1961 Ford Thunderbird Engine Frame Issue

[GeekOdyssey]

I acquired a '61 Thunderbird in the past year and it’s engine had been replaced with an 80’s 5.0 HO from a GT Mustang. The original 390 is still in great condition, it just needed it’s valve seals replaced and the old owner wanted another engine in there in the meantime. Unfortunately, the Thunderbird only ever had a wide-block engine which means there was never a need for Ford to make it a bolt-on bracket but rather a simple weld. The owner before me cut the frame to make the new brackets fit a small-block engine rather than the big-block. The issue is that none of my local shops are willing to attempt to do the weld job to get the frame where it needs to be without the dimensions needed for said frame. I was wondering if the dimensions were recorded somewhere so that I can get the engine put back in? I bought an OEM shop manual for it and no dice. I really don’t want to have to restomod the car when I have a perfectly good original 390 ready to be put in.

fyi: I know a bit about this kind of thing but not a whole lot. My mechanic who used to work for Mercury in the 70’s filled in the blanks for me. If I’m off in someway, I apologize.

 

[64ZCODE]

You may just want to return your TBird to original motor and that's valid, but I think the 5.0 small block has a lot of advantages over the 390. For one thing, the stock 390 weighs 650 lbs, about 200 lbs more than the 5.0. A stock 5.0 should deliver over 200 HP and there are so many power adder options that it can easily deliver more HP than the stock 390. Just food for thought.

 

[Douglemmo]

Hot Rodders do this type of engine swap all of the time. You have the 390 and its mounts. Have you talked to a shop that does Hot rod engine swaps to see if they can do it for you? If it were my car, I would put the 390 in it. I had a 57 Ford that I put a 66 390 in back in the day. It was a very powerful and reliably engine.

good luck,