the car has a fe in it now (352) but i bought a 460 block, a stroker kit off of ebay and a set of d0ve a heads this week to put in it. I need to know about the little stuff like drive shaft length, transmission linkage, radiator stuff like that
I'm going to be doing the same thing this spring.(65 Gal, FE to 460) I have tried searching, and I haven't come up with much.
I'm not going to be using the Crites kits, I'll figure I'll just wing it when I get there.
At least, thats what I did when I swapped in the 460 in my FE Ranchero, it turned out fine.
Does your 65 still have the Cruis-O, or a C6?
The rad will depend on how "hot" :wink: of a 460 your going to put in there.
The best thing to do with the drive shaft is to measure it after the swap is done. No guessing that way.
I'm working on putting a 557 in my '67 Galaxie Fastback
Here's a couple pics of the raw side yet, :lol: :lol: luckily it's a good straight car...:
Starting the body work next week.
Good luck with the '65
I did it about 20 years ago. I used mid 70's full sized motor mounts, with the bolt through the crossmember, after removing the FE stands. I used washers between the block and mount to space it up. I also had to extend the trans mount frame extensions because this put the trans crossmember too far back.
Measure for the driveshaft after you have the motor/trans installed. I also used 1970 429 CJ torino headers and modified one tube to fit.
Now, if I was going to do it today, I'd call Crites and be done with it without all of the headaches. www.critesrestoration.com
I put a 429/C6 out of a '69 Tbird into my '68 Galaxie (basically the same frame as the '65 i think?) i took the frame mounts from the Tbird and it pretty much bolts straight in. The lower bolt holes on the 429 frame mounts line up with the ones on the frame so you can bolt those on and then drill new holes in the frame using the upper holes on the mount as a guide. danev did a good post on this a while back.
cadunkle - i read your old post but was unable to view the pictures for some reason, any chance you could post the pictures of the mounts again?
I plan on using the crites kit its not to expensive 125 to 150$ and its just one less thing to worry about. I have the cruse 0 matic and im going to a c6. id like to be able to fing a set of bolt on headers for the swap.
I host the pictures on my own server here, but the power supply went kaput last week. I'll see if I can swap another one in and get it back up. I have a bunch of pictures anyone interested in this swap would surely find useful.
I will say that when I did my swap I was debating whether I should just buy the Crites stuff or go with the modified FE mounts. George from the forum here used Crites. I asked him for some pics and his thoughts, and most importantly if he had to do it again would he use Crites or FE mounts. IIRC he said the Crites worked alright but moved the engine way up and forward of where it should be, leaving it pretty tight for hood and rad clearance. So he would have tried the FE stuff to better position the engine. That's all I needed to hear to avoid the Crites parts.
Now I do have Crites headers on my '68. They are the only headers I know of that will fit a '65-'68 Gal with a 460. I did have to cut a notch out of one of the frame mounts for tube clearance, but not a significant amount.
I pulled my 352 last night. Im most worried about the transmission difference. I hope I can use the factory linkage because I dont want a floor shifter. but I guess I will just have to do it and see. Im also conserned about the power steering and alt.
You can keep your stock column shift. The problem you will have it the trans shift lever will probably not be correct for your coumn shift application. The solution I used is one of these:
combined with an adjustable shift arm that is probably for a floor shift car. One end has a normal pin that you put the bushing on and push through the hole in the part that pivots off the block and frame. The other end is a long slot.
There are also kits, I forget who makes 'em, that come with everything to make it work.
Oh, for the alternator I made my own ghetto spacers to use a bracket I had laying around. Works good. I bought some factory 460 alt brackets from eBay and couldn't figure out how to make 'em fit.
Power steering? We don't need no stinkin' power steering. After a long arduous search I found a manual steering box for '65-'68 Galaxie and now run that in my '68 with the 460. I have come across a junkyard with several more manual steering boxes on '65-'68 Galaxies. By several I mean 2-3 probably. I'm thinking about getting one for my '66 convertible.
I like to keep it simple... No unnecessary fluids to leak, no added complexity. On that note I can't wait to get rid of my C6.
this is more of a cruiser!!! I need my power steering!!! Im kind of a computer retard....How can I attatch a picture? I have some pictures of my ride after I pulled the fe last night but im no sure how to attach them!
Oh, for the alternator I made my own ghetto spacers to use a bracket I had laying around. Works good. I bought some factory 460 alt brackets from eBay and couldn't figure out how to make 'em fit.
Power steering? We don't need no stinkin' power steering. After a long arduous search I found a manual steering box for '65-'68 Galaxie and now run that in my '68 with the 460. I have come across a junkyard with several more manual steering boxes on '65-'68 Galaxies. By several I mean 2-3 probably. I'm thinking about getting one for my '66 convertible.
I like to keep it simple... No unnecessary fluids to leak, no added complexity. On that note I can't wait to get rid of my C6.
Manual steering really isn't that bad to steer on my '68. It got a little harder with the 460 but not terribly so. I can still park comfortably. It's nice to have a clean engine bay and whatever little extra horsepower the pump robs.
I would like to have a cleaner engine bay.. Is all that you have to do is replace the steering box? I have 255/35/20 up front I wonder if they are to wide for manual steering to be comfortable at a stop.
I have 225/70/15 in the frot of my '68 and with the 460 the manual steering is a little tough at a dead stop. Your arms get stronger. But other than that, the trick is to not steer at a dead stop. Just roll slightly whenever you turn the wheels and it's pretty easy to turn the wheel. Also note that the ratio in the steering is slower with manual. It's maybe 2 turns more lock to lock. Takes a little getting used to but that's waht makes it manageable, you ahve more "leverage" or gearing to turn the wheels.
I'm a less is more kind of guy, so manual is always superior to power in my eyes.
I got my server up and running again so the pics in the old threads will show. If you take the link I posted to my install thread on this forum you can then take the link to the N54 forum which has more detailed posts.
You'll see it took me from March 29th to April 6th to do the swap. March 29th the 460 was assembled and ready to go in but I decided to port the heads so I pulled the heads off and ported them, them reassembled and threw the engine in. The actual going from 302 to 460 only took 3 days, and one day of the whole duration was taking the car to the exhaust shop to get the exhaust matched up to the 460.
It really is an easy swap. Only thing I don't recommend doing is making your trans mount look like mine. That was only a temporary thing for last season. If I don't have the toploader in by this season I'll be making something nicer. Probably just a simple metal spacer that gives the mount more support on the crossmember.
Happen to have the p/n from that power gear? I would like to compare it to the one on my 70 and see if they happen to use the same... I have a 65 manual gear I wouldn't mind swapping in.
Yes the '65-'68 power to manual gearbox is a direct bolt in. I think the pitman arms are a little different but most boxes you find will still have the pitman arm on them. The pitman arms look almost identical.
I don't know what other years interchange, but here is a pic of the power box on my '68 so you can compare...
I can get you that part number of my '68 box... Eventually. Not sure exactly where it is, probably in my basement buried in parts for my '68 and '66. I'll probably be digging that box out soon to put it in my '66 unless I go manual from the junkyard. The power box in my '66 leaks profusely out the steering output shaft seal. The '66 convertible is kinda for sale if anyone is willing to pay for it what I have into it, so I may stay with power since most folks probably prefer that. If no one buys it by the end of the summer I'll probably keep it and do manual steering use the toploader I picked up for my '68, since it's a small input shaft and the '66 only has a 289.
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