1969 F250 4x4 Highboy 7/9 rubicon

[1971ford]

I am 95% sure i am going to be dropping a carbed 300 I6 in. Plan is to pick one up off craigslist, tear the accessories off like i did with the 390 in the pictures below and clean/degrease and paint it, and add some goodies to it to make it an even better tow machine.

I'm hesitant to use the por-15 engine enamel kit on the 390 now because I might be putting in a 300 very soon. If i want to put a 300 in soon, I'll have to sell the 390 to fund buying a 300, bellhousing and engine mounts. But I want to keep the 390.
Decisions, decisions...

Anyways i spent a couple hours degreasing again.

[Supermike]

I think you should keep the 390, but it all depends on what you're using it for... I know you want to tow, so better gas economy will come with the 300. But the 390 will sound great and is an awesome engine. Plus, you have it and can move forward now with it instead of hunting for something. If you want to drop in a 300 later when you have more $$, you can and maybe have both!

[fomocoguy]

A fuel injected 300 with a 5 speed behind it would be suhweet in your truck....

[1971ford]

I think you should keep the 390, but it all depends on what you're using it for... I know you want to tow, so better gas economy will come with the 300. But the 390 will sound great and is an awesome engine. Plus, you have it and can move forward now with it instead of hunting for something. If you want to drop in a 300 later when you have more $$, you can and maybe have both!

Yeah, I love 390's.... they are my favorite engine. And this one has a streetmaster 390 intake, holley carb and moroso plugs to boot. But it's only going to get me 10mpg. An I6 would get me 17ish. A FI I6 with 5 spd would be even more...
I just don't see the point in running a 390 for my purposes when I'll be losing money every week on gas. The highboy doesn't need to go fast at all, it needs to tow and get mpg's for being my daily driver.
I do like the thought of two engines.Get good at swapping them and I can swap the engine/bellhousing/mounts out in a couple hours if i want a v8 for a little bit

A fuel injected 300 with a 5 speed behind it would be suhweet in your truck....

I thought about fuel injected but i'd rather not deal with an electric pump and any electronics for that matte. I love a simple carbed engine. But If I were to find a FI I6 before a carbed I6 for a good deal I'd still jump on it. How hard would it be to hook up an electric fuel pump? Or do they have two (high and low pressure)?
What 5 spd will swap in place of my 4spd without having to modify things and still be strong enough to tow?

[Supermike]

Yeah... I understand your need with regard to fuel economy. There's no such thing as an economic 390, and anyone who says they have one is a fool and a liar. LOL!

Seriously, though, for your age and purposes the 300 is probably the better route, but I hate for you to sell your 390.

[1971ford]

The 300 being slower than the race truck's 429 will be a hard change but I won't be worrying about mpg's while i drive. I think i will keep the 390.

[FordTruck]

My 69 highboy has the 300 and talk about pulling power it has it but as far as gasmilage goes I think it gets in the negatives and my dd has the efi 300 with over drive and it olny gets 8-10 in the city.

[1971ford]

Something is wrong with you and your dad's drivetrain setups. Or you both drive with your foot in it.
I probably have about 10-12 hours into researching 300's as far as mpg and towing research goes and I have never seen anything below 14mpg's being reported in a fullsize truck.
From the many reports i have seen, a highboy with a 300 should get 15mpg atleast. It's all about driving like a grandpa.

Isn't your highboy not street legal? I thought you only drove it around on your property? I don't think that would be enough to know what mpg's its getting

[FordTruck]

I love the 300 its my favorite motor but the 300 in the 95 is right at about 10 mpg city and I drive it like a grandpa its an ex-government work horse so its got different gears and towing stuff which I'm shure dosen't help and I'm shure the 31"mud tires aren't doing me any favors The 69 isn't street legal but before I tore it apart I drove it all over town and it wasn't too healthy on gas but it has its fair share of problems but it was a little better than the 95 and I still sneak it out but the cops don't like the missing bed so its been awhile.

[1982 flareside]

ford truck is right. My truck is now getting 11 or 12 mpg.

[1971ford]

Sandblasting place said it would be 3 or 4 days. I dropped it off monday. Today is the 4th day. I got no call, so i called them and they said to check back next week.

LAME

On a brigher note. This gives me more time to clean/paint the engine/tranny/t-case/steering box/brackets/driveshafts. Which are all almost done being cleaned up. Some of that stuff had an inch of crud on it.

[1971ford]

They still have my chassis.

[BiggDogg]

Maybe the project is being delayed a little, because there is something else you need to get done... Any tests coming up at school? something your parents maybe want done around the house?

[Doug Comer]

3 or 4 days once they started working on it?

[1971ford]

Yeah, I have been doing other things the whole time the chassis is at the sandblasting place.
Having it out of the garage gave me space/time i needed to fully degrease the entire drivetrain (all ready for paint now, by the way), do some parts gathering (loaded up on foam brushes from $1 store!) and get ready for the chassis.

I am picking it up tomorrow (Thursday) right after school. Then I am going to tow it to the welding shop i work at and mount the new mustang tank. Then I will metal prep it all and por-15 the entire chassis and engine. And I'll paint the tranny/t-case/drive shafts sooon as well too.

I'm shooting for having the body back on late sunday but thats just shooting for the stars