My ignorance on full display

[oldtman]

I've seen a couple of Volks T's by using the older front suspension and cutting off the shock towers and mabe turning the thing upside down , not as much hammer work then shorter shocks and travel stop. A couple of 2 x 3 rails and the stock rear torsion bar- engine trans mount. basically a sand rail that you can add a t bucket body and a long pickup box or turtle deck to the rear.....A T grill shell and hood with front storage cheap and fast to build.with an older bug donor car.

 

[speedkills502]

I would go c6 the auto would be more driver friendly but if you want the stick the 5 speed is the way to go. And as someone stated all the cranks in the FE family will entry change I would put a 390 crank in it a good cam set of headers and a must a alumina intake you will know way when you take the cast one off. As for the FE you can make them super fast but it cost alot of money I would stick for clean and strong. And in a super clean truck the FE will will draw more looks then any small block ford. I have a friend that is a FE man he has a stroked one thats around 465" it makes 650 HP on pump gas with no power adder.

 

[HAceT]

Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - Ford truck and SUV owners and enthusiasts Community And Information Source.

Not being a smart tail but when I have a question that is for my Dodge or the other cars I go to the other sites. They have the answers. It'll make your life alot easier and some won't here wont start asking who we are.

 

[Screaming Metal]

Okay, as some of you know, I've got this 352 FE and I badly want it to be my engine of choice for my rod. What can I do to this engine to get the most out of it? It is my understanding that this engine belongs to the family of engines that range between the 352 to 390 to 427 up to a 460 and other sizes in between. What's available to me? Who do I turn to? Where do I begin?

It is embarrassing to me that I don't understand most of what is said in the engines and drivelines section of this forum, but I'm eager to learn. Help point me in the right direction.

Lastly, what transmission do I use with it? There is no way I'm using the stock 3 speed manual transmission that came with it. I had a 70 F100 that had a 390 and a C6 transmission, it had power to pull, but it didn't seem all that fast. My 85 with a 351W and a C6 transmission seems much faster than that 70 was. So I'm confused. I wouldn't mind having a manual transmission, is there a 5 or 6 speed that can be used?

The boat car plan is scrapped. I've decided I want to rebuild my first love. I want to turn my 90 Ford F150 into a beast, but I want to do it right. I don't want just another loud truck, I want something that is good enough to put in car shows. And I don't care if it takes me years to get it right as long as I do get it right. I'm already working on getting the doors changed out so I can do away with junk electric windows and locks.

So where do I begin? Any books, suppliers, etc. that can help me?

Maybe after that build I'll understand enough about what I'm doing to build a kick ass T-bucket.

Yup.....Mango, Ron, Der .......all given ya solid advice.....WHAT Exactly you want to do with this engine........how fast you wanna go????? How durable you want it or need it????

Hey.....you've got a bunch of guys here that know all there is to be know about T's right here.....these guys eat, sleep, and belch T's.......( sorry guys.....)......if ya want a truck.....build a truck......want a T, build a T.............

Youngster has some kick booty plans...........Ron and Spirit can fix ya up with brackets and bodies........

And Ron is totally right..................there is NO substitute for cubic Inches...........460 is just a grunt shy of 500 cubic inches.........just think....thats over 100 cubic inches largerthan a 351 Cleveland.
Ever been behind one on those banging the gears, racing??????

Nowdays........theres no standard for cubes..........hell, street engines with serious racing intent are now usually over 500 cubes............big cube mouse motors almost 500......Mountain motors.........no limit.......if you can get it to clear the block.....they make it..........

Wanna rush? Sit behind a all out 'poked and stroked' 460 thats 500+ cubes with a 8-71 Roots sucking thru a pair of 1050 dominators..........
I went for a ride last week on the gulf coast in a race boat with THAT engine in it..............

We took off......... at 60 foot......I lost my sunglasses, at about 80 foot....I lost my cap and the papers outta my pocket........... at about 150 feet..........I was beginning to loose my lunch! WWWWEEEEeeeeeee.....

It sure was fun......backed out of it about 250 feet..............

 

[jbisme]

Thanks HAceT for the link. I signed up on that forum. I would have figured what body I use for my engine has little to do with what forum I talk to.

Wanna rush? Sit behind a all out 'poked and stroked' 460 thats 500+ cubes with a 8-71 Roots sucking thru a pair of 1050 dominators..........

I don't know what you said. 8-71 roots sucked through 1050 dominators sounds painful, you might want to have that checked out by a doctor.

speedkills502,
I'm leaning your way of thinking. If I knew what I was doing on the kickdown linkage, I might go with the C6.


Lastly, I outta smack you guys for bringing up Volkswagen on my thread. I'm thinking of sending Volkswagen a bill for therapy. Those garbage cars ruined my teenage years.

 

[Mr. Fixit]

If what you really want is a T Bucket why not just build that. This is a T Bucket forum and the there are a lot of people here to help.

If you are not going to build a T :lol:,and If you are set on a truck, not to steer you (pardon the pun) away from this forum, you should check out the hot rodders forum too for general hot rodding advice.

Hotrodders Bulletin Board

Good luck...

 

[jbisme]

Sounds like a good idea, because the Ford truck forum is so scattered with too many sub divisions, I'm not getting anything out of them and my question is getting hard to find.

 

[Screaming Metal]

Come on dude................build a T!!!!:lol:

 

[mikesplumbing]

I'm with the screaming metal meister.......get your balls out of your purse and build a T. Your gonna go through the effort anyway. If you build a T everyone here can support you. Look how far I am already, I knew nothing about T Buckets a couple weeks ago but because of asking questions everyone helped and now I have parts all over the garage including the steel for the frame and I have less than $200 in it so far.......do the math, a T bucket is the beez kneez and can be had for cheaper than just about any rod out there.............The added bonus is the T has some serious but kickin curb appeal.

Mike

 

[jbisme]

Okay, lets pretend I wanted to use a 460 that I don't have in the truck and the 352 that I do have for a T, is there any one that can help me figure out how to swap the 3 speed manual transmission for a C6? I need to know what linkage I need from the carb to the tranny, so the passing gear will work proper.

Yes I said C6, because if I'm going to build a T-bucket it will be a widened and stretched bucket body so there will be room for my feet around a C6 transmission. It will have a C6, because I want this baby to pull a teardrop trailer. I wanna go camping before I'm 40. There you guys happy? I'm putting off rebuilding the truck 2 years, because I want to carefully plan out every detail. In the meantime, I can putter around on a bucket.

That Ford forum was making me mad. Buncha idiots... telling me the 352 is a Y-block and not a big block, even though Ford calls it a big block. And then another idiot saying the 352 is a junk motor even though that particular motor is still all origional. It leaks bad, but still origional.

 

[HAceT]

I'm with the screaming metal meister.......get your balls out of your purse and build a T. Your gonna go through the effort anyway. If you build a T everyone here can support you. Look how far I am already, I knew nothing about T Buckets a couple weeks ago but because of asking questions everyone helped and now I have parts all over the garage including the steel for the frame and I have less than $200 in it so far.......do the math, a T bucket is the beez kneez and can be had for cheaper than just about any rod out there.............The added bonus is the T has some serious but kickin curb appeal.

Mike

I agree with Mike....I started my build Sept. 08 with nothing but a motor, tranny and front axle. Finished the builds May 09 and have over 6,000 miles and smiles on her and only $4,500 invested. Can't do that with no truck.

Now for your tranny question you'll play heck asking that here since most T's use simple hookups. Most are running GM setups and some Ford SB. If the motor or parts are hard to find to find or repair then most like me move on. Just saying maybe that 352 and tranny deal might not be your best bet. But don't hold me to it....I know nothing about Fords.... all I know is that when I mess with them they are harder to work on... my tools don't fit.......

 

[jbisme]

Yes I know most people use crate GM stuff. There's just no creativity in that. I guess that's my biggest disappointment about many t-buckets. I want something that stands way out from what anybody else is doing. Parts aren't hard to come by for my engine, I just wanted to use a more modern transmission. Which can be done with an adapter, but I want to be certain of what overdrive transmission to use. I'd hate to buy an expensive adapter only to be disappointed in the performance.

I was all in for building the boat car, which was going to have some of the same characteristics as t-buckets. (Maybe that's why I chose to post on this forum. Did any of you bucket purists ever think of that?) But then I observed my truck starting to show signs of getting old, and I still want my baby around. As stupid as this sounds, giving up on my 90 truck does make me cry. I'm willing to spend a generous amount of money over time to keep that truck around.

Maybe I need therapy.

Its beginning to look like I just going to have to buy books. There are several on FE rebuilding and I found a book on C6 transmissions. So much for this so-called information superhighway. All I've gotten out of the Ford forum is arguments over the FE being a big block or a Y block and why would I want to use a 352 in the first place. As if any of that nonsense is of help to me.

Forgive the rant, but it is looking like I'm all alone on this one, not that I'm surprised.

 

[Screaming Metal]

i'm with the screaming metal meister.......get your balls out of your purse and build a t. Your gonna go through the effort anyway. If you build a t everyone here can support you. Look how far i am already, i knew nothing about t buckets a couple weeks ago but because of asking questions everyone helped and now i have parts all over the garage including the steel for the frame and i have less than $200 in it so far.......do the math, a t bucket is the beez kneez and can be had for cheaper than just about any rod out there.............the added bonus is the t has some serious but kickin curb appeal.

Mike

---amen........---

 

[der Spieler]

I would dump the 352. It's a dinosaur. Look in the Summit and Jegs catalogs and see what is available for that engine. You will more than likely find nothing. A focal point in a T is the engine. it is one of the first things people see. You are going to want to have all kinds of shiny and some not so shiny bits there to display your workmanship, Valve covers, timing chain cover, aluminum high-rise intake, shiny headers, etc. Instead of trying to build the 352 and suffering through the disappointment of not being able to find rare and nonexistent parts and everntually losing interest and abandoning the project go to a junk yard and find a 302 or 351W and a C4 (you don't need a C6 in a T). Millions of these engines were manufactured and there are thousands of good ones in the junk yards. You don't need to invest a ton in a crate motor. Rebuild kits to freshen up the 302/352W engine are cheap and readily available at Northern Auto Parts. All of the shiny bits are available from Summit, Jegs and Speedway in abundant quantities. And they have a great selection of cams if you want a little 'thump' in your idle. Speedway makes all of the motor mounts and crossmembers for the small block Ford and the C4 for a reasonable price. The small block Ford, like the small block Chevy, is a proven commodity. They have been on the road since the early 60s starting with the first 260 V8 and like the Chevy have endured the test of time. And don't forget our advertisers. Ron Pope makes a lot of stuff for Ts and he probably has the ability to make a lot of stuff not listed. This ain't rocket science. T's are very basic rudimentary automobiles. Keep it simple and do it.

 

[mikesplumbing]

IMHO, just forget about being creative. Sometimes in life it's best for a younger fella with no experience to not put many custom ideas in a project. Go the easy route and the odds of having a T bucket complete are pretty good. But if, like you said earlier, have no experience and right out of the gate start customizing in areas you could be setting yourself up for a bunch of time and money spent and still end up with no ride.

I'm going the customized route but i'm good at starting a project and completing it. I'm just looking out for your best interest. If you decide to build a Bucket it doesn't matter who on this forum is happy, that's for you to decide. Do yourself a favor and decide, then write your goal down. Once you do that, then develope a road map to complete it.

Mike

 

[Choctaw Bob]

352?

I've had lots of experience with FE Fords, 332-352-360-390-406-427-428.
If you want to use the 352 for a T-Bucket it would work fine. They're 200 pounds heavier than a 350 Chevy or 302 Ford but lighter than the Big block Chevy I have in mine. They have gobs of torque and lots of parts available.

My guess is that it would be unlikely that you could ever get the 91 Ford Truck to pass emission systems inspection with a 352. You could make as much horsepower by adding a blower or nitrous to your stock engine as long as you don't over do it.

Its nearly always difficult to get a straight answer from the folks on forums. This forum hasn't been around long enough for most except the seniors to become arrogant and blow you off.

These kind of questions should remind us all of the time that we were ignorant if we can remember that far back.

 

[jbisme]

IMHO, just forget about being creative. Sometimes in life it's best for a younger fella with no experience to not put many custom ideas in a project. Go the easy route and the odds of having a T bucket complete are pretty good. But if, like you said earlier, have no experience and right out of the gate start customizing in areas you could be setting yourself up for a bunch of time and money spent and still end up with no ride.

I'm going the customized route but i'm good at starting a project and completing it. I'm just looking out for your best interest. If you decide to build a Bucket it doesn't matter who on this forum is happy, that's for you to decide. Do yourself a favor and decide, then write your goal down. Once you do that, then develope a road map to complete it.

Mike

I have building experience...

The trike you are looking at has a 2.3 Ford from a 78 Gremlin the C4 transmission and rear from a 84 Mustang 2. The leaf springs came from a Postal Jeep along with the gear shift and radiator. The gas tank is custom made. Hell the shocks in the back was leftovers from a bug I had. The front fork is from a Hondamatic 750. All of this was built by me and a buddy that's a better welder than I am.

Mike, in the future don't assume.

 

[jbisme]

Bob, don't have to worry about emissions in Kansas... yet. I'm thinking of using a different engine for the truck.

Do they offer a blower for a inline 6 EFI? Now you got me on a mission to see.

 

[jbisme]

Steve (der Spieler),
I agree I don't need a C4, but C4's are garbage for pulling. I'll still use a C6 or and adapter to another large transmission. Flatheads are dinosaurs too, but they're still around. I'll stubbornly stick with the 352 FE. It will need the weight to counterbalance my trailer.

 

[der Spieler]

You can buy speed parts for a flathead.