After some prodding by some people Im surrounded by, Ive been convinced to start a thread on the build up of my 1955 ford f100 pickup. Ive been steadily building the truck every wrong way you could think of for about 5 years now (yes theres right and wrong ways to build trucks) and finally it looks like Im on a winning path! The original plan was to put a 223 6 cylinder back in the truck and drive it till the wheels fell off. Then I was going to do bodywork. Once the truck was in bare metal I realized I didnt know how to do bodywork. The rest is history. So here we go, Let be see if I can bring everyone interested in on the past 5 years of my life stuck in the garage.

 

First pic is the earliest pic I have of the truck. Everyone said the Volare front end was the way to go and swore its a direct bolt in for one of these trucks. SWORE its a DIRECT bolt in. People who HAVE the front end and DONT OWN A WELDER. So heres my "Bolt In" of a volare front end. Half of my frame got hacked out to get the steering geometry to normal. I wouldnt wish this swap on my worst enemy if im honest... And the bad news didnt end there.

 

Welcome to the forum. Looks like you have been busy. Keep us updated on the progress.

 

Heres the front wheel fitment with the front end. The front end was literally about 6 inches too narrow... on both sides.

 

Luckily I found a truck (complete) at a swap meet and scored it for a decent price with what appeared to be a good solid frame that was already done. Until a snapped tow rope sent the new truck and frame down my parents driveway and into an embankment. New frame: totaled. Which meant I had to use a spare frame we had laying around that was uncut. Then life got in the way for a short time while my baby sat outside in the weather (in bare metal) Ill put pics of all this up later. Bringing me to where Im at currently. I decided an 03 and up crown vic was the front end I wanted to use in my truck, as it would give me power rack and pinion steering, disc brakes, and a solid front end under my truck. Next I decided a 4.6 ford motor was what was going in it for the sake of reliability (and the fact that I had easy access to it). Followed by the Explorer rear end. (its not letting me load pics right now.) And all of this will be concealed by stock sheetmetal... and airbags.

 

Well. Looks like were back on for pics!

 

Heres my mock up of the 03 crown vic front end in my truck after I cut all the old suspension out..

 

And heres the new stuff goin in! (sorry its kinda out of order a little bit.)

 

Welcome, certainly an interesting story, I think you will have plenty of interested people following your adventures in future. You are persevering which has got to be a big plus for you. Good luck with it all. I look forward to seeing how you do.

Cheers

 

This is the truck with no weight on the front end after I rolled her out of the shop for the first time with the new front end.. And then me and my beautiful niece who got her very own tool set for christmas... Shes the brains of the outfit around here and with any luck this will end up as her first truck, or inspire her to build one of her own!

 

The 4.6 motor idea.... I have no words for. My father decided to buy a 94 lincoln mk viii (im sure someone is going to be livid about this) because it had low miles, all the right parts, and he needed some back up parts for his mark 8. That left me with the grusome task of knocking it in the head and stripping it out. Yes it ran and drove. And everything worked. But im absolutely sure the motor is going to look better nestled between the front fenders of my "juanita" as I call her. (registration forms I found said the last registered owner of my truck was named juanita) In the last pic, I was giving a salute to the death of the lincoln. Not advertising liquor. Not sure if theres any rules on that. If there is I apologize.

 

Now Im up to the 97 Mercury Mountaineer rear end I have in there right now. The lincoln came with something like 3:08 gears or some crazy ratio. My gear-guru father suggested we try to stay as close to that as possible with a rear end. We ended up at pick n pull one day and I found the mountaineer and discovered it had 3:73 gears... which is as close as I figured i was going to get. Not only that, but its a posi unit as well. The plan with my truck is to bag it and lay it out on the ground. So the next few installments are going to be on that subject... unless I find something else I can do while I stash money away to afford all the right airbag equipment. So my truck now sits directly on the 8.8 from the junkyard. (theres a TCI rear suspension in my truck right now for those with sharp eyes, its borrowed from my fathers truck hes about to start building.)


For those of you doing a build or that have spare parts laying around: Does anyone have a stock style chrome steering column drop laying around? I dont want perfect chrome, as Im not re chroming anything on my truck. Its a long shot, but hey... Its the internet... and its now 2014. Anything is possible.

 

Bravo good sir, bravo! Thank you for sharing your build with us. Keep the photos and updates coming, looks great!

 

Looks like a great project and you got great helper there. This picture looks like the truck won the fight this day...

 

Haha thanks for the feedback guys! It's been a long process to get here and a steep expensive learning curve. But it will be done hopefully by summer. Progress is going to be slow but steady, as I'm about to switch jobs and I'm doing most of the work by myself, and I'm to the point where I have to make some big purchases. But I'll keep everyone updated as best I can!