the ford ones are going to have the NP435, 4 speed manual transmission, you want that tranny, its probably one of the strongest pick-up transmissions ever built......and if you dont want it, im sure someone out there doing a cummins swap into a old 79 ford would buy it......

 

the reason for not restoring it is this belonged to my dad and he wanted to make a trail truck out of it. I am going to do that since he has passed away and i want to build it the way he would have. i would not even think about selling it. the truck has already been cut up for hunting, and has wrong trany and transfercase for restoration. since i will be driving it everyday i want it to be reliable, get good fuel mileage, and go any where i want it to go being highway, LA swamps, TENN mountain trails, or roads in MS.

 

This guy used a 4bt backed by a NV4500 if that's any help to you.

http://www.dieselpowermag.com/featur...nco/index.html

Try www.craigshelper.com. Add the states you want to search in and what you want to search for. You should be able to find a 4bt somewhere.

I completely understand why you want to build the truck this way and we'll help however we can. Good luck.

 

http://craigshelper.com/results.php?...rch+Craigslist

I set it up to search a bunch of states around you. there seems to be a bunch in MO for sale.

 

7.3 -

 

go with the cummins 3.9. i put one in a dodge 1500 getting about 33mpg. Cummins is one of the most reliable engine around, will out run a 7.3 any day. Don't know of any 7.3 with a 1,000,000 miles but I do know of a cummins with a 1,000,000 miles. It will also get better mpg then the 7.3. You can also find them on ebay (cummins 3.9) or cores4u.com.

 

4:53 detroit might work also

 

what does a 4:53 detroit come in and what kind of trans options would i have?

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i googled 4:53 and 3:53 detroits and they weight 1300 and 1000 pounds. that is very heavy. I don't know if I want that kind of weight. any comments out there about that amount of weight. pro's and con's. I know it would give it a little more a$$ for pulling but would the rear end get too light? or is the bronco short enough that the weight would be distributed enough not to make a difference?

 

i dunno, i'm a boat guy so i see a bunch of them in boats. they are fairly easy to get parts for. and you can get quite a bit of power out of them. a guy around here had one in a lobster boat. went 25knts in a 35 boat.. that pretty good for a boat that size.

a big block chevy is around 600 lbs
whats the average weight of any 4 cyl diesel?

i think if you want a diesel you might want to prepare for some added weigh on the front end.

i see you thinking of 3 cyl engine. remember there is no replacement for displacement

 

4 cyl cummins weighs about 780 pounds.

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I didn't build my front end up and I havn't had any problems yet.