golden210

Hey guys I'm looking to buy a 70's f150 or f250. I currently have a 98 f150 and it's just not old enough. I have a couple questions. I was looking at a 1979 f250 with a 400 in it. I really liked the truck but it needed way too much work. I saw a 78 f150, same motor, and was wondering how the 400 performs. Also besides the suspension, what's the difference between the 70's 150 and 250. I live near Philly so their pretty hard to find, i have a Craigslist post and was wondering money wise if it's a good price just by looking at it, or if it is too high. Any help is appreciated.

joe mcmillan

I had a 400 in a 1974 Ranchero GT. Bought it new. Worst car I ever had with many mechanical and electrical issues. The engine never gave me any issue other than failed starters - 2 in one year. Absolute top speed was 90 MPH. Just a little slow for a GT car in those years. Never needed to go that fast but car should have been capable of more.
Gas mileage was about 11 MPG whether towing my boat or just cruising.
Had much better luck with 390, 428, 429 and 460 CU engines. Best of the bunch for power and mileage was the 429 from a '69 Mercury Marauder X100. Probably one of the best cars I ever owned. That same enging was available in some of the trucks but what years I do not know.

nsejda

I am in the Philly area too. I actually was talking to the owner, the truck sounded pretty straight. Didn't go check it out, but it doesn't sound like a bad truck.

Ford 4x4

Yeah it seems like a decent truck from the post. I had a few 400's. First thing I did was get rid of all that emission crap that bogs them down. Then I had some head work done and had it opened up. Completely different motor! My dad had a bad a**ed 400 that could spin 44's all day long, but he rebuilt it and upped the compression.

Either way its a nice truck there, if it were in MN I would buy it

golden210

Alright thanks guys!

justinh11

u really havta know what your don with a 400 I had one in a 79 f150 and it was the worse most sluggish engine ever it had no power at all so I swapped it for a built 460 stroked to a 521

Ford 4x4

Yeah thats for sure! You literally gotta tear them down and rebuild them with $$$ My dad decided to build the 400 up instead of swapping because it was different when you popped the hood. It was fast and powerful, but there was a lot of money in it.

stan5686

One thing not to overlook no mater what you do to a late 70s 400. The timing gear on the crankshaft. I worked at a Ford dealer when they went from 360s and 390s in '76 to 400s in '77. Talk about some mad people. The gear on the crank on the 400s was retarded 4 degrees at the crankshaft. Look at yours if you get into it that far. The timing mark will be 2 teeth off the key way if it hasn't been changed. I couldn't get hover how much difference that one thing would make.