Not exactly 5.0 tech but...

[boXman]

Impala's and Caprices got a V6,not an I6. I drove an '83 Impala with one, I liked it.

[FastGallopingPonies]

88mercwagon - see my sig. it's rusty, I've done quite a bit of body work to it, basically to work on my skills. Fuel pump died so I dropped the tank and never went any further. Brake and fuel lines are rotted in a few places. It hasn't seen the road in about 2 years. The frame is in good shape, the body isn't horrible but it isn't pristine either. I've just lost interest, I really want to find myself a nice wagon, but it seems impossible.

[88MercWagon]

PM sent

[Mercracer]

1. would the AOD bolt up to a 300?

The 300 I-6 has the same bolt pattern as the small block V-8 and the T-bird 3.8. You must use the 300 AOD flexplate though.

[Tiggie]

You guys are right, the 302 tranny will bolt to the 300. Memory lapse which seem to be happening more and more frequently.

[88Vic]

More thread digging. I'm getting into the drop an inline 6 into a Panther idea. I've been seriously considering finding a Vic wagon and dropping in a 300 and the 5 speed manual. It won't be fast by any means, but with a few mods like true dual exhaust, ported head, Offenhauser intake and a 650 CFM 4bbl carb, a bigger cam(but not too big), and 3.73 trac-loc gears, it may be quicker than a wagon with a 302.

Some people have said that the engine would be too tall with the stock hood. I've been looking on the FSP board, and there are Mustangs with 250's and I saw one with a 300. He had to do a few mods to make it fit, but it came out great.

Wouldn't there be more room in a wagon's engine bay than a Mustang? I'd love to stuff a 300 into a wagon, but I don't want to have to do any serious mods to make it fit. I'm fairly sure a 200/240/250 inline 6 would fit with no trouble, but i'd rather have a 300.

Anyone have any ideas on this, anything big i'm missing?

[OVERKILL]

I had a 300 in my F-250, which I replaced with a 302HO. It had a C6 and the bellhousing bolt pattern was identical, as was the starter mounting and everything else. The only difference was the flexplate that I recall.

The 300 I6 makes sick torque. It would pull the asshole out of the world, just wouldn't do it very quickly. The torque curve was pretty much flat too, but she was all done by about 3,500RPM, very much like a diesel.

The 300 I6 is a tractor motor. That's where it started life. It eventually got stuck in the F-series. It is a VERY basic motor, cam-in-block, big deep pan, huge open combustion chambers and a gear drive for the camshaft. The early engines had steel timing gears, which were noisy, Ford changed it up in later years and used Nylon. I had the Nylon ones and I broke a gear, which is why I changed out the engine. Mine was EFI, retrofitting SEFI into the truck was a little fun and involved an '86 Mustang ECM, Town Car wiring harness and some other stuff. But it DID work.

The I6 mounts to the truck on "plates" that bolt to the frame and the motor mounts. These "plates" are removable to facilitate the installation of different engines in the Ford trucks. How those plates would mate up to a panther, well, I don't think they would. I had to remove the I6 plates and install the 302 plates to put the 302 in mine. They were completely different, as the I6 plates are much larger to accommodate the much narrower engine. Length-wise the I6 is big, but its not 14-million miles long. Its maybe 6 inches or so longer than the V8, which on the truck wasn't much, but might put it pretty close to your rad on the car. You would most likely need to use an electric fan.

There is a lot of performance info on the 300 I6 if you know where to look. A common upgrade is milling the living hell out of the head, porting it, installing larger valves and better springs. This brings up the compression a fair bit, which, since its a tractor engine, isn't all that high. The Offy 4-barrel intake, since you are going carb'd, is also a great piece. There is a company that makes some nice exhaust for it as well, really nice headers, I think its banks or something.

You could always top it with a nice custom cam as well when you are all done

[88Vic]

So a problem I may run into would be the mounting plates. Do all cars use mounting plates, or do some just use the motor mounts? If the later is true, then could I just use the motor mounts and leave out the plates somehow? Also, would I be able to close the stock hood with this engine, or would I need to make a raised hood? If I decide to do this, it would just be a weekend car, since I plan on getting a beater as a daily driver.
Also, i'd like to be able to use a manual from a truck, but I think making a pedal assembly and cutting a spot for the shifter may be a bit over my head, so the truck auto would be fine, or if I could use the stock wagon trans but beefed up a bit, that would be awesome.

[OVERKILL]

You could use the wagon tranny.

THe plates are what the motor mounts mount to. On the trucks, they use the plates because of the different engine choices, you still need motor mounts.

I am not sure about hood clearance...........

[88Vic]

So you think the mounting plates are too big to use? Did you ever measure them too see how large they were? If not, I can go on the FSP forum and ask one of those guys. But for comparison, how big are the motor mounts and mounting plates in Panthers?

[Mercmarquis]

a 650 4bbl on a 300 six...a lil over carbed in my opinion...

I dont think it'll fit under the hood at all, They are tall motors. might need to do some fire wall and core support fab cause its so long too. Another problem your going to have to adress is the oil pan, I dont think the truck oil pan will clear the front K member.

[88Vic]

A 650 4bbl shouldn't be too much with the mods i'm planning. I don't think any firewall fab will be necessary, cuz like Overkill said it's only about 6" longer than the 302, and with an electric fan setup that'll give me a bit more room. Also, I think the oil pan from a 240/250 will work, since the guy with the 300 in his Mustang is using a 240 oil pan.
These are all just slightly educated guesses on my part, i'm not 100% sure about any of it.

[gabegt90]

when talking about tight space here's couple of pics of a ranger at the yard when my and matt went I think the motors a 240 sright 6 talk about tight

[88Vic]

Wow, that is a tight fit, I wouldn't have thought that would fit into a Ranger.
Anyways, I talked to my friend today and he said that he'll probably sell me his 84 F150 for $1000 or less. It runs as strong as ever(it should with a 300), the transmission is in good condition but he said it's a little hard to shift when it's cold outside but I think that's normal for a truck that old, and everything else is fine except a part of the steering I can't remember what part he said, but he's fixing that soon so it'll be a perfect ruck for the money. The only bad thing is, he says it smells bad, I didn't ask what it smelled like or what caused it, but that shouldn't be hard to fix just shampoo the interior and let it air out for a day then put in an air freshiner.
So because of everything going on this summer and my lack of resources(tools, space, knowledge) i'm just gonna get the truck and keep the 300 in it. It'll be cheaper, less work and less time consuming to just leave it as is.
I was thinking about what i'd do to a wagon if I ever got one, and almost everything i'd do, Mike has already done to his, but i'd change around a few things, can't copy him exactly. So i'm giving up my 300 wagon plans, for now...

[Nathan in MI]

A 650 4bbl shouldn't be too much with the mods i'm planning.

Have you done the math to find that out for sure? You'd need to really have that engine built to the hilt to make it use anywhere near 650 cfm. You're more likely going to want something in the range of 390 cfm.