for a v8. The usual nighmares of engine swaps apply. Some things might be easier though. Since the 300 was reasonbly torquey the transmissions are not always weak. The bellhousing may bolt up to some other Ford V8s. The engine is heavy, so springs should not be a problem. For a project/fun turck the I6 can be a blast. To compete, I think a common Ford engine might be more cost effective buildup.

Also the Ford I6 is not an IH of any sort. It is a progression of a long line of Ford I6 engines dating into the earily 40's.

See this web site for some details.

http://www.geocities.com/edwins63/I6ID.html

 

thanks for the info, but that truck turned out to be a lemon anyhow. what luck.
Thanks