Thread: 302 into 1959 ford

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I want to swap out the 332 in my 1959 fairlane to a 302 with a aod. If anyone has done this swap ,I need tips and suggestions. thanks for any help poppya1

My best advice would be to first purchase and read through a book such as I have listed here. There is so much involved in an engine swap that it cannot be properly addressed completely here in this forum. You need to not only upgrade the motor and transmission, but other areas of the car as well, to make the whole shebang operate as a complete package. To obtain the drivetrain package that you will use, it is often best to buy a complete donor car that has the engine/transmission that you want to use. Judicious selection of the donor would include looking for suspension, brake and steering components that could be swapped into your '59 as well. For instance, I would very much like to use the engine/transmission/differential package from a '93 to '97 Lincoln Mark VIII and use it in a small European sports car. I have looked on ebay and craigslist and have found complete, running cars for less than $1000. Perhaps they have been smacked in the side or the rear. What do I care? I'm not going to use the sheetmetal, glass or interior anyway and can sell off those items when my project is completed to help reduce the cost of the swap.
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Are you going to consider fuel injection or no? If yes, in addition to the Mark VII years Tech suggested, also look at the '89 to 93 Mustang GT's. I think '85 was the last carbureted 5.0 in a Mustang. '86-'88ish used a speed density fuel injection and '89 they started using Mass Air Flow style, which is better.

Any of the 5.0HO engines found in Mustang GT's, Mark VII LSC's and some Tbirds will have more horsepower than the non-HO. Ford Racing offers a plugnplay wiring harness for installing these fuel injected engines into older cars. It connects to the existing wiring harness. I f you don't want to consider fuel injection, you could swap the intake to the carb style. A while back I put a '92 Mustang EFI 5.0HO/AOD in my '66 Ford pickup. Once I got everything sorted out, I totally love it and want to fuel inject everthing!!

Many of the later 302's use an electric fuel pump, so you'll need to consider that, too, and the fuel injection requires a return line to the fuel tank.

As for AOD's, they got much better in the late 80's early 90's so I would gravitate to those years.

Isn't the '59 chassis basically the same as Galaxies up through '64? If so, Ford offered a 289 from the factory in those cars so I would guess the same style motor mounts would work for your '59.

Anyway there's some initial food for thought. Hope that helps a little. We can provide more input as we learn more about what you have in mind.