Fellow Fordaholics, I have been all over tha place, from FTE to acoupe of Roadies (Rod Shops) looking at how I WILL begin my build, a F-100 big window,stepside called,,57 Mamba.. I first looked at front and rear suspension replacements, then just the front. I still have that I-beam with the ole steering unit, fuel tank behind the seat, you know no change from factory except have a 86 F-150,351w HO & C6 tranny. 9" rear w/2.79 gears.
This is what I've seen, a Full chassis sway with a CV P71, but how will I mod the chassis to support the square body 57, should I cut the under carriage of the cab, or shave off and re-structure the frame, I can re-position the tank on the chassis but I'll have to decide to cut the bed to tunnel or check the clearance... The donor car will have all that I need to turn-key the build at a good price compared to after-market shopping. So my Fordaholics, help this Retired Disabled Navy Vet., get a handle and keep in minimal budget,,,

 

Please read this first: Trials Of A First Time Builder .: Articles

It sounds like you are going to blow this thing into a bunch of parts that will never come back together - It happens way too often - Good intentions, not enough money, talent, time or loss of interest - Project ends up getting sold of piece by piece - I know I have several

 

I'm thinking for that year I'd just use the CV front cross member on the F100 frame. That would be easier then trying to mount the cab and bed on the CV frame. Then mount the 4.6 on the crossmember, hang the 8.8 out back. You'd be done faster that way instead of engineering all the mounting points again.

 

Hi Dick.. Great article you referred to! I'm about 4 month's into my project and am still taking parts off my 49 F1. I live in a town of 800 people here in Montana and I know no one that's ever done a truck build, so I'm pretty much on my own. I'm learning SO much from the guys here on FTE! Last night I finished a week's worth of struggle trying to get the steering wheel off so I can move forward with removing the cab. My next "opportunity" is to figure out how to get the steering column off. Like how does it disconnect from the steering box? does it? I am soo in over my head on some of this! Have a great Saturday everyone!

 

If you already have the CV, you better go with SouthernFlyer's recommendations. a full swap-over the CV chassis should be left to someone with lots of experience.

 

Welcome Rod, first of just drive it and plan. Then do work that will still allow Mamba to tool down the road. I don't know how many last minute cruise nights I've done and my 54 does not look pretty (only to me). Try and collect ALL the parts you will need for any change and when you start figure it will take 4times longer than expected. We always find other stuff to fix on the old things. The long it sits torn down the less motivation to work on it. The CV is a good a thought but remember rim choices will be limited. I like the reverse style and those won't work so well on the Panther front end. I too am considering it though. Just my 2 cents. PS nice truck.

 

I suggest you both read my post (#7) on how to make a build plan.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...1955-f250.html

 

A couple of questions you have to ask yourself , be extremely honest with your own answers . Can you afford it , do you have the skills to do what you think you can do , do you have the patience to learn if you don,t . Get to know the truck to find out what you want it to be . Patience is the key I think because this is going to take years and you should enjoy the process . IMHO

 

First off, know that car frames and truck frames are designed and built to two, completely different working specifications. Car frames, like the Crown Vic are designed to work in conjunction with the full body and are simply a place to attach suspension components, since the body wasn't designed to carry that load as a unibody car is. Unlike a truck frame, there's no real strength in a car frame. The car frame gets it's strength from the body where the truck frame is built to carry the load of the body and any associated payload. Putting a truck body on a car frame is one of those things that just because it may be able to be done, it shouldn't.

 

Hi Dick, I read your post through twice, and appreciate all your points that you've made quite well. This is indeed a foreboding undertaking, and I'm doing my best to go into it with eyes wide open! Today was a great day in the shop! Removed the Pitman arm, steering box, running boards and emergency brake cables. The best part was that I hooked up a battery, added a little gas to the carb and presto.. the engine started! lol A good day indeed.

 

I just reread John's "Trials of A First Time Builder" which is spot on.
My 49 is my 5th ground up but the first real modified build. The previous were restorations. I actually interrupted the build of Willard and did ground up #4. That one started with paint peeling on the rear fenders and the next thing that I knew I was re riveting the frame to the tune of over 100 hot rivets!
Having done a few restorations, my own experience is that a significantly modified build is more time than a restoration. The reason is that you are designing and building and sometimes starting over and redoing as opposed to bringing something back to the way it was originally built. Willard I am sure will be more hours than the 38 Woodie that I restored. In the end, Willard will look basically stock on the exterior, was an extremely good truck to start with and a Woodie is more time consuming (if you build a number of new wood pieces as I did) than a comparable steel car. I kept track of the hours to restore the 38 Ford Woodie back in the 80,s. I "logged in and out" of my shop. I did not count hours researching or scrounging parts, just the physical work. It was over 1700 hours. I am sure that I missed a bunch of hours. Experienced shops can do a more basic car like a Model A in around 1000 hours I have been told. That is not a National concours car but a fully restored driver.
One other area that I would comment on in John's writeup is that on Willard I decided to do the sheet metal work first getting it in very good prime but not quite color ready before I did the chassis. I do almost all of my own work, well north of 90% of all hours. With Willard, I will be in the upper 90's. The part that I enjoy the least and I think this is generally true of most guys on this forum is the bodywork. I am not referring to fabrication but the time consuming, often boring final smoothing and blocking for color. All that said, I felt that the creative part of engineering and building the chassis and the mechanical work was the most fun, so for this build and for me I did the part that I like the least first, all of the sheet metal. Many guys charge into the chassis and do it first since to me at least, that is the fun part. I believe that is why we see so many projects for sale with the chassis built and "just need some body work and final paint".
Just my2 cents worth!

 

The guys on here have sited most of the concerns that you will encounter, I'll add my 2 cents worth. First off, todays restorations take less time than Custom builds. My example: I restored a 63 thunderbird in 3 years, I had a second 63 in the driveway as a parts vehicle. Building my Custom 48 F1 has taken 8 years. I decided what I wanted to build 2 months after I purchased the truck. Make a plan and stick to the plan. Your choice should be driven by your ability, time and money and most important, what YOU want.

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

"America's first recyclers - Hot Rodders"

 

All good advice! Willard mentioned the number of hours to complete a vehicle. I've always heard it's around 2000 hours. That's 40 hours a week for a year, or a full time job. Whether it's a team of pros or one guy in his garage, it still takes that number of man hours to complete the job. That's why we all take so many years to complete our projects. It takes lots of years to find 2000 hours. It took me six years just to get it on the road, and it still needs the interior, paint and a/c.

 

Just a friendly welcome to FTE, and a thank you for your service to our country. Ill leave the advice to the experts. The mods your talking about are above my pay grade

 

My fordoholics, I thank u for the love, time and sweat that was involved in giving me the info on my road to succeed in the creation of the 57 Mamba, with the few builds that I've completed, Cobras, VWs, humpbacks and a fleetline, i guess when it's your own, you don't think about the road cross. I seen a build of a MarauderPU that caught my eye and loved it. I've had this truck for 16 years and it just made sense to me to upgrade to EFI, and the whole package.. I've seen the maraudepu build and the unibody63, but wisdow out weighs desire any day... I will stay tuned to you Gents.... happy Building