What kind of engine does the AMT '79 Ford pickup have

[ABC Auto Industry]

First of all, I would like to say hello again to everybody here! It's been a long while since I've worked on any models.

Now that the re-introduction's out of the way, I have a question: what kind of engine is in the AMT '79 Ford Firestone pickup? I have the Model King variant that was released about a decade ago, so I'm under the presumption that it has the same engine.

[Rob Hall]

IIRC, all the AMT '75-79 Ford pickup kits had a 460? 

[ABC Auto Industry]

12 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

IIRC, all the AMT '75-79 Ford pickup kits had a 460? 

I knew they had a V8 of some sort, but I wasn't sure what. Regardless, thank you! Just needed to know so I could find out the correct color to do the engine.

[Rob Hall]

I'd assume Ford blue... a couple of the older issues (like the Star Truk) had an illustration on the side of the box of the engine in Ford blue.  

Edited December 17, 2018 by Rob Hall

[ABC Auto Industry]

3 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

I'd assume Ford blue... a couple of the older issues (like the Star Truk) had an illustration on the side of the box of the engine in Ford blue.  

Most excellent! Once again, thank you!

[Fat Brian]

Every issue of the kit has the same 390 FE style motor even though that is incorrect for the later model trucks. The engine labeled a 460 in the posted picture is the same 390 that every version has. But blue is the correct color.

[mikemodeler]

Has anyone considered swapping the L6 from the Moebius kits into the AMT Fords, just to be different?

[Rob Hall]

6 minutes ago, mikemodeler said:

Has anyone considered swapping the L6 from the Moebius kits into the AMT Fords, just to be different?

Well, the AMT '75-79s were all F350 Camper Specials, was that available with a 6?

[Rob Hall]

16 minutes ago, Fat Brian said:

Every issue of the kit has the same 390 FE style motor even though that is incorrect for the later model trucks. The engine labeled a 460 in the posted picture is the same 390 that every version has. But blue is the correct color.

Interesting...could represent a truck 360, as that would be correct for '75-76 I believe. 

[mk11]

More info here... 

The 360/390 was replaced in the trucks in '77 by the 351M/400 engine. Good representatives can be found in the amt '78 bronco kit as well as the ubiquitous nascar t-birds. Decent reps of the real 429/460 can be found in the revell torinos and amt 69/70 galaxies. The 240/300 six would be usable for most all '65-'79 trucks.

There is now currently available a regular wheelbase longbox from MAD resin. For reasons now obscure, the amt kits all represent the extended wheelbase F350 super camper special.

 

mike

Edited December 18, 2018 by mk11

[mikemodeler]

2 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

Well, the AMT '75-79s were all F350 Camper Specials, was that available with a 6?

The Firestones F series pickup has a F150 front end, so I guess it could. The 300 ci L6 was used in every Ford pickup and van and IIRC was in E/F 100 - 350 series through the 90's.I think the Moebius L6 is the 240 ci. which would mean it was used in E100 vans & F100 pickups.

[Rob Hall]

7 minutes ago, mikemodeler said:

The Firestones F series pickup has a F150 front end, so I guess it could. The 300 ci L6 was used in every Ford pickup and van and IIRC was in E/F 100 - 350 series through the 90's.I think the Moebius L6 is the 240 ci. which would mean it was used in E100 vans & F100 pickups.

I think the 300 was in the light duty F100 and F1650 then.  The F350 Camper Special like the AMT kits would have had V8s. Found an article on the Camper Special, apparently 2wd only. 

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2018/06/20/ford-super-camper-specials-are-rare-unusual-and-still-cheap

Edited December 17, 2018 by Rob Hall

[mikemodeler]

3 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

I think the 300 was in the light duty F100 and F1650 then.  The F350 Camper Special like the AMT kits would have had V8s. 

According to Rock Auto the 4.9 liter/ 300 cubic inch L6 could be had in the F350 pickups up until the 1996 model year. This would hold true for the F150 & F250  models as well.

[Rob Hall]

Maybe for the regular F350, but the Camper Special had a V8 standard according to the article.  Unfortunately, with the extra long wheelbase and specific bed the AMT kits only build as an 350 Camper Special out of the box.  But with a bed swap and a chassis shortening, regular pickups can be built. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Rob Hall

[leafsprings]

1 hour ago, Rob Hall said:

I think the 300 was in the light duty F100 and F1650 then.  The F350 Camper Special like the AMT kits would have had V8s. Found an article on the Camper Special, apparently 2wd only. 

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2018/06/20/ford-super-camper-specials-are-rare-unusual-and-still-cheap

Thanks for posting the article, good reading. 8' campers were getting heavier and heavier to where a 3/4 tons became overloaded, and tail heavy, not good. The big deal about the Super Camper Special is that it was the first 1 ton pickup Ford built with an 8' bed ( with standard 2 door cab). Before this, Ford 1 ton pickups came with 9' beds, not very popular camper sizes. A 1 ton Ford pickup with 8' bed was available before '73, but you needed to special order it as a crew cab only. I agree on the engines,  required minimum was 360, with 390 or as 460 options .'77 -'79 351M 400M 460. The Firestone kit is a Frankenstein, something that never existed in 1:1. We need the MAD conversion  beds ( don't know if there is a 6 1/2 available with the 8' ) to build any sort of Styleside '73-'79  4x4.

Edited December 18, 2018 by leafsprings

[heyjohnxx]

Anybody have a link for the MAD resin bed? I don't see it on their website.

[Rob Hall]

6 minutes ago, leafsprings said:

Thanks for posting the article, good reading. 8' campers were getting heavier and heavier to where a 3/4 tons became overloaded, and tail heavy, not good. The big deal about the Super Camper Special is that it was the first 1 ton pickup Ford built with an 8' bed ( with standard 2 door cab). Before this, Ford 1 ton pickups came with 9' beds, not very popular camper sizes. A 1 ton Ford pickup with 8' bed was available before '73, but you needed to special order it as a crew cab only. I agree on the engines,  required minimum was 360, with 390 or as 460 options .'77 -'79 351M 400M 460. The Firestone kit is a Frankenstein, something that never existed in 1:1. We need the MAD conversion standard wheelbase bed to build any sort of '73-'79 4x4.

The MAD bed is very nice, have one.  I hope they do a 6 ft bed eventually.   

[mikemodeler]

2 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

Maybe for the regular F360, but the Camper Special had a V8 standard according to the article.  Unfortunately, with the extra long wheelbase and specific bed the AMT kits only build as an 350 Camper Special out of the box.  But with a bed swap and a chassis shortening, regular pickups can be built. 

I should have clarified my statement to say that the 300 cubic inch L6 was available, but might not have been very popular and definitely would not be in a truck like a Camper Special. Back in the day, one could order a truck with a bunch of different options and IIRC the L6 was the base engine, but many opted for the V-8s, especially if they were doing any towing or set up with a dump bed, wrecker bed or wanted more horsepower.

[Rob Hall]

3 minutes ago, mikemodeler said:

I should have clarified my statement to say that the 300 cubic inch L6 was available, but might not have been very popular and definitely would not be in a truck like a Camper Special. Back in the day, one could order a truck with a bunch of different options and IIRC the L6 was the base engine, but many opted for the V-8s, especially if they were doing any towing or set up with a dump bed, wrecker bed or wanted more horsepower.

Back in the 80s, my brother had a '74 F100 longbed w/ the 300 6 and a manual...was a neat truck..

[mikemodeler]

1 minute ago, Rob Hall said:

Back in the 80s, my brother had a '74 F100 longbed w/ the 300 6 and a manual...was a neat truck..

Lotsa torque in those old 300's! 

[Rob Hall]

2 minutes ago, mikemodeler said:

Lotsa torque in those old 300's! 

I drove it a few times...was more fun to drive in some ways than our Dad's '79 Dodge Power Wagon.

[vamach1]

I doubt it really represents a 429/460 bit more like a 390/428 block, intake and valve covers.

[mk11]

19 hours ago, mikemodeler said:

I think the Moebius L6 is the 240 ci. which would mean it was used in E100 vans & F100 pickups.

The 1:1 240/300s are identical in outward appearance anyways so you can pretend the moeb resin caster sourced six is either one 

302s are also a valid engine for the F100/150 from mid-year '69 into the nineties.

 

mike

Edited December 18, 2018 by mk11

[Fat Brian]

16 hours ago, mikemodeler said:

I should have clarified my statement to say that the 300 cubic inch L6 was available, but might not have been very popular and definitely would not be in a truck like a Camper Special. Back in the day, one could order a truck with a bunch of different options and IIRC the L6 was the base engine, but many opted for the V-8s, especially if they were doing any towing or set up with a dump bed, wrecker bed or wanted more horsepower.

Yep, my first work truck was a 96 F250 with a 300 in it.

12 hours ago, mk11 said:

The 1:1 240/300s are identical in outward appearance anyways so you can pretend the moeb resin caster sourced six is either one 

302s are also a valid engine for the F100/150 from mid-year '69 into the nineties.

 

mike

 

mike  

Yep, the Moebius motor is the big block six and is accurate up to the 300. The Moebius motor is wonky though and needs some work to correct. The bottom of the block angles toward the front a good bit and the transmission angles down from the bellhousing. Its almost like the crank centerline drops an inch or two from the #1 journal to the #7 journal and the transmission just follows along. 

[Oldmopars]

I know the 300 I6 was not very popular in the F350, however if you ever see those stair trucks at the air port or at a military base, they had them as well as the fleet service (poop removal) trucks. I used to see a lot of F350 trucks in the military with the 300 I6. We even had those super short flight-line tugs with a 300 I6 in them and they are all F350 Duallies. Flight-line vehicle were limited to 15MPH, so speed was not an issue. In the civilian customer world, I don't think many were sold, but they could be had.