Ford 300 6cyl

I have a fairly built ford 300 6cyl that I plan on dropping in place of my 230 in the next few weeks. I went with the straight 6 to avoid issues with the exhaust, Pto, and just general fit. I have been told that there were several zoners using this set up and was wondering if anyone had some pictures of their installed motor that I could look at. Also curious on transmissions. Parts Mike sells a input shaft for it that uses a stock Ford bellhousing. I plan on keeping the T-98 and possibly the NP200. I plan to regear to 4.56 and I think the lower RPMs the 200 may survive back there (any tips on helping it do so would be appreciated).

My goal is to have a reliable truck that will do 70 comfortably and haul a trailer with my buggy.

BTW I am going to have a running 230 with a bad water pump seal available soon.

Chris, Luckypabst, has posted the most picturs of an installed efi 300 that I know about. He checks in about every week or so. Hopefully he will see this and chime in.

From all the info that has been passed around here it sounds like a NP205 would be a better choice for 70 mph and long life. It has also been said that if you can get the transmission that the motor is attached to at the same time you get the motor that that makes an easier less expensive swap.

I have a divorced Np205 but I am going to be time pressed on getting this thing done. I really don't want the hassle of modifying the transmission mounts shifter linkage, drive shafts, and I would no longer have use of my PTO if I took out the T-98. So I definately don't want to use a married transfer case. I am trying to keep this on a semi budget and I am re-gearing like I mentioned, and new tires and rims. Another transmission and transfer case would be stretching the purse strings a little too far. I am also on a bit of a time crunch as I will probably be recieving orders to go to Arizona, New Mexico, or California in the next couple weeks. This project has to be complete by then so I can drive the truck to my destination. Once I get to where I am going I plan to find a decent shop and have it painted.

I used a gear ratio/rpm calc and came out with 2822 rpms based on XL's (38") and 4.56 gears with the stock tranny/t-case. I would prefer it to be around 2600 but any higher gear and I would need a carrier for the 70 (can't remember the break on the 60). I guess I can always try it and see if it lives. With the stock gearing and 34 " tires I have on now at 55 the calc says I am running 3201 rpms. The Np200 seems to be doing fine at that rpm for the lengths I have driven it maybe 30-40 miles a stretch. Seems like it would be ok at 2822 to me unless I am missing something... It should be turning the same RPM's as the engine if the tranny is in 4th gear right?

I drove my truck around 800 miles the first day I bought it with stock axles, XL's, 6.2/3053A and the NP200. GPS said I was driving around 62 mph. The np200 was not happy about that speed and length of time. It was barfing out 90 weight like a drunk prom date. Crawling under the truck to add 90 weight into that smelter wasn't a lot of fun to do or think about during the driving wondering if it would hold up. It did (thank God, I was worried I was going to be stuck in Rock Springs), and thankfully I had been given some spare output seals by the previous owner and was able to buy alot of 90 weight. That was my experience, but I was on a stupid time schedule I had to keep. If I had 2 days and drove at 50-55 it would have been much better. If I had access to the truck before the drive, I would have probably swaped the drive shaft over to the brake to help with heat and noise. Good luck- gonz

I assume it's a carbed 300?

I started with carbed, swapped to EFI, using a T-18 which has the same general dimensions as the T-98. Ford did use the T-98, though I'm not sure if it was available with the small V-8/big 6 mounting pattern - this may be something to look into for conversion parts.

If you get the bellhouse to block mounting surface in the same location as stock, the block will clear the firewall just about perfectly. EFI intake will require cutting a hole where the underdash heater ducting goes, carbed intake (OFFY as well) will fit and a 4-barrel Holley leaves about 1/4" clearance to the heater box, 4-barrel Edelbrock fits better. 4-barrel will need a tiny or heavily offset air cleaner to clear the heater.

You'll find the water pump is mounted closer to the crankshaft on the 300 than on the 230 and puts a mechanical fan too low to clear the lower radiator hose. Also I had to build a funky tube thing to snake around the alternator bracket and fan belt for the lower radiator hose - this area is very tight and you probably won't find an off-the-shelf hose to fit. Better bet is to widen the radiator opening and run a wider cross-flow radiator which will yield more room to fit a hose and mechanical fan. Also there isn't much room between the engine and radiator- an electric puller fan won't fit, a mechanical clutch type fan won't fit. I'm running an electric pusher and it seems to work fine in most cases.

I carefully removed the engine mount frame perches and modified/relocated them to work with the Ford engine mounts - the angle is correct but location is not. As it is, it looks close to stock with no hillbilly hack mounts.

Looks like all my photos are buried in a box somewhere - PM if you'd really like to see them and I'll see what I can do.

I was able to move the truck under its own power after two full days of work, still needing to have the exhaust done, plumb the cooling and finalize wiring. It should be considerably quicker if you use the stock tranny and don't have to screw with tranny location and building a conversion mount.

Good luck
Chris

what about the power is it worth the swap,also what kind of milage do you get thanks sonny

I drilled 3 holes in my np200 2 holes on top 1st hole for the pump i have going to a cooling unit with electric fan and 2nd hole on top for the return and the 3rd hole is about 3 inchs from the bottom for a 4 in dia oil temp guage so i can keep an eye on the temp on long distance runs and so far with the electric pump and fan cooling unit i have had no problems with over heating on trips at speeds of 60 65 mph with t 98 man trans . Np200 t case and stock 5.87 axles t case temp stays around 270 degree f
this is with 40 inch tires

Would love to see pics of that setup!
What weight lube are you using in the tcase and what kind of pump? How big a cooler?

As low as the fluid level is in the 200 stock, are you running the oil level higher than normal or how are you using a top pickup hole to draw fluid to the pump?

I run pretty much pure lucas oil stabilizer in my t-case... And I still had to add it every morning on my cross-country trip. A 205 might be advisable even with regearing.

--Randy

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Originally Posted by randygar

I run pretty much pure lucas oil stabilizer in my t-case... And I still had to add it every morning on my cross-country trip. A 205 might be advisable even with regearing.

--Randy

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Rig up a continous IV drip of pure synthetic 90w for extended driving. You could put a holder on the back of the cab and run the hose down between the bed and cab.:lol:

90W is way too thin... and I think you'd find it leaks it faster than it would flow cold by gravity through several feet of IV tubing...

--Randy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by randygar

90W is way too thin... and I think you'd find it leaks it faster than it would flow cold by gravity through several feet of IV tubing...

--Randy

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Yeah that's true. So much for my idea of making millions off my automatic gear oil replenishment system for NP200's in M715's.

Yeah, no one likes my 230's continuous oil change system either... Every time I drive it I add a quart, and it does the rest. :)

--Randy