I tried to search the forums but got no closer a solution.

I've bought my self a 1953 F-100 which still sits in the US so I can collect some new parts and ship with it. Since I don't have the car I can't do any measruments on it and I don't know of any F-100 close to my self.

What is the widest wheels and tires possible to fit the F-100 without making fender wells inside the bed? Is there a vice idea to change the track width rear since I'm replacing the Dana 44 with a Ford 9" or do I just leave it OEM?

I will buy a Mustang II IFS kit but I see you also get narrow control arms. What is the reason for people wanting to narrow the front end?

Btw, is there F100's running big HEMI engines? I'm trying to fit a E63 AMG 6.3 32v engine in my F100 and it measures about 29" from head to head. As far as I can understand it's only the HEMI that comes close to this width. I've bought the engine so hope it'll fit. It'll also be supercharged.

 

Hello to Norway. Welcome. I'm of little help on your "dark side" questions, but can offer the factory diagram to allow you to see space availability at the wheels. Stu

 

You won't be able to fit nearly enough tire for your engine without tubbing the bed, even then it's going to take a gentle foot on the gas pedal to not just make a lot of tire smoke and big tire bills, especially with your big motor. It's a pickup with most of the weight on the front axle after all.
The engine will fit in the engine compartment, Ford coyote's fit and they are larger than a Hemi. Interference with frame, MII crossmember, steering is another story, have no idea?
Narrow control arms keep front tires under fenders with wider than stock crossmember, fix geometry. It's not narrower front tread width than stock F100.
OEM rear tread width with 9" or narrowed depends on what wheel width, offset, tire width, suspension you plan on running. Most go with stock width and 3" widened rear fenders, mini tubs, then adjust tread width with wheel offset for big tires. Again with your big motor, big tires you should use at least 31 spline or aftermarket 33 spline axles and spider gears or detroit locker spool. Ford 9" are strong, but to make bulletproof they need a lot of aftermarket parts help, see Currie or Strange for beefed parts. Chassis will needs some help if you want it to go straight. Hope you have a fat wallet!
Rear axle info:
1948 through 1960 Ford F-1 and F-100 Rear Axle (differential) Swaps | Ford Trucks

Here you go:

 

We have at least one member in Netherlands, one in Spain and a couple in England and Germany.

 

AXracer: Thank you for a lot of good information!

If this is the correct engine you are refering to:
http://image.hotrod.com/f/feature_st...s-up-graph.jpg
Then it's about identical in width and height to the AMG engine except mine will be 3-4" longer.

About the interference problems, I have no idea either. I need to get both the truck and engine in the garage and softmount it in to get an overview of the possible problems.

With 3" wider rear fenders, can I fit 275-295 wheels without touching the bed? My original plan is to build a 31-spline 9" with Detroit True-Trac. I've been thinking of building a 35-spline but it'll be upwards to £1000 more in parts cost. Maybe it's worth the cash when I puton 15" MT drag slicks to hit the quarter mile?
I've already bookmarked the link on rear ends. I'm thinking of buying a 9" housing with axle stubs and torino housing ends for a 60" track width. Do you have opinions? With 3" wider rear fenders.

Can you explain a little bit on the going straight factor? As you know I'm thinking about a Mustang II front suspension and a 9" in a 4-link setup from TCI or Heidt's. Both front and rear come with boxing plates. What other mods do you recommend? It'll be a street/strip car that I want to take to the drag strip occasionally. Most of drag racing in Norway is only 1/8 mile and a very few is 1/4.

 

Yes, that's the engine I was referring to. Typical interference issues: oil filter location, front sump oil pan and front crossmember, header clearance with steering,. starter motor.
ford frame is ladder design that was designed to be flexible (twist). A high torque motor, large sticky tires will cause the frame to flex loading the tires unevenly which usually means the car will "hook" at launch. Adjusting to remove hook results in car wanting to dart mid track when twist torque is reduced, making for a very "interesting" ride. To counter this properly the chassis needs to be stiffened to eliminate flex. There are a few different ways to do this: for engines <500 HP with wide street tires, fully box chassis. For 500 - 750 HP with 10" slicks on sprayed track add wide K member, roll cage with bars from front hoop to front of frame. > 750 HP, slicks wider than 12", this is a race car that might be driven on the street, but won't be much fun to do so or affordable to feed. Body will require much rework to reduce wind resistance, full race chassis, (Tim Allen sold that 56 soon after video) It is really difficult to have a street and race car, requires so many compromises that it will not be good for either. I'd suggest building a drag car and towing it with a mild street truck, you'll spend less and have more fun!.

 

bed width is about 49 inches and the stock fenders have about 11 inches inside clearance so a 60 inch wide rear axle with zero offset wheels will center the tires in the fenders. If the 3 inch wider fenders provide 14 inches inside clearance then you will need a 1-1/2 inch negative offset wheel to center the tire, and yes, a 295 should fit easy enough. I think the rear end from Ford pickups up thru 1972 are 60 inches wide.

 

AXracer: Thanks again for detailed information. Fully boxing the frame should be a overcoming task. Is there someone that sells a full box plate kit or do I need to cut out the plates myself?
Where do I source a K-member for a F100?
What do you mean by front hoop? Not all english words is in my vocablary

das54: Thanks! So with your numbers I should run a 63" wide axle to center the wheels inside 3" wider aftermarket fenders and 0 offset wheels?

 

There are no kits for fully boxing the frame, but because of the simple shape it is not difficult to make patterns to cut your own out of 3mm plate steel. I like to cut mine to fit inside the frame flanges and inset them ~ 3 mm from the edge to make it easy to weld.
Same for K member, it must be fabricated.
A hoop is a continuous tube from the chassis up to under the roof then across the vehicle and back down to the other side. It supports the roof in case of a roll over. A single hoop behind the driver's head is called a roll bar. (a roll bar is braced with additional tubes to prevent it from collapsing). A roll cage is a much stronger safety structure composed of at least two hoops one behind the driver and one in front of the driver. These hoops are tied together with additional tubes to make a box like framework enclosing the driver's compartment. In organized racing the sanctioning (rules provider) group (NHRA, IHRA, NASCAR, etc) usually specifies the required size and placement of the tubes in a roll bar or roll cage. Usually the higher the speed capability of the vehicle the more roll over protection structure is required.
A single hoop roll bar (typical): Even a single hoop roll bar can add considerable stiffening to a chassis.
[img] http://www.bethania-garage.com/images/ab1.jpg [/img]

A two hoop roll cage (typical):
[img] http://www.bethania-garage.com/images/cage1.jpg [/img]

A roll cage with front chassis stiffening bars (the 2 long bars on the left that would attach to front of frame):


Paul Horton's welder series does have a universal tubular K member kit:
http://www.welderseries.com/blog/onl...ion-universal/

There are many different K member designs used.

 

Maybe better stay with the narrow rear end because I think negative offset wheels are common and adding spacers if it a little too narrow is a lot easier than "shortening" the axle.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/go...FUpqfgod6IcADg

 

I agree with Dan on the axle. Most wide wheels are neg offset.

 

Just to make sure, when you talk about negative offset I suppose you mean an ET from 0 and down? For example -10?

AXracer: Is it universal K-members on the market that you can recommend? If I drop the supercharger I assume I'll be in the middle of the 500-750hp range on the engine as N/A.

 

A "negative offset" wheel means there is more wheel "dished" from the mounting plane of the hub out toward the fender than in toward the chassis.



A serious negative offset wheel:

 

Here is a 53 F100 with a small hemi engine...

 

Thanks for clearing this out. That was exactly like I thought but I was under the impresstion that most wheel (regardless of width) usually have a positive offset.