Marvin 2....1970 SWB Resto

[marvin2]

what i did was full seam googles around my eyes and a sheild and laid on my back and wire wheeled the underside

I might end up doing the same thing.

[Joshpow]

Progress!! Looking good. Sounds like some good plans for the ol ride. Good luck.

[marvin2]

Little bit of an update...

I have been making good progress on the frame. My brother and I flipped it so I could work on the underside. Its completely wire wheeled, 75% re-painted, and has been moved back into the garage.

I finally committed to doing the crown vic front swap and started cutting off suspension...Ford obviously did not intend for these parts to ever be disassembled! All I have to work with is my grinder & cut off wheel, so I hacked for several hours yesterday. I've got the driver's side done and a good start on the passenger's side. I'll need to tack on a temp brace to keep the frame square before I start on the crossmember.

The good news is that I found a Crown Vic IFS local for a pretty good price. I should be picking it up Thurs afternoon (I'll post pics when I get it home).

Here are some frame pics:






Cutting off the old susupension:

[elgemcdlf]

We are building a '70 also. Did the CV front swap & getting ready to do the rear. Thunderbird IRS. You can check www.truckirs.com if interested in doing a swap like this. They make the mount kit to mate the IRS to a pickup frame. Detroit Eaton makes drop springs for the CV front suspension. I have included the link to our thread. We have a couple pics of our truck with a stock truck. Before the drop springs and after. The springs made the truck ride quite a bit better. We used a police interceptor unit.

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 22&t=54398

[marvin2]

We are building a '70 also. Did the CV front swap & getting ready to do the rear. Thunderbird IRS. You can check http://www.truckirs.com if interested in doing a swap like this. They make the mount kit to mate the IRS to a pickup frame. Detroit Eaton makes drop springs for the CV front suspension. I have included the link to our thread. We have a couple pics of our truck with a stock truck. Before the drop springs and after. The springs made the truck ride quite a bit better. We used a police interceptor unit.

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 22&t=54398

Thanks for all the info!! I will definitely be keeping an eye on your build...the truck is looking great. After seeing the difference the drop springs made for you, I'll be adding them to my wish list as well.

[elgemcdlf]

The springs were just over $200 including shipping. I think we paid $215.00 total but I am in IN and they came from MI. If memory serves me the springs were $189.00

[marvin2]

Major score today!!! I got the front suspension & rear axle from the yard for just over $500. The IFS came out of a crown vic police interceptor, but I am unsure of the year. The axle is an explorer 8.8 rearend with limited slip, 3.73 gears, and 31 spline axles....

Unfortunately, I am going to see if they will swap it out for a mid 90's vic rearend. Reason being is that the explorer rear is 59.25" wide, which is almost 8" narrower than the vic IFS. This would be ideal if I wanted to run deep dish weels with a short backspacing, but that's not the route I'm heading down. The 90's vic rear measures 64.5" wide, which gets me much closer to the wheel and tire options I am working with. Hopefully, the yard will work with me.

I should have done more research, as this is the same issue that carcrafter ran into during his build....oh well. I am still super stoked about the IFS though!

[elgemcdlf]

That IFS is from a later version CV. The early years had aluminum shock tower supports. I see yours are steel. Our IFS is an '05 and has the steel like yours. I know the '03 has aluminum. Another note on the car coil spring suspension. You will want to box your frame. Truck frames are designed to "twist". This "twist" doesn't allow the coils to act as they should by design. By boxing the frame you remove much of the ability to twist thus placing the work on the springs themselves. In the car the frame is a more solid design. Combining the car IFS with a truck frame (untouched) will not allow the coils to work normally. The frame will absorb road shock. This will sound and feel like you are riding on a solid mount axle to frame. It's not that bad but you get the idea.

It will seem as though you have no suspension give at all. If you just think about the design of the car frame wise you will start to see what I am trying to say here. Enjoy drilling the holes! Ha ha ha. I found it easiest to just get the spacers out of the CV. They are welded on the top rail. If the yard cuts the rail around the spacers they will come right out. You can then cut them off to the length you need for the inside of the rails (I think it was 5.25") then take the remainder and use it on top of your rails. This gives you the correct height from lower mount to the upper shock tower support. You also bolt the IFS in just like Ford did it.

Did you get the bolts and nuts? If not it is worth making the trip back to get them. I ground down the alignment pins (less holes to drill). Mine were nylon. Earlier versions have metal pins. I believe they can be driven out upward. To connect the rack you will need a 36 spline 3/4" u-joint. I used a splined on 1 end sleeve 3/4" smooth on the other but you could use double d. Just make sure your ujoint matches. I pressed the sleeve onto the CV piece then welded it. Took about 4" of 3/4" 120 wall round tubing to make the connection between the ujoint and sleeve. If you do your motor mounts like I did you will need to notch your motor mount for steering shaft clearance. Clear as mud yet?

Shop around for your steering pieces. Best I could find online was $85.00 for the U-Joint. I bought everything I needed at a local speed shop for $94.00.

[marvin2]

From what I've read the explorer is too skinny. You want a 90's crown vic rear - it'll have discs and the right bolt pattern & width to work with late model rims. Check carcrafters build for specifics...

I just went back and re-read my build thread...talk about shooting yourself in the foot!!! I talked to the yard this morning and they are looking for a 90's vic rear for me right now.

[marvin2]

elgemcdlf...

Thanks for all of the information. I am sure I will have a question or two for you as I go along with this process. I did score all the bolts for the front end yesterday. I am definitely planning on boxing part of the frame as well as fabricating some engine mounts similar to how JG100 did.

[elgemcdlf]

What are your plans for the rear suspension? My rear springs were weak when I started. After the CV IFS and drop springs I had a 7 1/2" rake from front to rear. Way too steep. If you flip the axle I believe you will have to notch the frame. 4 bar with coils would probably work out best. You could adjust ride height while maintaining as much clearance as possible for travel. If you follow CarCrafters post he ended up pulling the CV rear axle out and replaced with a TBird IRS. I did not catch why. Could have been axle travel issues when the truck was at a decent height.

Keep in mind the thread you referenced he slid the column deeper into the engine bay. My column is in the stock position. From the looks of his mounts they too would either Have to be notched or built running uphill a bit before coming back down to clear the steering shaft. By sliding the column deeper into the engine compartment he made the attach point lower which I believe allowed clearance of the motor mount. When you get to that point you will see what I am talking about.

[marvin2]

What are your plans for the rear suspension? My rear springs were weak when I started. After the CV IFS and drop springs I had a 7 1/2" rake from front to rear. Way too steep. If you flip the axle I believe you will have to notch the frame. 4 bar with coils would probably work out best. You could adjust ride height while maintaining as much clearance as possible for travel. If you follow CarCrafters post he ended up pulling the CV rear axle out and replaced with a TBird IRS. I did not catch why. Could have been axle travel issues when the truck was at a decent height.

Keep in mind the thread you referenced he slid the column deeper into the engine bay. My column is in the stock position. From the looks of his mounts they too would either Have to be notched or built running uphill a bit before coming back down to clear the steering shaft. By sliding the column deeper into the engine compartment he made the attach point lower which I believe allowed clearance of the motor mount. When you get to that point you will see what I am talking about.

For the rear, I'm doing a solid axle from a '02 vic. The rearend is currently setup for 4 bars and springs, but I don't exactly know how I could keep that setup. I will most likely cut off the stock setup, weld on a couple spring perches, and do an axle flip and notch the frame.

I'm not sure what I will end up doing for my motor mounts....hopefully, I will be able to figure something out when I get to that point.

[marvin2]

So, the junkyard let me swap the explorer axle I picked up for a 02 crown vic instead. This gives me the same track width both front and back.

New rear axle:


Got the passenger side stock suspension completely cutoff:


Got the wheels installed temporarily:

[elgemcdlf]

Reading what you have available for tools I would highly recommend finding someone with a "flaming wrench" to cut the crossmember out.

[marvin2]

Made a little more progress today. I welded a couple of support angles in place to help keep the frame rails true while cutting the center crossmember out. It took 5 cut-off wheels, but my grinder made fairly short work of the center section.

I rolled the crown vic suspension in place for a couple of victory shots...












I need to spend some time now to finish cutting out the rest of the center steel scrap, finish wire wheeling, and painting the frame. Then it will be time to start measuring and positioning the IFS and figuring out where to drill the bolt holes.