question for keith about IFS

[lightning_msd]

keith, i was just wondering, when you had that friend with a 68 galaxie i think? the front suspension was the same width of our trucks, do you know what that width is? or how to measure it? at the salvage where i found my 460 i found a 65 thunderbird, a 67 fairlane, a 65 falcon, and a 63 mercury meteor. im just wondering how i would measure this.
btw

[FORDification]

Here's a quick diagram I just whipped up in Photoshop to (hopefully) illustrate where to measure. However, the measurement actually SHOULD be taken where the orange line is...which is where it would be welded up to the truck frame:



The full-size cars have a 'perimeter frame', in that it goes around the outside perimeter of the body, instead of just straight back under the cab like ours does. It's the front frame section that you'd want to be the same width as the truck frame. You'll cut that front section off where it's marked in orange and weld it up to the truck frame there.

Here's a shot I took of the '69 Galaxie front end and then Photoshopped to illustrate that same point:



In this picture, it would be cut off at the red line. The red arrow points to the short stub used to hold the transmission crossmember, which would also need to be trimmed off.

[layedout72]

I can get all the front clip measurements for our trucks today if you list them out, I don't have a problem getting those.

[lightning_msd]

sounds good 72 thanks

[325hotford]

I have done a 54 f100 using a 70's big car clip, and a 76 with a 85 grand marquis. both worked fairly easy. I torched a split in the car horns the same width as the truck frames-34" od. The splits are like your red line on the 68 frame. Only one piece of advise is to weld it up with the center 1" ahead of the stock location to center the tires in the fenders. The crown vic-merc grand use a narrower track and tires fit under the fenders better. good luck

[layedout72]

Alright, I just took a few measurements.

Right behind the core support mounts, in front of the upper arm, and in front of the frame horns are ALL 33.5 inches. Right behind the core support mounts/at the core support mounts, is 34 inches. Just thought I would let you guys know.