Have the inline 6 in my 1989 F150 currently. And I love the truck an the motor, haven't given me any problems what so ever. But I'm getting bored with it honestly. So I believe I want to do a motor swap. At first I thought a cummins 4bt, but it's a little more work, time, & money than I wanna do. I have decided to just do a V8 swap but which motor do you suggests I plan on driving the truck 2-3 days a week so basically daily driver. Not going to drag race or anything. But do wanna smoke the tires. So what motor do you suggest?

 

302 would be a direct bolt on, anything bigger and you would have to swap bellhousing and possibly transmission too.

you could also just let the engine breath. get an aftermarket intake and 500cfm 4bbl carb and some headers on the 300, that would get more power than a stock 302 and impress anyone that thinks you have a v8

 

The 302 isn't a direct bolt on. You have to change a lot to go from a l6 to a v8 including motor mounts. The v8 uses a different design.

 

Will I have to change/swap transmissions if I go with a 302 or 351?

 

No you have a small block and a small block transmission bell housing. A 300,302,351w all have the same bell housing pattern.

 

That's good to know! Nice knowing I won't have to spend money on a tranny.

 

Would I be better off just doing upgrades on my straight 6 or doing a 351 swap?

 

The straight 6 can be upgraded but with a lot of $$$. I would buy a 351 have it built by someone will experience then just collect parts until you're reading to do the swap.

 

When you say built 351...what all would you have done to it?

 

Bored out .30 over new cam basically everything but that's like the whole 9 yards a decent cam and some heads can make a 351w roar