Bigger than 170, which donors?

Part 2 for my swap questions on my '65 Falcon.

If I want to remain fairly stock ie. Swap a larger engine that is "era" correct, what are my donor vehicle options and up until what year? Reason being is that I'm looking to put back my collector plates and they have some rules. Basically I think I'd be OK if when looking at it you could easily believe it came stock that way...

So far seems like my choices are 200, 240 & 300. So which are the best donors?

Cheers
Mr. D

This is what I have
At least it runs like a champ...

The 200 is the biggest bolt in engine that you can install. Ford built them all through the late 60's and 70's. Sometime in the early 80's they dropped the small bolt pattern on the bell housing so they will not bolt in. But any block with a C or D build code will work. The 200 is a great engine with good power. If you do the two bbl conversion and headers they really come to life.

Because you have a 65 then you can bolt in a 240 or 300. 65-67 trucks have the larger doghouse and trans hump that the 240 needs. To install it where a little six was requires a lot of different parts. It's good to have a donor vehicle for this. You need the radiator, engine crossmember, trans, bell housing, clutch, pressure plate, clutch linkage, belly pan, 9" rear axle, driveshaft, exhaust, oil filter 90 degree adapter, 240 Econoline air cleaner, If you 240 or 300 is not from an Econoline then you will need an Econoline oil pan and pick up. I don't remember how the little six 65's do their throttle linkage. 240's use a cable so you may have to convert that as well. The 240 and 300 are torque engines. Lots of pulling power. The are know for fuel vapor lock. All that heat tends to boil the gas out of the carb during hot stops. They also don't get very good millage. About 16 is the best I've ever got with one.

Duane in Tennessee.

That's great Duane,

I can get my hands on a '67 part van for cheap (I still might) but from what you said the 200 doesn't sound like a bad choice. I'm not after big power, just cruising power...

Thanks again.
Mr. D

And the 200 will look identical to the 170. So long as you stay with a stock head and don't put an aluminum one on there. Here in Washington the vehicle only has to meet the age requirements. I have a collector plate on my van, never have to buy tags again and the collector tags are cheaper than the regular tags would be And I only need one, on the rear I've been looking for a vintage WA plate for the van so I can use that for my plate.

Same here. Collectors plates would cost me around $240/year instead of $1200...