The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk engine size ?

I took my 53 with a 216 from sandiego to Kalispell Montana, horribly overloaded, (it weighed 5300 lbs with a nearly empty gas tank and the wife and baby were in the bathroom.) didn't miss a lick. Took it from Montana to seattle. I drove that engine from 1984 till about a year ago. in that time I put a head, cam, water pump, 2 fuel pumps, and king pins in it. You will be just fine, just don't expect modern V-8 power, you will be very disappointed. But then again you would never get the attention in any modern vehicle like you do in the truck. I can't leave the house without someone saying something. Its kind of neat, I actually had someone knock on the corner window at a stop light once, it was a fireman in a fire truck wanting to give me a thumbs up. I thoroughly enjoyed that.