Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire black betty (1977 F250)

No-One?
Really?

That's the mild, modern cam part. Something like the mildest Lunati Voodoo for example. The lobe designs available now will increase cylinder pressure and improve torque and response over the lazy lobes of the stock design. More power, response, and mileage. Getting some ignition timing in at lower rpms will accentuate the effect.

If a Cummins 12V is on the table it gets my vote. Looking forward to this thread as well. I'm not a Ford guy, but I have always liked that body style.

Dave;
Thanks again sir for sharing a fun, family project with us - as others have mentioned this one brings back some very fond memories for me for sure and will be one I'll eagerly watch.

One of the farm trucks back in the day was a '78 250 with a 390 in it and we had a '76 150 with a 360 and an '80 with a 400 in it too. The 400 decidedly our least favorite motor, but we kept them all stock too.

For the folks advocating stuffing a Cummins into your son's pickup I can only say that the only way I'd go down that road would be with full, FULL pockets.

The strain on the rig's front end changes everything when one stuffs in that much more weight and of course the entire drive train would be under "different" pressure too.

Anyway Dave, much as it pains this diesel engine guy to say it, I'd likely stick with a very similar motor that had a mild massage to bring out it's best.

All the best to you and your fine family Dave and thanks again for the grand thread and pleasant memories.

Dwayne

255/85/16

1972 F-100 w/ 302 Windsor.
118k original miles.
I'm the 2nd owner. My paternal GF bought her new. I grew up in it.

Yep. I bought a new '77 F-250 4X4 in March of that year, 400 engine, auto trans - and it got about 8 mpg..

I made a couple changes.. Tossed the factory 2-barrel carb and intake manifold in trash - along with the exhaust - and replaced it with an Edelbrock manifold and a small Holley 4-barrel. Then changed the exhaust to duals with side pipes mounted under the rocker panels..

Mpg went to 13 and I had tons more power to work with - and it also was the easiest/fastest starting Ford I ever had.... Maybe that type of conversion would work well with Black Betty...

I have some parts for that 351M

A .060 over block that has been decked.
Ported, polished & shaved heads
400 crank, rods & .060 over pistons
loomynum 4bbl intake & carb
some ignition upgrades
headers

In fact all of the parts are assembled under the hood of a '79 F250 parts truck.

Cheap if interested.

Like Redneck said, giving these engines some wind can really wake them up.

how "cheap" is cheap. I like the sounds of that WB. I'm finished with my truck except the exhaust. I'm going to do another in a year or so. That sounds like a great fit.

Hi Dwayne, are you getting any of this tropical weather? I'm loving it!

Your points are very good (I think they are good because they align nicely with mine, lol).

Any engine swap becomes a slippery slope. As per your point, the 12 valve would likely lead to a dana 60 front axle to help support it, then a new spring selection.... vacuum? No vacuum on a boosted oil burner, so add a vac pump for vac operated accessories. It gets hard to stop, all are slippery slopes but some are steeper.

I really do like the idea of working with the 335 series engine. For wiring, for coolant pluming, brackets, mounts, exhaust routing... Everything!



I can get aboard with that line of thought as well. I think (if you can find then) a set of federal mogul (TRW) L2466F pistons would bring us up to 8.5:1, a little trimming from the head and or deck and we'd be at 9.


It's no secret that Tim Meyer right here in MN can hook us up with a stroker kit and even heads if we like to perk the 335 series up to 450+ hp if we have the cash.

But I'm of the opinion that we could likely unleash a reasonable amount of power from the 351 CI engine for a few bucks and it will be dependable and as economical as we can hope to achieve with a gas engine, 4.10:1 gears non overdrive with 35" tires.

I'm thinking 275-300 hp



+1, I'm a big fan of that tire size, it's what I want on my plow truck.



Beautiful.



If you serious, I think yah maybe.

When Nathan drives his litle brother to school in "Betty", Joey plays that song on his i-pod.

We hear that song a LOT around here. lol!

Send the boy over with the trailer & we load the whole truck up. I'll try to get it drug out of the snowbank today.

I wish I had a dollar for every hour I spent in an old ford truck like that ,out in the woods,road hunting grouse,scouting for deer sign ,drinking beer,ice fishing,etc.

it will be a nice truck. i know where there is one about that year with a 454 chevy in it. thats an upgrade!!

White bear and I have been discussing the unicorn piss theory this morning.

This is a concept of achievability.....

These projects need to have achievable goals, otherwise they risk abandonment and failure.

Black Betty could easily become one of those unfinished projects, abandoned, parked behind the barn for decades.

20 yrs down the road Nathan stands with a little boy of his own staring at the rusted and sun rotted old 77 Ford.

"Daddy, what's that?"

"Well son, me and your grandpa started building that truck when I was young. It was an awesome plan, it was going to be shiny black. It was supposed to make 1000 horse power with a special engine that burned unicorn piss."

"What happened daddy?"

"Well son, we hit a snag."

The 335 series were restricted for smog & MPG reasons. They freshen up real good with a few bolt-ons.

I've found the weak point being the stock pushrods bending if spun over 6500rpms. I figure it's a built-in rev limiter.

No unicorn piss needed.

Load the motor for the boy. WB told me about that mill. It sounds fun!

I have a 390 that may or may be stuck at this point. I'd kinda like to put it in my next one. The problem is the next one will probably be for my boy....I'm not sure a 16 year old kid needs to have have a fire breathing FE.

Dave, the 12V 5.9s are good to go with a vacuum pump already part of the package,but servicing the AC pump, nightmarish in the stock Dodge installations, becomes total FUBAR in the custom set ups.

The MAIN issue with setting up a good 5.9 in Black Betty would be dishing and lowering the main front crossmember about 3" to accomodate the deeper Cummins pan.

Relocating the starter's a bit of a headache, as well.

Maybe Unicorn piss will run a mite better than this low sulfur
bio-fuel though ?

GTC