Hey guys I had a question I have a 53 f100 and I am installing a a 283 witha 700r4 and I am ordering a new crossmember . I have bolt in motor mounts my question is how far back should I mount the motor I want to keep it centered over the axle for balance and not to be nose heavy. I was just curious if anyone on here has done this I searched the how to forums and came up short here it is when I picked it up and what it looks like with the front sheet metal on it but hopefully its road worthy by early july my dad has a 55 that I can look at it and he is a coneseur of these trucks and has owned his for 30 years.
I think the balance you are looking for should be somewhere under the cab. That is if your talking about center of gravity of the whole truck. CG can be checked but all the components must be installed. If you dont want to do that I have had the best luck with moving the engine as far back as I can.
I don't think you will run into a weight bias issue with the small block. Most likely it weighs the same or less than the engine that came out of the truck. Set It in with just enough room to work on it comfortably at the firewall and where the exhaust clears the steering. you will probably have to run ramhorn style exhaust but may get away with the later style. Myself I'd trial fit it and see how it clears everything and go from there. The F100 sites should be full of photos of trucks with this swap as it's been done hundreds of times.
Just set the engine about a inch or so off the firewall ... leaving plenty of room for a big HEI distributor ... and offset the engine to the passenger side a little for clearance with the exhaust/steering box. Had a coupe of 56 F-100 Big Windows done this way worked out great.
I don't think you will have any problems if you mount the engine in the same location as the original. Leave enought room between the firewall an ignition for adjustment and you will be O.K. Those trucks are pretty light in the rearend so I don't think you could get it far enough back to cause any problems/
well the problem is that it was a flat head in it originally and it had a mount in the front of the fram and then the crossmember for the tranny supported the rest but that crossmember will be out obviously and I measured it and from the tailshaft of the tranny to the water pump is 57 inches and so I will have to wait the the crossmember is delivered. Man I hate waiting for stuff to get here I want to get the motor in it and drive this thing this summer.
looks to me there is plenty of room ... just stick it in , make sure everything clears ok (steering/ firewall/radiator) and make some mounts couldn't the stock tranny crossmember be modified ?
Don't make it any harder than it is. This is probably one of the easiest swaps to do. Lots of room in the effie and Like Deuce Roadster said you need to make sure you have clearance around the steering box and room at the back of the engine for an HEI if you want to install one. In the swaps I've done I've usually mounted the trans first where I wanted it and then set the engine with the top of the carb level. If you are using the universal mounts and cross members it should be pretty easy to set the engine/trans just where you want them.
Leave room for a socket and ratchet on the top bellhousing bolts. If they ever strip you will need to hammer a 14mm on it and will need a little breathing room.
yeah the tranny wont be bolted in till the engine is dropped in and I have enough room to remove the dist when needed but looks like the back of the tranny will be under the middle of the cab. and I know lots of people have done this but I couldnt find anything on the web.
I put a SBC and 700r4 in my '54. I put it as far back as it would go while still being able to pull the HEI. I put it 1 1/8 to the pass side to clear the steering and centered the tailshaft. It fits with shorty headers too. Works great. Here's a pic.
Yeah thats exactly what I was looking for a visual and I planned on leaving room behind the motor and the firewall so I could get the DIST out and I am running ram horn manifolds on it so the steering will clear.
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