Originally Posted by fordman75

I'm subscribed to your Youtube channel. And have enjoyed watching your bumpside F100 builds. You won't find much love here for frame swaps. Most of the guys hear try to talk people out of doing it. But I've seen what you've done with your bumpside trucks. So I know this shouldn't be an issue for you. It's well within your skill level.

I think the 96-2001 Explorer would be the best choice. They were available with the V8 ( something the Ranger didn't offer ) . And they have the disc brake 8.8" rear diff. The wheel base is a little shorter then a 53-56 F100 short box. But if you are cutting the box down anyways then that doesn't really matter.

Here's some pics of one.






I have seen this done to a few 53-56 F100's. I saw a couple real clean swaps where they used the Explorer chassis with the Explorer firewall and floor. Like you did with the Crown Vic on your orange F100.

But I wouldn't use the dash out of the Explorer. The newer dashes look horrible in the 50's trucks. So I would mate the lower Explorer firewall to the upper F100 firewall. That way you keep the cool original 50's dash but have all the newer chassis and drivetrain parts. And since the floor of your 53 is rusty using the Explorer floor would be a good choice. Then you'll just have to patch up the F100's rocker and lower door post.

If you prefer the 4.6L over the older 5.0L/302 V8 or V6 then check out the 2002 + Explorers. These also have the IRS set up in them. But you will have to check the wheel base, track width and frame width on one in the junk yard to make sure it will work.

Here's the only pic I have of the newer Explorer chassis.

Originally Posted by nathankershaw

Thank you for the kind words.

The main reason I'm leaning away from the 95-01 Expo is that I don't like torsion bar suspension.
It's perfect apart from that.

I can always put a V8 in the Ranger frame...that's my thinking...

The later Expo is really nice, I love the IRS but the firewall is too wide for me to use without relocating a lot of things & that's not really something I want to do.

I have an idea for a motor some time down the road that's completely out of left field...I'll kepp that to myself for now though

Originally Posted by fordman75

Doing a chassis swap and then an engine swap, into the chassis you are going to swap in, is kind of a waste isn't it? It kind of defeats the purpose of the chassis swap. If you are doing that why not keep the stock 53 frame and pick up another 2003+ Crown Vic. Then just swap the engine, transmission & front suspension onto the stock frame? The CV front crossmember makes it pretty simple. It's almost a bolt in swap. Then pick up a disc brake Explorer rear diff & suspension to swap in.

Another choice on the Explorer chassis is convert the front suspension over to air ride or coil overs. That gets rid of the torsion bars. and should be a whole lot simpler then a engine swap.


Please don't say your planned engine is a LS engine.

Originally Posted by nathankershaw

HaHa! no...no LS for me...I do like them, they're just still to expensive for me.

I did think about the possibility of converting an Explorer to coilovers but the front shock mounts would have top be re-made for strength.

The reason why I tend to go for the full frame swap is because I prefer to join metal together as opposed to plumb, wire & fiddle etc.
With a newer frame that's all done, wired & plumbed...with technology thats 50 years newer.

Originally Posted by fordman75

Fabbing or modifying shock mounts is a whole lot easier then doing an engine swap. Isn't it? If the entire Explorer chassis is a good set up for you except for one item. It seems like changing the one item is a simpler solution then an engine swap.

You do know swapping engines on a Ranger chassis is going to require a whole lot of plumbing, wiring and fiddling! You would be swapping an engine into a chassis that it was never available with ( no matter which engine you went with ) . Swapping the Crown Vic stuff onto the 53 frame is pretty simple. And you are keeping all the CV tech except the frame rails themselves. The stock frame has lived over 60 years so it'll handle the upgrades.

But it's your truck, I'm just offering some more choices. I'll keep watching your vids ( unless you swap in an engine that's not a Ford ) .

Originally Posted by drptop70ss

There are guys who hate frame swaps, but these are just cars so do what you want as you like for you!
I did a frame swap on my 1937 Buick because I thought it would be a time savings over updating the frame, but that was based on my limited fabrication knowledge at the time.
After learning more I found that at least in my case doing the frame swap was actually a LOT more work than just updating an original chassis with modern suspension and running gear, so from now on for me I will lean towards updating an original frame.

This car has the frame swap



This truck has an updated original frame



Good luck either way!