289 into a 1986 BII

[jwreese]

I have a 289/C4 sitting and thought why not put it into an 86 BII. It is much like the 5.0 except it is out of a 1963 so of course carb'd. I have read through most of the tech but had a couple of questions and hoped someone had experience here to share.

Will the 289 mat up to the existing trans with a new bell housing or adaptor?

Will the carb cause head aches and is there a good fix known or tried?

Will the engine be too strong for the existing trans, TD and axles?

Since I already have the 289/C4 I thought I would try that route, would another route be less problematic?

Thanks. Jim

 

[PetesPonies]

The engine is fine. You'll have to change the oil pan and the pickup to a Fox style. Carb is no problem. Now trans, you can use the C4, but to mate it to your transfer case, you need to find an 84/85 C5 for parts or get a trans from a 4wd truck.I put a carbed engine in my '84, but it had the C5 already so was an easy swap.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

IIRC a '63 will have the goofy early bellhousing boltpattern so you will need a V8 trans from the early to mid 60's that would go with that. Check that the two will go together if they are from different vehicles.

You will need a double oil pan from a '79 Mustang that has the dipstick in it because the front dipstick won't read right. Of course you will need the pickup and mounting stud to go with that too.

If you do much highway driving you won't like the 3 speed, they are rather hard on gas compared to something with an overdrive.

The axles will be ok if you keep your head, forget what you have and they will hate you (especially the front)

You might bug a mod and see if you can get this moved to the V8 swap forum, you will get more V8 related traffic there.

 

[adsm08]

I freely admit that the following responses are full of opinion:

Will the 289 mat up to the existing trans with a new bell housing or adaptor?

Will the carb cause head aches and is there a good fix known or tried?

Will the engine be too strong for the existing trans, TD and axles?

No

Yes, carbs cause headaches. The fix is a horse and buggy.

Probably at some point.