Looking for advice on 223 warmup

New member here looking for advice/help on my latest project. I just acquired a fairy nice '62 F100 short flare side with a 223. Rather than stick a SBC in it I've decided to warm over the 6. The engine seems healthy and when warm pulls 21"hg of vacuum at idle with a steady needle. I've seen some bad reviews on Clifford but have used their stuff in the past with good results so am going with the header/manifold/Weber combo.

I would like advice on exhaust pipe diameter, routing and muffler selection. I'm trying to find a Mallory flat top dual point distributor, if anyone has one or a lead please let me know. The truck has 3.70 gears so its a little busy at highway speeds. Has anyone done a 5 speed swap? Electric overdrive would be an option but they are hard to fine.Thanks in advance, Dave.

Clifford was a great company especially when it was still run by Jack Clifford (RIP) who was the innovator and designer of all those great parts. There were some problems with the finish on their cam bearing surfaces I haven't heard of anything lately. There are many other companies that make cams and or regrind them for hi performance use, like Shindler Racing Cam's, and possibly still John Mummert he also used to have 223 rebuild parts beside his cam regrinding service so you should call to see if he will still dose.

Some great combos for the 223 are the 2 X 1V and 3 X 1V intakes (for a milder build up) these were made by Fenton, Sharp, Offy, the Offy 2 X 1V is still made new looked great with the 1904 Glass Bowl Holley's. Cliford also made single 4V intake called the Ram Flow its a very excellent design in my opinion the best in a single 4V intake it may not be made now but sometimes can be found used. Yes a Mallery Duel point is a good old tech Distribtor good luck on finding one. Another chooice if you can't find one is to adapt a 1968 to 1974 240 or 300 six point distrbitor these have centrivical and vaccum advance plus a Pertonix or a Mopar control box could then be used. Better still is to use a 1975 to 1982 300 DuraSpark II electronic ignistion system.

If your building a duel exhaust system than 1 3/4 to 2 inch pipes should work well max would be 2 1/4 inch if your building engine for a lot of power, if your going with a single exhaust then 2 to 2 1/4 should be good, a Maxed al out performance engine build would be 2 1/2 inch system.

The 1984 to 1993 5.0 T5 (the 1994 & 1995 T5 input shaft is to long but if replaced with a 1993 or older input shaft of a 1993 it will than work). Those T5 transmissions can be swapped into the 1952 to 1964 F100's or F250's pickups with a Flathead V8, a 215 or 223 Six or the Y Block V8 engines with a three or 4 speed trans, the drivshaft will need to be lengthened 3 inches. This swap is accomplished by having your stock bell housing modified by John Mummert see the below link for more info as to which bells will work. As far as I know currently he's the only one doing these bell housing Mod's to fit a T5 into these early model trucks. Good luck on your 223 build up.

Ford Truck 215, Flathead, 223 & Y Block Bell Housings Modded
http://www.ford-y-block.com/t5in-trucks.htm