its done! installed the c.v (1989) front end to my 55 ford this weekend, took 11 hours of bull work but it came out quite well, frame of the crown vic is a bit wider than the truck, cut the truck frame in an angle and a small section of the top so it would fit into the c.v clip, welded both bottom and top clips together, then i cut a pie shape out of the top and bottom c.v clip, heated and folded the sides of the frame so it would lign up with the truck frame, welded both frames together, did some re-incorcing on the insides of the frames, fish plated both sides of the frame while heating up the material so it would flow with both frames, capped the top and bottom plates and done!! just have to cut the front of the frame and finish that part up (see my gallery for pics)

 

Sounds like a lot of work I will have to check it out when I get home.

 

Checked out the pics looks clean enough to me, but I don't usually deal with swaps and mods. Moe would be able to tell better and give lil'advice, he did a Vic clip on his 1956 last year.

 

looks like a whole pile of work.

 

its not that bad at all! its trying to figure out where to cut and how to mate it to the truck chassis after that its no problem (measure, measure, measure and cut once), 11 hours also included 2 trips to the hardware store to get mig wire and to get tips, had a buddy help me for a few hours to lign everything up and the rest i was on my own, oh yeh we also chopped the rear end out of the car and started to measure for the 4 link.

 

I think it looks great so far! Nice to hear that you did alot of pre measuring too!

Looks like you have a HUGE shop to work in too.

Im curious, how did you measure things out so your frame didnt have a V in it? (when looking at it from the side view?

Also, I was wondering why did you choose to mig it, instead of stick it?

Im not huge into welding, but it was always my understanding that you would get better penetration with a arc welder. Will the mig welds all hold up?

 

basically the `v` that the crown vic frames creates when being attached to the truck frame is all covered up by the outside re-inforcing plates i`ve welded on the inside, outside top and bottom of the frame, trust me without the plates covering this all up it looks severely ugly! wish i had a bit more time when i welded this up to take more pictures while i was in the process but i just wanted to hammer down and get it done! actually i`m usually a stick guy too! but since we got this new welder at the shop we`ve been doing lots of hd welding with it (bucket teeth ect) and they haven`t failed yet, mig does a nicer cleaner job than a stick, so i figured i`d use this instead of the stick.

 

Wow that looks like a ton of work but good job on getting it done...

 

I've only ever used Mig, we do have a Arc dad still uses a ARC every once in awhile but espically for thin metal work the Mig sure shines though.

 

to my understanding, mig with gas is better than stick/arc, with similar penetration, but allowing for much cleaner and more controllable welding...

 

Dan used a mig on my 56 frame and for welding thinner metal like that it`s the only way to go.
Any spaces are alot easier to fill in with a mig welder.

 

you should take a couple leaves (3) out of the back springs to level out the truck now that its clipped or you will have a severe rake. Looks good

 

could you just flip the axle instead of removing springs??

 

the crown vic rear end is going in next, welder series 4 link will be erdered today, probably install it next weekend, plan is to install air bags in the front and rear

 

When flipping the rear axle it maybe necessary to do a C notch so it`s easier just to remove a few springs.