F100 reborn

[Thomo5150]

Originally Posted by bonecrrusher

Where you building that one ton over on ls1tech?

Yes I was, it had ZR1 brakes and the KB supercharger..........

[Thomo5150]

Chassis table is finally square and level, started fitting the frame rails to it. Crossmembers are being fabed up, cradle and axle centre line should be in a centred tonight.

[Thomo5150]

Setting the cradle height today, the lower frame rails of the Effy need to be trimed. You'll notice the frame profile is not the same from drivers side to passengers side. I wanted to keep the cradle between the rails without notching the effys chassis and losing strength etc..... The tricky bit is measuring the steering arm movement then welding in the rite size tube so the steering arms run thru the rails. Now you can see why I widened the chassis rails the cradle is snug between and it still can be removed from underneath the chassis. More measuring and design tomorrow, the rear frame rails arer sorted I'm waiting for some plate to be bent up these will look pretty trick.........

[Thomo5150]

Planning is the key, trust me for ever change I make to the Effy something else must change too. I've widened the chasssis so I must mod cab mounts and the front horns to bolt the radiator support on. No big deal but there are subtle changes that needed to be made which you must get rite in the planning process. Ride height was critical for this project and there are so many limiting factors as well. When I researched ride height with IFS on F100's I needed to determine what ride height I could achieve with the Vette drivetrain. There where a lot of Jag IFS swaps for Effys and the new trend seemed to be the Ford Crown Victoria IFS swaps in the USA. Here's something I learnt by studying one of these swaps which I then had to factor in to my conversion.

72 F100 CV cradle fitted.



The guy did a nice job and it was set to the factory spec's of the wheel centreline.



He put some 20's on which I liked and could see what my F100 would look like.



Here's the suble change I needed to make in the planning. I liked the ride height but I new mine would be lower. I notice the tyre is set forward and the gap doesn't look rite to me.



The guy then lowered the F100 1.5 inch which made the wheel location stand out more.







Things like this which need to be sorted before you start cutting or welding will make or break a swap and the way it looks. How many of you would think that I mucked up the wheel centreline location if I left it in the factory spec location. The change being made to where the centreline of the wheel is for this conversion is not easy, I had to determine the length of the wheelbase of 116.9 inch and subtract where I thought the wheel centreline should be then that change had to be factored in to the torque tube length before I ordered it.

Just one problem on my list, I think if I listed them I'd have to longest build thread...............

[WSSix]

I didn't know these trucks were so popular for major builds like this. Keep up the good work.

[shok]

You are widening the whole frame? Couldn't you have just widened the front and rear sections or is that more work then doing the whole thing and playing with the cab mounts etc?
I thinking of something along the lines of how some people take different width frame sections from one car, like a g body, and connect it to the original frame around the firewall, like on an old truck where that swap is popular.

[Thomo5150]

Originally Posted by shok

You are widening the whole frame? Couldn't you have just widened the front and rear sections or is that more work then doing the whole thing and playing with the cab mounts etc?
I thinking of something along the lines of how some people take different width frame sections from one car, like a g body, and connect it to the original frame around the firewall, like on an old truck where that swap is popular.

I wanted to use the corvette cradle so widening the frame an inch wasn't a drama, getting the rear rails from 37 inches to 32 is the trick and still making the frame look stock, pic's will be up on this soon....

[onelapduster]

Originally Posted by WSSix

I didn't know these trucks were so popular for major builds like this. Keep up the good work.

The "Crown Vic" or Panther front suspension swap is popular on the 67-72 trucks and many others. Also popular to swap the solid axle for a IRS from a T-Bird or Mark VIII. I did it a few years ago on my 72.

To the OP, I am surprised that you didnt do the CV swap, but with the work you have done so far, you are certainly setting the bar high. Do you think that this swap could have been done without having seperating the frame? Essentially you could have done this swap without the F-100 frame to begin with. Watching this swap with interest!

[Thomo5150]

I'm in Australia so the CV parts would be the same as the Corvette to source.
I started doing this to another type of chassis, it ended up be considered by the Licencing Engineers an individual build because of the chassis mods. This is where the money pit started with torsion tests before and after the frame was modified. I fitted the ZR1 brakes to it and when the Engineer saw those he told me im not allowed to run them because I did not have ABS braking fitted. I sold the chassis to guy in another state who is finding it easier to get licenced.

SO WITH MY SPARE PARTS i STARTED THE f100.

Reading the law that my licencing state has with modified cars I found a loop hole on chassis mods. It says a chassis must not be cut at any point from the cab forward. The rear section is allowed to be modified, ie lengthed etc...

I asked my engineer about replacing crossmembers he said no welded crossmember where allowed to be removed. I asked what if they where bolted and riveted to the chassis? He said yes I can remove and replace them. I asked can I bolt another subframe / cradle between the chassis rails. He said yes.

I asked if I was allowed to modify the chassis behind the cab, he said yes as long as the chassis rails where boxed and strengthed where they have been cut.

So with there restrictions the F100 build has started. I'll be pushing the law with a hole in the chassis for the steering arms to run thru, the law says im not allowed to cut the chassis, nothing about punching a 4 inch hole thru it.

As you can see from the blueprints below im only changing the crossmembers on the chassis and doing a reverse Z on the rear rails bringing the rear rail width down from 37 odd inches to the Corvettes 32 inch rear cradle width. I need to make this chassis look stock so except for the crossmembers and boxing the chassis the original chassis profile will remain the same.



Sometimes you have to build cars to the law, Im not sure what its like in the USA it seems you guys have more freedom to make anythying. I'd luv to build a custom chassis like Roger, Ron, Garage Dog and others have done with the Corvette drivetrain but it would sit in the garage and never be driven. (Driving an illegal car in Western Australia, $1000 fine and they impound the car for a month) Sometimes you gotta comply with BIG BROTHER........


Sorry about the long answer I hope that explains what I am doing and why im doing it.

P.S With the firewall not needing to be modified I can now take my WHEELBARROW back to the hardware store and get my money back.

Sorry its a joke..............