does anyone out there have a gibbon ifs.... i can use some help, its going into a 61 uni shortbed.no one up in my area has one, or chooses to reply to my thread...

I picked up the gibbons ifs with almost all the parts needed for the conversion for a great price. i do not know which donor car was used. the instructions name a bunch besides the cordova...
the problem i am having is that i did not get the rear cross member with the kit and the strut rod brackets were hacked.

so if anybody out there is reading this thread ... i could use dimensions of the three pieces that make up the rear cross member,plus hole locations, and the same for the strut brackets

also if you can copy your instructions they might be newer than mine(or more complete),mine I believe are from 91..

thanks john



besides that, how do you like your ifs since it has been awhile. insights and suggestions would also be great

thanks

john

 

John,

I don't know how much help I'll be. My truck is a '51 and I haven't fully completed the install. I had it all mocked up and then completely disassembled the chassis for blasting. Everything fit, but I haven't had the chance to drive it yet. Here's a shot of my rear crossmember when i had it mocked up.



It's a 3-piece affair. The center piece is square tube (1" or maybe 1 1/4"?) and just joins the outer brackets together. The outer brackets are nothing but angle iron and two flat pieces of 3/16" plate. The general idea is to remove the original torsion bar sockets from the donor car's crossmember, mock the entire system up to locate and position the sockets in the rear crossmember, and then weld them in place.

The strut rod brackets were the only part of my kit that didn't fit right. The fact that yours are hacked tells me that it's a common problem. They fit the frame correctly, but the u-shaped flange that the strut rod passes through and fastens to is welded to the base plate at a 90* angle. The strut rod itself enters the flange at a different angle and makes it impossible to correctly assemble the rubber bushing without putting everything in a serious bind. At that time, I was working in a place where I had access to lots of steel stock and metal fab equipment. My solution was to make a couple new duplicate base plates and flanges, bolt the base plate in place on the frame, assemble the flange to the strut rod and bushing, and them install the strut rod to the lower control arm. I then held the flange up to contact the base plate and tacked it. This allowed the strut rod itself to dictate the angle it wanted the flange to meet the base plate. Then I welded it solid at that angle. This, of course, needs to be done with the full weight of the truck on the suspension so the strut rod is at it's static, at-rest position. A mere mortal could simply grind the welds apart on the original kit mounts, clean up the pieces with a grinder, and then do the same thing.

I realize all this is pretty worthless without pictures. If you say "purty pleez" real nice-like I might could be pursuaded to dig through the barn and find my rear crossmember and strut rod mounts this week while I'm on vacation for some pics and measurements. As a matter of fact, I think I even know where the instructions are. I don't know how much good it would all do ya since our trucks are so different, but the system and suspension is the same, so it would be similar.

 

purty pleez...the more info I have the easier it will be to mock up mine...how far below the frame are the hole centers for the torsion bars located??? or are they level with the front holes?
thanks a million John

 

I bought a Gibbons IFS kit for my '53 F100 today from a very kind individual who gave me an extremely fair deal. The only catch is that he couldn't find the instructions. I would GREATLY APPRECIATE anyone who could provide me with the instructions. Email is don_west1967@yahoo.com The donor vehicle parts I received with the kit are from a 1978 Chrysler Cordoba. Thanks in advance for taking your time out to send me the instructions.

 

Welcome to FTE, Don! As far as I know, I'm the resident Cordoba swap guru - or at least I think I'm the only one still around that has done one. I e-mailed you everything I have. Good luck!

 

I have soft copies of the 4 pages of instructions from Gibbons for this set up.

( I got them from BlueOvalRage years ago when I had planned to go with the same set up ( but didn't in the end).

I'll send them to any email address in this thread or to anyone that sends their email address to the_fergusons @ sympatico.ca ( remove the spaces around the the @ )

Regards,

 

Joe and Robert,

Thank you both for getting me the instructions. I built my '53 28 years ago and there weren't nearly as many aftermarket companies available to source parts from. At the time, Summit Racing had universal rear suspension parts (ladder bar & coil buckets). My current set up utilized disk brakes from a '78 Ford truck as the king pin diameter was the same. I contemplated Mustang II and Camaro front clips but didn't want to hack the frame on my Effy. I'm looking forward to getting rid of the I-beam and leaf springs along with some other mods this winter (plenty of time here in Alaska). Again, thank you both. You've made my $225 investment a treasure find.

 

Hi! I realize this is a very old post, but I was hoping for some info on a Gibbon IFS I have acquired. I'm getting ready to blow it apart to replace all the bushings, but apparently there are differences between the early and late versions, the cut off being 79 I guess. How can I tell the difference?
The one I have has a 15/16 sway bar, and diagonal struts, if that helps any. I really want to replace the rubber with Poly pieces so I never have to worry about them ever again. Energy suspension has what I need for the 80 up version, but not the earlier stuff.

Fingers crossed.

I can post any pics you may need. Just let me know. Thanks!

 

hmm, I have a 1977 Cordoba IFS under my '54 but I fabbed the subframe myself. The 1997 Gibbon catalog I have lists part no. IFS-482 for the 48 - 53 F1 and IFS-536 for the 53 - 56 F100. They list the following donor cars.
with steering box
75 - 79 Cordoba
73 - 74 Plymouth Belvedere, GTX, Road Runner, Satelite, Fury
73 - 78 Dodge Charger, Coronet Superbee, Magnum
with rack and pinion
81 - 83 Dodge Aries, Plymouth Reliant
83 Dodge passenger cars




And my custom DYI subframe / cross member

 

Thanks Dan. That does look a lot like what I have. Even the crossmember looks pretty much the same from the bottom.
I guess I'm not getting my pretty red bushings after all.

How do you like it, handling wise? I know Chrysler products were never well known for their cornering ability. My 68 Super Bee sucked on mountain roads. But damn could she hold a straight line at 150.

HOLY CRAP!!! I just noticed that's a GM powerplant in there! Would you happen to have a decent close up of the drivers side motor mount set up you did? That's next on my to do list, probably start this weekend or next, depending on whether or not Harbor Freight has any engine hoists in stock tomorrow.

 

No good photos of the motor mounts so I'll have to take some maybe tomorrow. Both sides are made of 2 1/8" gussets and a top cover plate. The drivers side is wider because the engine is offset to the right, 1/2 way between the steering box and right frame rail.

Yes, low buck build. $100 engine from a 77 caprice and a free 700r4 from an Astro van. Just place holders for what I dream about installing someday - after I get all the body parts painted.

Handles ok. biggest problem right now is weight distribution, 2500 front, 1200 rear. Need to put a limited slip rear in it cause it just sizzles the left tire when I get on it. I added a few shims in the gm PS pump to reduce pressure but the Chrysler steering box is still a little over powered. I think all the shocks need replaced. Tracks ok, rolls like the high center of gravity vehicles that it is. Worse thing is a bit of bump steer (jinks to the left) when the front suspension drops out from under going over a short rise.

 

That would be great, Thanks!
I'm a little concerned about the bump steer you mentioned, that shouldn't happen if the lower control arms are more or less parallel with the steering linkage and the ground at ride height, or so I've been lead to believe. What are your alignment settings? I was figuring on going with the stock settings for the donor as a starting point, and adding a degree or two of caster for more straight line stability. Assuming of course the Gibbon kit was not one of the ones that was screwed up at the manufacturers and won't allow enough caster. In which case I'll be cutting the upper mounts loose and re-engineering them.

 

Well, mine is a DYI cross member so I doubt you can duplicate it for better or for worse. It tracks good on country roads at 65 -70. Drifts a little to the right but my driver's side wheel is a little neg camber. I usually set the drivers side a little pos and the passenger side a little pos to counteract typical roadway crown. I think specs are a half degree neg camber. My tie rods and lower control arm are both very near horizontal, as close as I can measure guessing at the center of the ball joints. The lower control arm pivot point is about an inch lower than spec but that's the stance I like. I'll adjust the drivers side camber and check the bump steer again.

Adding another photo. Not sure it it helps.

 

I know out here in California, the road aren't crowned nearly as high as back east, so maybe I'll get lucky with the factory settings. Your bumpsteer could in fact be due to the camber as you suggest. Looking at the pics you posted, I could not see anything visually that would point to a cause. The lowers and linkages looked close to parallel to me. The only reason I mentioned it was when I built my first street stocker, I had one hell of a time with bump steer, and an old timer finally set me straight when pointed out my rear steer GM A-body lowers were pointed up at the ball joints and the steering linkage was level with the dirt. Being the stupid kid I was, I just figured short springs was all I needed to get me down as close to the ground as possible. I put in the correct springs and lowering spindles, and I started to actually finish races. Never won anything, but it sure was a hoot. LOL!

 

It's not bad enough to worry about just yet. I need to get the bed on and front wheel spacers in before I do more set up tuning. I don't notice it unless I run 65 on the back roads and I don't do that much because here in Oregon they reserve 65 for the interstate and besides it's a little squirrely with very little weight on the rear axle. If I can't get it to satisfy me then I can always cut it off and buy a MII. After all, it hasn't cost me anything - well I have installed rebuilt brake calipers for $25 each and new brake hoses for $15 ea.

Good luck on yours and keep us posted. There are not many of these so kinda nice to keep it alive.