What do you think?

what about a 5.0 v8...........

Ok, i didn't know that you needed a conversion kit for the gear box, but that doesn't sound to bad. So what sort of 5L are you talking about? Is it possible to do it with a 351 clev out of an old Ford?

Hi Synergist,

The 3F is a thirsty buggerJust Do It!

Gday
3f's are cheap and not too bad, seeing asthough it will bolt straight in.
There is a bell to suit a ford v8 on ebay at the moment...unless the 55 is spotless rust wise, i would put a 3f out of an 80 series in there....they tipically go for 500 bucks. Have seen hemi 265 aswell as 4.1 ford motors in there aswell as all v8's, but you always end up paying twice what you thought it would cost to convert, another option is a pre converted padock basher, possibly with auto or 5 speed already in there, for 1500....see them on ebay fairly regularly aswell.
Andrew wheredayathinkwer mike?

So you will spend another $2 to $3 grand on the old car just to make it less thirstier. What sort of fuel saving do you think you will get? Maybe one or two kilometres per litre. Stick a V8 in it and you will need to change the radiator and maybe the diffs, who knows. In most states the Transport Department will give you a hard time to get compliance and you will need an engineers certificate. Go diesel? Yes maybe but a I think a diesel engine (2H) will be a lot heavier and then you will have suspension problems. Unless you are really into building a hybrid vehicle and have plenty of money and patience then you should have the experience. Personally I would not bother with conversions. They never work properly as the original vehicle was not designed by the manufacturers to be converted. Stick with what you have and then when you are ready buy the next vehicle with all the features you want as standard items. My opinion!

Cheers,

Willem

Always going somewhere

If you want better economy maybe you should look at putting a 5 speed in place of the four speed rather than change the motor. If you're going to be towing the 2f will be less thirsty than the 3f. You really need to rev the ring out of a 3f to get any power. Diesel maybe an option (6.5Litre??) but if you're going for economy a V8 isn't going to help you. In my opinion conversion are dangerously expensive things. Yeah motor - $700.00 adapter $500.00. associated mounts radiators engineers cert. insurance. potential reliability issues clutches. I've seen a $2,000.00 conversion balloon out to $10,000 real fast. That was a 253 into a hilux. Maybe look at putting something more modern in when (if) the old 2F dies. Maybe a ford V6. Something with efi to et performance and economy. No point putting in a thirsty 8 cylinder in place of a thirsty 6 cylinder for no real reason.
Cheers,
Justin