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June 27, 2015 2:13 pm  #1


Changing out a 390

I am (slowly) restoring a 68 Galaxie 500 convertible.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, this is not going to be a racing or show car, just my personal cruiser, so I am updating several things about it.  I have looked into replacing the carburetor with fuel injection and it is so expensive and complicated I started looking into just yanking the whole engine and putting in a new, fuel injected 5.0 liter.  I know that the engine block is the same and there should be plenty of room under the hood to accomodate the electronics and such but does anyone know if the motor mounts will match up?  What about the transmission?
 

 

June 29, 2015 11:05 am  #2


Re: Changing out a 390

The 390 is an FE series engine and the 5.0l (302) is a Small Block engine. They are quite different and the transmission bellhousings are different. For a crusiser a carb can work just as well as EFI and swapping in a different engine, from a different engine family with EFI will be much more difficult and costly. The 5.0l will be way down on power compared to the 390, so you'd be looking at new rear gears, and maybe some other things to get back some of the lost performance. I would think that those throttle body style EFI swap systems would be the easiest and cheapest way to get EFI in these old cars. Simple wiring and hook-ups and slef learning controllers. What gets simpler than that?

 

July 6, 2015 9:40 pm  #3


Re: Changing out a 390

I feel your pain. The bolt-on EFI systems are absurdly expensive!  Throttle body injection systems are $2-3K and the port injection kits start at $4K.  You have to really want to ditch your carburetor for that kind of coin!  However, a modern 5.0L Coyote swap is in the $10K range with transmission and is a lot more work than bolt-on. You can roll your own with and OEM throttle body from the junkyard and a Megasquirt controller but now your talking very complicated.  I, too, would like to hear from anyone who has done an EFI swap on the cheap. What's the secret recipe?

 

November 21, 2017 3:16 pm  #4


Re: Changing out a 390

I am too making a cruiser from a 1968 Galaxie 500 Convertible. I found this picture indexing the Modular Ford 5.0 with Classic Ford engine dimensions Just that I am having trouble uploading it. It is from Hot Rod Magazine on line. Compared to the FE the Coyote is 1in shorter in hight 1.5in narrower in width and 10in shorter in length. It should bolt but not on the 390 mounts. I have busted the bank and purchased a 2017 5.0 Coyote crate motor. $9098 comes with stand alone PCM, high torque mini starter, and Boss alternator(it has a clutch bearing for speed shifting. An already purchased Tremec T-56 6 speed manual trans will be behind it. I was originally going to rebuild the 390 but after everything I was going to do to it to make it reliable and with some power was going be about 12grand. If you go with a flywheel (manual trans) it should be internally balanced. Automatic trans were externally balanced with the flex plate and harmonic balancer. I will let you all know how it turns out.


 

November 22, 2017 8:07 am  #5


Re: Changing out a 390

I need to chime in on this one. I believe this will address an EFI swap alternative and answer BB-63's question regarding a secret recipe for cheap EFI swaps.
I recently completed and presently driving a 4.6 and 4r70w swap in a 61 Galaxie Sunliner. I have been driving the car for two years now with absolutely no issues. I wasn't interested in big performance, I just wanted a reliable daily driver. Donor car was a low mileage Crown Vic police car. There are a ton of Crown Vic's avaible out there, many driven by mature drivers with low mileage. Parts are abundant and many of these cars sit at the local wrecker.
I purchased a complete engine and transmission for $600.00 bucks. I bought a Ron Francis wiring harness for around $800. The OEM computer had to be flashed and re-programmed for $350. Guys, that's $1750 for a drivetrain! the 352 and cruise o magic(matic) both needed rebuilding so I was looking at around $7500 for that. It was a no brainer...EFI and overdrive.
The car runs great and drives like a dream. With the R&P steering upgrade I can can easily cruise at 75mph all day no problem! I switched out the gears to 3.90 to wake it up a little.
If you wanted to do the EFI swap even cheaper, harvest the wires you need out of the donor harness and skip buying the Ron Francis kit. It's a time consuming endeavour but not really that difficult.(Ask me how!)
The real challenge doing this swap was converting to front sump oil pan, transmission mount and adding the electric fuel pump.
If I wanted big performance I would have gone with a carb fed engine. Rather, I wanted a daily driver that would start and run all day long, be good on fuel, not over heat and never give me issue. So far, so good!

Last edited by dan_6776 (November 23, 2017 4:02 pm)

 

November 26, 2017 12:40 pm  #6


Re: Changing out a 390

That's a clean looking installation, looks like it was always there. Did you have to modify the transmission tunnel? What kind of gas milage are you getting with the 4.6?
Mike

 

November 26, 2017 2:53 pm  #7


Re: Changing out a 390

Here is the_oleman's picture.  Great info thanks!!!

 

November 26, 2017 7:33 pm  #8


Re: Changing out a 390

No, did not have to modify transmission tunnel. Not sure about gas mileage, I have never checked it. It's good on fuel in my opinion. Doesn't cost much to run it.

 

November 29, 2017 6:20 pm  #9


Re: Changing out a 390

The throttle body efi swaps are expensive compared to going aluminum intake carb route, but nowhere NEAR 2-3K. MY nephew installed a fitech throttle body setup on his 390 for $1100. Complete. Has had it on his truck for about a year and loves it.

Even with a 3.70 rear gear, and C6, reports better gas mileage from precise fuel metering, and less cold warm up time (as in will drop in gear and go cold).

He figures he has come close to getting his money back. Keep in mind his old truck is his daily driver. Not bad for a year's time.

Now the multi point/converted systems like the pro flo are another story pricewise. They ARE expensive.

 

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