I am doing a frame off rebuild of my 1989 F150 4x4 short bed pick up. It came with a 302 EFI motor and five speed manual transmission. What I'd like to do is drop a 6.8L V10 and a six speed OD manual transmission from an F250 into this thing. There's NO info about this anywhere that I can find. I need someone who knows way more about this than me to tell me if this is possible or not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Assuming it will all fit, it would be ALOT of custom work. Off the top of my head, you would need new engine mounts, tranny mounts, getting the shifter through the floor, you would have to get the ECU from the V10 along with alot of the other little sensors and whatnot. You would have to find some way to get the gauges all working (might could get some custom speedo/tach made up), among many other things.

It sounds expensive
Good luck, if it works out be sure to show plenty of pics

 

Thanks for the opinion. It should all fit okay right? I ordered it with heavy duty suspension so it's almost an F250 already. The guy doing the rebuild is working out of a garage that belongs to drag racers so I'm hoping they will do the motor work. Would it maybe be easier if I got a newer frame and put the '89 body on top of it?

 

In my opinion, if your frame is not rusted out or bent or anything like that, just keep it. If you change the frame to a newer style one, it seems it'd be easier (and cheaper) just to switch to a new body as well (wouldnt have to fab up a way to mount your old body to a new frame, that would mean lots of money and lots of time)...unless you just really like the body style.

 

The frame is pretty rusty and we're looking for a cleaner one from down south to rebuild on. Body and suspension will be mostly stock. we're planning on a 2" body and 2" frame lift, 30" tires and adding rear disc brakes and a tuck and roll interior. I've been all over the place on the engine (460, the new cammer 302, etc.). My son loves the sound of diesel so I started wondering about getting my hands on a V10. It seems doable but, as you point out, rather complicated. But I've never let that stop me before! Thanks again for your insight.