302 swap into 1953 ford pickup need tech help

so im helping a friend of mine out. hes a bodyman, and is redoing a 53 ford pickup. keeping stock chassis. converting the front to disc brakes, plumbing, and adding a 302/auto combo for him. in exchange, hes painting my daily/GRM challenge car.

anyway, i have a question that google has not been able to answer for me.

im getting just the bare frame, that has been sandblasted and painted. reassembling the suspension and doing the brakes is no problem. did that before on my 54 flatbed (granted that was over a decade ago....)
problem is, theres no motor mounts, and no body. so how do i know where to locate the motor? does anyone have any dimensions for me? if someone could tell me how far, relative to an easily repeateble point, top place the end of the crank snout, i can do the rest. do not want to touch the firewall or have to clearance any sheetmetal. close to the firewall is fine, but no cutting.

were using the speedway engine and trans mounts ffor this truck.

also, since i am NOT a ford guy.....

what factory distributor should i use? the motor is out of a 92 mustang, withn an edelbrock intake and a carter carb. distributor is still the EFI one (motor was purchased with full EFI setup, but he didnt want that. he wanted a carb.)
also, well be using a c6 automatic behind it (tried to talk him into an AOD, but he wants a 3 speed....) what do i do for kickdown linkage?
im mostly a mopar guy, so please point me in the right direction.

thanks
Michael<!-- google_ad_section_end --> <!-- / message -->

 

Here's another resource. Tons of good info.

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum41/

 

sorry about my first post i didnt see your thread said pickup , might want to try over at the ford barn also http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/index.php

 

Aftermarket distributor, or (double-check this) 86 Ford Mustang GT distributor from Rock Auto, etc. - you need the one with the right gear for your roller motor.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=700518
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=696916

Please try to talk him into an AOD again. Any long trips will be more expensive and louder without the overdrive, and they can be built strong. Send him over to the "click click racing" site for some good AOD tips on how strong they can be built, etc.

 

I have a 302 with C6 setup in my '52 Ford F1 pickup. I'm reasonably pleased with it now, but if I had it to do over again I probably would have went with an AOD. The main problem with the C6 is that it's a 3-speed. I had to go to 2.80 rearend gears to get reasonable rpm's at cruising speed.

On the distributer issue, I wound up using a GM style HEI ignition like this one on mine. It was very inexpensive and it works great.

 

would the 52 be the same as a 53 as far as measurements for motor placement go?

 

Are you welding in a crossmember for mounts or using one of the bolt in ones? I have a bolt in one from CPP in my '57 with a 351W/C4 and it sits directly over the axle if that helps any.

 

yup. using the bolt in from speedway.

 

Nope.
The '53 is an F-100 and the '52 is an F-1.

The '86 GT is a fair distributer but it is still a smog dizzy. It will need to be recurved to run the way we like 'em to run. GMC Bubba can do that if you ar not comfortable with it.

I wish I could help you with a dimension for engine placement.

 

was that the crank snout, or mounts that sat directly over the axle?

 

The distributor you want is from 85 gt manual trans mustang. They have the right steel gear and work good out of the box.

 

JC Whitney carries the engine crossover mount that is the same as everyone else's.
Do not remove the mount behind the motor as you will get to much flex.
The mount will center over the rubber axle bumps and bolt in.
I've used these on several swaps and they work well,assuming your staying with the ubeam axle.
I've done several F100 builds using tke axle.
Pm me if you want. I'm building one now.

 

With the engine in, the bolt in crossmember sits directly above the axle.

Not the best picture

 

On my '57, the crossmember sits DIRECTLY above the axle, it does not clear at all. If I took the springs out and lowered it, the crossmember would sit directly on the axle. The notch was there because the mounts I had in there before I got the crossmember had the engine sitting too low and the balancer pulley rubbed.

 

Ok I understand. Haven't done a swap in the 57 and newer.

 

I would get a gm style hei for the sbf from somewhere like summit. you can order it with the correct gear. easy to wire, less messy.

Oh and AOD ftw or if he want to get real fancy a t5 would be an easy swap.

 

When the motor compartment is plenty deep why would anyone mount a motor so low that the mount cross member sits so close to the Axle and you need to notch the core support cross member? I don't get it.
Since you don't have the Cab on the frame the next best thing to do is mount a core support and rad on the frame. In my 53 Ford, from the firewall to the stock Rad is 34". I would then hang the motor in the hole and raise it "up" so the mechanical fan would actually do it's job and build some mounts. Screw Kits! It's a walk in the park if you can do some basic fab work. Also go get a 65-66 Ford full size trans crossmember and sit it inside the frame and bolt it to the bottom frame flange. You'll need to trim 1/2" off each end to do that. Sit your chassis at desired ground angle (up some in the back) and get the motor up 2 degrees in the front, give or take to suit yourself. Wish I had some photos of 302 - - F-100 to show you, I've done many. It's about as easy as it gets. A 302 is 29" from the back of the head to the front of the water pump. That little Hemi is only 27". That's a 3.5" fan spacer. I like 1" between the Rad and fan blade. My way isn't the only way but it's been working for 40+ years.
The Wizzard

 

thanks guys!!!!