In 2016 the crew at Gas Monkey Garage built a cool vehicle to be a Redline Edition car for Hot Wheels’ exclusive Red Line Club. The vehicle of choice was a 1963 Ford Econoline pickup that the crew disassembled and built a new custom frame for. The rear suspension is from Chassisworks.
The engine is a 520 cubic inch Ford big block built by WCH Racing Engines. The engine has an Eagle Specialty crank that was double keyed, and Eagle Specialty H-beam rods. WCH used Competion Cams for the cams, rockers, lifters and the whole valve train.
Inside the engine, WCH did a full port job and port matched all the ports to the intake manifold. The pistons came from CP-Carrillo.
The engine has Holley carburetors sitting on top of a 871 Weiand blower, a timing cover from EngineQuest and Edelbrock cylinder heads with Manley valves.
One of the biggest obstacles WCH ran into was with the big block and the Weiand blower. Weiand make kits for Chevy, but they don’t make kits for Ford. Everything had to be fabricated in-house to make the pulleys and belt work. They had to modify the balancer and lower pulley so that it would fit, and so that the clearances were correct.
The big block was mounted in the bed of the truck backwards with a Monster transmission and a V-drive. The placement of the engine required a custom oil pan.
The truck is called the “Hi-Po Hauler”, and the 750 horsepower and just shy of 750 lb.-ft. of torque help it live up to its name.
On the inside, the drivers seat was moved to the center of the cab where the engine use to be.
If you want to know more about the Ford Econoline pickup, check out the Ford Econoline Truck History & Specs page.
