Alright, so I'm well underway on swapping my 74 F100 short box onto a very low mileage 96 F150 long box. It's a project that I'm working on with my 14 year old son so he has a daily driver when he's old enough.

I've adjusted all the frame mounts and chopped 14.5 inches out of the frame and everything is fitting quite nicely.

I have run into one concern that I probably should have looked into at the beginning of this process. Does anyone up in Canada, specifically Alberta, know the legality of this build. Since there was so much information on doing this I never really thought about how the registration and insurance would work on this. The most common answer I get is just don't tell anyone. That's all great until there an accident and the insurance company walks.

Anyone else up this way that has done something similar that can shed some light.

Worse case I could always switch back to the original frame and just swap the engine and drivetrain over.

 

why don't you ask your DMV equivalent and your insurance company? tell them you are thinking of the swap and want to know the legal ramifications.
i would imagine they will have the most recent correct info.

 

After two days of talking to registry office, transport Canada, several shops and insurance companies I'm not that far ahead.

Everyone had different answers and lots of confusion on this.

As far as doing the body swap, I should be good. The chop however runs into some problems. If I had it done at a professional shop then I might be sitting a little better. Even then, the insurance companies get a little concerned. The last thing I want is to complete this and not be able to get it registered or insured.

So far all I'm out on the chop is a few days in the shop and a bottle of rum for the guy that did the weld. I think I may just abandon this approach and go another route.

If I'm correct on my reasearch my 74 has a 117" wheelbase. I should be able to find a 117" frame off a 92-96 F150 and use that instead. Since the current 96 chassis is very low mileage I can pull the suspension and drivetrain off that and move it across.

I did find a 96 117" "lightening" frame and I was curious if that would have all the same mounts and hardware as the current standard frame I have. Anyone shed some light?

 

I know here in New Brunswick, any modified vehicle is supposed to be inspected by a government appointed engineer, costs like $500 just for an engineer to deem it safe and sign off on it. Most don't bother if its not heavily modified.

 

That was what one of the shops had mentioned as well.

I struggle with not disclosing that info with the insurance company. Probably nothing ever happen but if it did your screwed.

I can do a 3 way vin swap through IBC and make everything legal. Just need to find the frame now. Called one place today and they only wanted 200 for it. Unfortunately it had already been turned into scrap. Still waiting on the lightening frame cost.

 

If your going through the IBC rep here in Calgary it should be pretty smooth sailing as it's obvious the guy has a drinking habit he needs to maintain. When I called to get my trailer #'d she couldn't book him as he was busy during Stampede week LOL. 2 hours later he was on the phone driving past my place wanting to get the # on my frame, I was at Canadian tire. He was there at 830 the next morning, he dont get paid til the # is on. Check with Legends insurance as they insure a lot of modified vehicles and probably have an inspection station or 2 on call

 

Awesome. I'll check them out. Thanks for the info

 

Well finally got a hold of a chassis shop and got a straight answer. At least up this way if you are ever chopping a ford frame make sure you use a factory ford splice. Had I done that I would have been fine. So the frame I chopped is nothing more than scrap metal.

Good news is I already found a shortbox frame at a nearby wreckers. Hopefully get my hands on it early next week and get back to work on this.

 

I'm curious as to what a factory ford splice is. One of my neighbors is a metalurgist and he's usually has something interesting in his shop and I've seen things in his driveway that had frame work done on them. Guess it's time to visit him again.

 

This is the link the shop sent me.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/Q18.pdf

 

Good information!!!! I saved that PDF for future reference.

 

thank you Kampy, saved the pdf also

 

Seems to me, that type of splice would be weaker than a "Z" type of splice.
I bought a 71 1 ton that was spliced and re-enforced that way, cheap, because it wouldn't pass NY State Inspection.

 

Figured I'd update this. Ended up finding a 94 shirt box chassis. Swapped the suspension over.

 

the engine only had 60k on it and good compression. So I tore it down and replaced all the gaskets and seals. Cleaned it up and painted it.