When I bought the truck it was already blown apart so I couldn't take any realistic frame to ground measurements so I had to improvise somewhat.


I laid the front axel and springs upside down on the floor and measured from the floor to the center of the wheel hubs. This gave me a reference line from the stock spring hangers on the frame.


Then when I had the cv IFS clamped in place I measured from the spring hanger reference line to the centers of the cv wheel hubs.


From those measurements it appears that I will have about 2.5 inches of drop at the front end but the proof will be in the pudding when I finally get some tires on it and take it off the work stands.


Sorry that I don't have some hard data to pass on but its hard to track stuff like this when you buy the truck in boxes.


Gary

 

Your probably pretty close because the guys that put the cradle next to the frame claim they are getting about a 5" drop.

 

hey,

Tricky here from Australia. Which Lexus are we talking about - the LS400 or the SC400 or which? I have two Soarers in my yard I am parting out and I never heard of anyone using a Lexus IFS. Jag XJ6 and XJ12 are the major donors Down Under! I myself am doing an XJ12!

Gotta say I love your work!

Cheers,
Tricky

 

Do a search for a guy named lexco. He's from down under too. It was his build thread that got me interested in the Lexus front clip. It is my understanding that he used a v8 Lexus so the spring rates would better match his truck weight.
Gary

 

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the speedy reply!

I found his build thread finally and will make contact with him and pick his brain over the SC400 install -it looks simple doesnt't it?

Apologies for hijacking your thread - you do great work and I have enjoyed your build immensely.

Cheers,
Tricky

 

Gary,
Been busy? Haven't seen much from you in quite a while. Even being retired stuff prevents me from getting much done. Guess it gives me time to accumulate parts so WHEN

 

Gary is probably busy keeping the air full of helicopters and airplanes to fight fires out west. I think this is the busy season for fires out there, especially since it is so dry.

 

I have been pretty busy but I have been able to put some decent time into the truck too. but I haven't been taking very many photos so I expect to feel the wrath of the forum.


Here is kind of a breakdown of my recent projects.
I built a full height tailgate for my truck like I did when I built Jon's 1950, but I went the extra step and added a central pull latch system which is recessed into the inside of the tailgate instead of the two spring loaded latches that I put into Jon's.
But by doing that I had to totally modify the entire tailgate end of the low profile fiberglass topper that a friend gave me when I began the truck project. The topper had a rear flap that filled the area between the bed sides and the original low tailgate. So I spent almost 2 weeks cutting out the excess fiberglass, bonding in new structural supports, and moving the latch mechanism to the top of the unit. (I hate fiberglass), But I finally got it to work perfectly and it is now prepped and awaiting paint when that time comes.
When I first laid out my plans for this truck I had planned to put a mustang fuel tank under the bed and run the filler into the left rear fender. But I failed to take into account the space requirements of the T Bird IRS and sway bar. Once I had the IRS all plugged in it was very apparent that there was no room left for a fuel tank.
So, once again I had modified myself into a corner, I now had to fabricate a custom fuel cell for the truck.
I decided to build a thin fuel cell that would fit against the bed header much like a slip tank. The tank is 17 inches tall, 6.5 inches wide, and 48 inches long. It is fully baffled, has a bolt down man hole in the top to gain access in case I ever need to do a clean out, and is fully lined with Northern fuel cell sealant so it should never rust. I reinforced the front of the tank so I could use the stock crown vic fuel pump / sender unit and added a rollover vent valve for added safety.
But having a fuel tank sitting in the bed looks a bit tacky so I built another header board that not only hides the fuel tank but keeps anything in the truck bed from flying forward in a sudden stop and puncturing the tank. With the false header installed you don't even really notice that the bed is 7 inches shorter inside.


That is about the sum total of my recent activities and I will try to remember to post some photos of my mess soon.

 

Sounds great, but of course not true until proven with pictures

 

Here are the photos of my new fuel cell and second header board that I had to make for the truck. As promised.

 

That look really good, how much fuel will it hold? Is the second front panel removable ? Looking forward in seeing that tailgate you modified too.

 

Are you going to cap the two header panels? Or are you going to let the topper hide the tank? How are you going to reach the tank filler with the topper in place?

 

The total capacity is 23 gallons but I have the filler neck set internally so that the fuel nozzle will (should) click off at 20. That should give me enough gas to get far-far away when the wife finally finds out how much I am spending.

 

I have thought about putting a cap panel between the 2 headers to hide the tank but the tank actually looks pretty dam good so I think I will leave it as is for now. I can always add a cap later.


The topper will hide the entire tank when closed and I lowered the filler neck into the tank so that a fuel nozzle slips right into it and rests nicely on the aft header when the topper is raised.


I welded the new front header in place but am installing nut plates on the aft header so if I need access to the fuel pump or sending unit I will be able to remove the header with 10 screws rather than having to pull the entire fuel cell.

 

I rolled the skin to match the roll of the bed sides.



Then used a die grinder to work the skin until it overlapped the bed sides and matched height.


Once the top was in alignment The skin was trimmed to length and welded to the hinge bar. I now had an outer skin and hinge but no internal frame or latch mechanism.






















When I built that tailgate for Jon's truck I made it stock thickness which did not allow for much more than the 2 individual spring latches so I increased the thickness of
my unit to 1 inch so I could put in a central latch mechanism.








Then I formed up the inside panel. I primed and undercoated the inside surface everywhere that it did not contact the internal framework to prevent any rust problems.




With everything Primed, undercoated, and the internal latch mech well lubbed with Plasti-lube, it was time to glue it all up.




I used panel bond to hold it all together. I love this stuff, especially when working with flat surfaces that you don't want to warp by welding.









First the outer skin and frame were bonded together then the inner skin was glued in place the next morning.














After a bit of adhesive cleanup all that was left was to install the ford f150 tailgate cables and mounts onto the truck and gate. The mounts on the tailgate
were installed with ea-960 structural adhesive and cherrymax molly rivets. The cables may someday fail but those mounts will never come loose.



I love the tall tailgate but the bed topper that was given to me would no longer fit so I had to cut off the rear wing which covered the original gap and rip out
the rear deck stiffener to overlap the new tailgate edge. So I had to bond in a new stiffener and relocate the latch mechanism for the topper to the upper
surface

I don't have a photo of the finished topper but it works better now than it did originally and looks great.