I've been cooking up a plan for an OT ride, and as I dug out my CPP catalog and started looking at their tubular engine crossmembers (w/stock beam axle), I noticed the FE one is non-adjustable. It says it fits a 28.75" wide frame spacing, designed for 4" tall pad, and the pad is PN 2141. So since my F1 is 32" wide in the front ( my measuring will obviously be wrong), and the '53 on up are 34", can anyone tell me what the inside dimension is on their truck? Is it 28.75"?

I measured my '79 Bronco, got 34" wide frame front, and I got 28.5" inside frame spacing. To add to the confusion, some of the guys in the '73-79 group say their truck measures 33.5" and 34.5" across. I got perch measurements, subtracted from overall width of 34", and got the same number for the CPP tubular mounts for 351M/400 at 16.5", so I can assume the frames can be out of whack by a half inch or so on some due to heavy 4 wheeling, or whatever. That said, I'll go with the even 34" wide as mine shows... which should be the same as everyone else here, and thus my question about the 28.75" inside measurement. My 34"-28.5" divided by 2 = 2.75" wide frame rail.... Are your frames 2.75" wide? or 2.63" (5/8ths)?
So I'm wondering if fitting your tubular crossmember was a headache, IE too wide and had to stretch the frame out a bit, or did it fall right into place?

Also what does the FE motor mount look like it came from? I only see 2 bolt holes, as opposed to 4 on my FE block from '76. Maybe they line up the same?

 

dain scott my head hurts now .... all them numbers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just went out and measured inside of the top part of the rail side to side and came up with 29 3/4 wide .take it with a grain of salt as god only knows my eyes and brain don't always see things the same way ................... lol !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the frame rails themselves seem to vary on the oe 53 under my truck , and the one in the garage im putting together between 2-2 1/4 wide , and the further back i got it seemed to widen to 30 " between back by where the x-member is that the e-brake cables go through { last one under the cab } . so take into consideration obvious factory sloppy tolerances guy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! outside to outside on both measure just under 34 to 34 exact depending on the spot you choose .

 

Scott,

My '49 Frame measures 31.5 inside to inside at my tube mount.

Ernie

 

Kevin, How wide is the frame rail itself?

 

i went back out scott look at my post before this one ........... edited my post dude .........

 

Ok, narrower than I thought on the frame rail itself. Thanks.

 

Measured an F-1 frame....inner edge to inner edge *edit*27 1/4. Frame rail width, 2 3/8.

Seems they would make the mount a little wider so you could trim to fit.

I have an FE in my 53 F600, but we used mount towers from a 70's 4x4...worked pretty slick. Can take some pics if you want. What are you building?

 

quick drawing of my '79 Bronco. I put a 300 in it, using 300 6 F150 4x4 perches in forward frame holes. Engine holes look centered on the perch, and measure 17" from bell surface to hole. The 351M perch goes in the rearward holes on the frame, are not centered (1" mount hole forward of rear top frame hole) and measures 12" from mount hole to bell. The FE is the odd duck here..... as they say the 300 and FE share the same perch, yet I measure 12" and 14" from bell to block mount holes ( I don't have a motor mount ) But when an FE goes into the 351M perch, it is supposed to sit 1" higher. The perch holes are at 45*, so if the FE block is wider, it naturally will sit higher. The CPP catalog shows this difference as 16.5" wide on the 351M/400, and 18.25" wide on the FE. Motor mount height will change that overall as well, so those numbers aren't exactly concrete for me, since I don't know the mount CPP uses. ( CPP uses '70's Tbird mounts for the 351M/400) I am making a chassis for my '62 Fairlane. I hope to use truck mounts on custom perches (to take out the 4x4 passenger side engine offset) so that any engine family can be put in at will. I have the 4x4's to pattern off of, but I don't have the FE 4x4, but do have the 300. Clear as mud?

 

hhmmm cool stuff scott . now when you get that figured out come pay me a visit and i'll let you problem solve how to fit a coyote into my birds engine bay where the two valve 4.6 is sitting now .............. LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'll look but are you needing 4x4 frame mounts or 2wd ???? i think i got a set of 2wd somewhere in my mess from that 74 i had ........ you know what i just thought of sumpthin " i was looking at a transdapt fe mouht for my 1 ton 55 before i figured out how to do it using stuff i had here . it sat the engine i the 55 according to their sit at dain near oe levels etc. in a 1/2 ton . maybe they still have it in production..... here they are . look at summit online and the numbers are trd-4037 and trd-4017 . if it's any help .

 

If I had an FE 4x4 motor mount for these years' trucks, I'd be set, but I don't

 

Classic Car and Truck Brake, Steering and Suspension Parts Here's a link to the crossmember I'm talking about. Notice how the L mounts to the frame.

Classic Car and Truck Brake, Steering and Suspension Parts And what the FE motor mount they use looks like.

 

here's the transdapt peices scott and the mounts in the pic look just like the ones in my 70 and 74 with a fe.............. xmember is shallower than what cpp's looks to be . this one would've fit 53-64 i think effies and was going to go into my 55 . the one with the mounts is trd 4017 the other is trd 4037 . got 'em from the online summit catalog .Attachment 33078

Attachment 33079

 

They look to be about the same. And it doesn't look like they can be made adjustable in width, except for drilling the top frame holes inboard from center for a wider than 28.75" distance. So with my Bronco frame measuring 28.5", you can see how this set-up won't work. The vertical mounting part would have to push the Bronco frame outward an 1/8" on each side. I could design my Fairlane frame to be 28.75" wide inside spaced, but the stock truck mounts will all be off by a 1/4" (I am not using the tube crossmember, but just as an example of frame width discrepancies) and by going with the stock Bronco distances, I can keep everything within stock specs.

If anyone has used the CPP or other maker's tube crossmember in their '53 or newer pickup, I'm curious how it fit. and how the vertical pat of the crossmember lines up with the inner frame rail spacing.

BTW, thanks Kevin on the motor mount ID. I'll look into '70 and '74 for some pics.

BTW Scott, I got 27.5" between the rails on my beat up F1 frame, and 2.25" on the frame rails. The center to center on my F1 springpads is 29" Just right for my Fairlane.

 

I'm totally confused. What are you actually trying to accomplish here? Are you trying to mount a FE in a 62 Fairlane? or are you building a 62 Fairlane 4x4?

Crites sell motor mounts to swap a FE into the Fairlane. Specialty Auto Parts For Sale - Crites Performance Parts - critesperformanceparts.com

 

I'm building a '62 Fairlane gasser with the custom frame rails drilled to accept the two different '73-79 perches, so that on race day I can put an FE or MEL in, and on Monday, put the 302 or 351W in for gas mileage. Ok, not that often, but at least the option will be there, lol.