Wanted to start by saying thanks to everyone who has contributed to the forum over the years. I just now registered, but used it as a resource countless times while working on this project.

I found the truck out in West Texas with very little rust. I lucked into an amazing deal on the Trans Am for the motor and transmission and then went from there. We started it last weekend, and just have a few small items to finish up before its on the road. I have a whole collection of images so if you want to see something specific let me know. Always open to criticism and questions so fire away.

 

Very nice, where are you running the air filter too? Down inside the front fender? Keep the patina look,it looks great. L8R ZFLASH

 

Awesome project

 

Thanks. Yes the filter is inside the fender with a guard on its backside to protect it from water and debris. The patina is staying for now.

 

She sits real nice! Welcome to the forum and good luck with the project. Keep the pics comin!

 

We ended up putting a set of bags on the front to get it where we wanted. I wish we could have kept the coils, but with how little these motors we it wasnt going to come down to what looked right. Those images actually show it maybe an inch lower than we will drive it at. I like how they look with even wheel to fender spacing front and back.


Here are a few more random images and a video of the first start.

 

Nice work. I've been considering bagging my 48. What and how did you install yours? Pics if possible.

___________________________________________
48 Ford F1- Darkside
46 Ford Tudor - Street Rod

"Happiness - 3 pedals and a 5 Speed"

 

I was out of town and my Dad took care of the installation on the bags so no images.

Basically what you do is remove the upper spring cups from the Jag crossmember by drilling the spot welding. This leaving you with a flat surface for the bag to rest on. Then just drill your mounting holes top and bottom and run the lines through the existing hole used for the jag specific threaded spring compression tool. One thing to note is you need a small diameter (around 5") bag to prevent rubbing on the inboard side of the crossmember.

 

I like your upper shock mounts. I mounted mine to the frame, but I think your mounts are cleaner. Nice job. FWIW, I'm going to replace front wheel bearings soon, have one (original) starting to go bad. The bearings are common to over 2000 domestic cars, according to one website. You can get them anywhere, cheap.

 

Yeah my Dad did a good job on the shock mounts. Our subframe is soft mounted using the stock jag isolators so going to the frame for the shocks wasnt an option.

The bearings are the only thing we did not replace on our subframe, but they did feel and look ok. Thanks for the warning though, I will keep an eye/ear on them.

On another note we re-installed the exhaust after adding a crossover tonight and let the motor run for a good amount of time. All seems well with just a small coolant leak from a compression clamp I salvage from the trans am. I will finish up the shift linkage this weekend, along with plumbing the brake booster vac source, and plumbing the PCV. Still waiting for a cooper bussman PRM to show up for the electric fan.

 

what did you do for rear suspension, is that an 8.8 on stock rear leafs? If so any leafs removed? Or is a different spring setup? Is that C notch strong enough to support the leaf suspension?

 

The rear is an LSD 3.73 8.8 on the full pack stock leafs with drop shackles and relocated mounts. I think the notch will be fine for the intended use of the truck. It wont even see any heavy loads to towing. If we make more power later on, it will get a 4 link.

 

Nice looking truck and work and the engine sounds great.

 

Thank you.

Also if anyone wants one of the gauge surrounds I had made there are around 15 of them left because of order minimums from the laser cutter and powdercoater. I will let them go cheap just PM me.

 

Very nice work! Your Jag installation looks nice and clean. I was one of the first on the forum to install the Jag however other projects slipped in such that I have not driven my 49 with the Jag installed. Installing the Jag seems to be more common in the bonus built trucks due to the narrower 32" vs. 34" wide frame rails in the engine bay on the post 52 trucks. More pictures of your installation would help others considering the Jag under the 34" wide rails particularly since you soft mounted it. I can't see it from you pictures but assume that you notched either the jag cross member or the frame rails.