No E30 Project '95 F-150 - Extra Credit

[roguetoaster]

So, I've been a member here for a little bit, but I never do project documentation, and now that I have no E30 it's the perfect time to start!

It does at least have E30 provenance, sort of, since I bought it from some guys I met at the now pretty much defunct College Park, MD E30 meet up. The previous owners have also ditched their E30s and after moving on to M-B, then Mini, then Ford, they're now FCA addicts.

On to the truck. It's a 1995 Ford F-150 Eddie Bauer with a 4.9L (Ford 300) straight 6 connected to a Mazda 5 speed manual, sending power to a 3.08 open differential. Also, in case you can't tell, it's a standard cab with a short, 6.5', bed. It had 222,327 miles when I got it, so it's only just ready to work, right? It was only $1,000, which was an amazing price in June of 2020, when POS Rangers were 4k.



You see that door behind the truck? It has something to do with why I bought this one.



Nice, right? And I only need to park it within 6" of the wall in order to walk behind the rear bumper. For those not gifted in Tetris it also fits in backwards.

Engine looks...there. At least once I cleaned off the .25" layer of silty dust. (I cheated, this image is from after I replaced AC components and added a shiny new jack)



So, for a grand it needed nothing, and was ready to drive cross country, right? Um, sure...

At that point I knew it needed:

Windshield
Tires
Alignment
To not have just a little bitty exhaust leak


Look closely, maybe you can spot it...

After a member here booger welded the heck out of that it sounded something like the video attached, unfortunately I don't have a video from before since I couldn't think while driving. I had to add some JB Weld later since there was still considerable, shall we say, metal porosity.

We'll get in to more of the Ford absolute goodness a bit later.

[2mAn]

So time for a K-swap?

[roguetoaster]

So time for a K-swap?

Right ballpark, but think more Mazda K.

[2mAn]

Right ballpark, but think more Mazda K.

OH HELL YA! ... from the Contour SVT?

Post it on YouTube K-Swap F150 and get all the views... Stanceworks is k-swapping a Ferrari 308 so why not one-up him

[roguetoaster]

OH HELL YA! ... from the Contour SVT?

Post it on YouTube K-Swap F150 and get all the views... Stanceworks is k-swapping a Ferrari 308 so why not one-up him

In reality the Ford 300 makes 150/245 from 4.9L, the SVTC makes 198/165 from 2.5L, so there's really no point there, but there is a marque appropriate DOHC 4.0L straight 6 that I would want to put in there. Should I be able to get a fairly complete unit of course.

[mike.bmw]

I absolutely love where this is going. Future COTM right here.

[2mAn]

I absolutely love where this is going. Future COTM right here.

M30 swap would definitely make it happen...

[roguetoaster]

M30 swap would definitely make it happen...

Hmm, I was just thinking about my old Hartge H5S the other day, and that M30 was awesome.

Even so, this is not a car, so COTM seems like an impossibility.

[lukeADE335i]

Nice one!

You know you just want to jump on Australian ebay and grab one of these: Falcon 4.0 Barra engine for a stock, reliable 260hp. With our dollar being pretty low at the moment, it would be pretty cheap, but might take a while to get to the US. They are dime a dozen over here & the cars are now worth peanuts since Ford stopped manufacturing them.

Or you could go next level with the turbo motor for a stock 360hp (with mods the sky is the limit) providing you don't mind the horrific fuel economy that you'd get from it in an F150

[roguetoaster]

Nice one!

You know you just want to jump on Australian ebay and grab one of these: for a stock, reliable 260hp. With our dollar being pretty low at the moment, it would be pretty cheap, but might take a while to get to the US. They are dime a dozen over here & the cars are now worth peanuts since Ford stopped manufacturing them.

Or you could go next level with the turbo motor for a stock 360hp (with mods the sky is the limit) providing you don't mind the horrific fuel economy that you'd get from it in an F150

Yep, the slight issue is that they aren't yet technically legal to import with the intention to use in a car registered on US roads. Clearly the taxi engines are fine, and they generally seem fine to take a turbo, but factory turbo is always good, especially for something dumb like a truck. There are several US "importers" who are already working in Barras, but they seem to not want to get turbo engines. In any case, it's the route I'd like to go, legal or otherwise.

[lukeADE335i]

Interesting - just looked up a bit more about it, and didn't realise there would be those sorts of restrictions on importation to the US. Emissions systems etc. were lifted more or less straight from the US Ford engines by Ford Australia, so I didn't think the EPA there would bat an eyelid at them.

[roguetoaster]

I didn't realize, but it would make sense that the two Ford operations would share emissions tech. I'll have to look in to what the actual figures are for emissions, and on the back of that there is the possibility of getting a letter of equivalency from Ford, which could make importation legal.

[e30austin]

find yourself a high output 5.0 from a Mercury Mountaineer. could be neat. i always liked these body styles, a lot.

[Reichart12]

A nice vintage. What's the brown two tone? Actual paint or like an installed side skirt piece?

[roguetoaster]

find yourself a high output 5.0 from a Mercury Mountaineer. could be neat. i always liked these body styles, a lot.

I could, but there isn't really enough gain to add the HO since the 300 already moves it along pretty well and has some neat features, like purely gear driven timing.

A nice vintage. What's the brown two tone? Actual paint or like an installed side skirt piece?

It's oxford white over either Sonora or Santa Fe tan paint, and it's part of the Eddie Bauer package, but XLT trims also typically had two tone. The EB package added AC, power windows/locks, 4 speaker sound, a leather wheel, the aluminum wheels, side rub strips, chrome trim, tailgate applique, maybe gauges, and normally bucket seats with a console, although this one has a bench seat today.