I have recently aquired a '61 merc, and '63 ford, both unibodies. The merc is in incredible shape, body wise (just paint rust, only 2 small thru holes), the ford a little ruff but not unrepairable.
The guy I got both truks from ($400) has left the ford completly stock, but had the idea of putting the merc onto a 1970 lincoln frame. I'm not traditionally a ford guy, but heard about these truck and went and had a look, and drug them both home that afternoon. They are the coolest trucks I've ever seen.
After spending about a week on FTE site reading as much pertinent info on frame swaps as I can.......my question is this is there any relatively painless swap to get this '61 merc rolling......I am pretty good with a wrench, and known for welding/fab skills. I'm not afraid of the work, but it seems to me, the uni's where an entity all ther own. The '64-'73, '74-'79 doesn't apply like it would for a normal truck. Ihave a 1984 f-150 that I can get for free, would that work as well as any other frame. I have already started to rebuild the 1970 lincoln 460(hopin' for 500 + HP.
Hopefully a fella named GARBZ can reply, as he seems to have lots of expeirience in this

 

These kind of Swaps are Never painless, can become a Nightmare rather quickly as everything has to be changed out, w/ lots of mount relocations & welding.

 

I'd not hack the Merc! The Ford is another situation alltogeather. Have you noticed how the steering column sits off to the right of the center of the instrument cluster? Here is how you fix that! Get a cowel including dash from a 65-66 F100 or F250. Take the floor and lower firewall from the 84, fit the cowel from the 65 and add the rest of the Uni cab to the 65 cowell and 84 floor pan. Not easy but doable for anyone with sheetmetal skills. The wheelbase on the 84 F150 will need to be shortened a couple of inches and a couple of inches will need to be whacked off the rearmost section of the frame. Combine the frame horns from the Uni with the 84 frame and you will have a Uni on a 84 Ford frame. None of this is complicated and I believe a heck of a lot simpler than using a car frame. But many here have done the car frame swap deal. I just like trucks to stay trucks. Let the sparks fly! 460 with C6 is a great combination.

 

Thank you....this is exactly what I'm lookin' for, I wouldn't have known of the 65/66 stuff. The ford uni on the 84.......Merc on original uni frame. Thanks again.

 

want to sell your merc ill buy it thanks