did I hear "real men" trash talking my MII... infering only sissy boys run mII ??? any more talk like that and I'm hitting everyone of you with my purse !! so there

j

 

no problem Fatfenders! I just went to another shop yesterday and saw a 53 f100 which had a Heidts frontend on it. it was very nice! I think ill just worry about welding in my new floors, and prep my cab first. ill save a little more $$$$ so i can throwdown for something nice. Thank yall! adam

 

For you guys that feel that "trucks need truck parts", I want to point out that the Chrysler 'K' member I'm using from an 87 Chrysler 5th Avenue came out of a car with a curb weight of 4555 pounds. The curb weight for my 48 F-3 is only 3816 pounds. I feel very confident this suspension is tough enough for my truck and it will ride soooo much better!

 

Hey 'blu54, ... also a warm welcome from the only German on this wonderfull forum. I also have a 54. See a pic below (... and yes, that is some snow and I am still working on the truck while others are spending most of their time trashing each other on the forum ).

... if you had been watching the forum for a while you most probably saw the mile long thread on front suspensions. If not, then scroll down and you'll see it. No matter what you choose, someone is going to give you some sh... for it. But they don't mean it. At least not really. ... aaah, maybe some do mean it, but who cares. And by the way, I have an all stock front end in mine. Just added disk brakes.

 

Just a thought to represent the other side of the issue. A buddy of mine has a stock suspension on his 56 f100. He runs a 351 with a c-6. He drives it 80-90 mph routinely. He scoffed at my volare front end and took me for a ride in his truck to prove his point. It handles great and drives straight as an arrow. I think that before you turn loose of the big bucks, maybe you should try rebuilding your existing stock suspension. Maybe you'll be satisfied and probably be on the road months (if not years) earlier depending on your finances and time scheduling. Note that I should tell you that he upgraded to front disk brakes so he can slow down quickly from that 90 mph when he spots a chp. Good luck with your project, John T

 

For you guys that feel that "trucks need truck parts", I want to point out that the Chrysler 'K' member I'm using from an 87 Chrysler 5th Avenue came out of a car with a curb weight of 4555 pounds. The curb weight for my 48 F-3 is only 3816 pounds. I feel very confident this suspension is tough enough for my truck and it will ride soooo much better!

Why do I doubt thee?

Must be with 10' of snow on top since the EPA lists that at 3600 lbs.

The effect of a highly biased front end weight truck while braking on an undersized M11 has been beat to death here and elsewhere. Heavy duty versions that retain the strut rod and stock design lower A arm are much better.

Contact Steve at Industrial Chassis. He wrote a superb tech thread on HAMB with drawings on how to CORRECTLY build a M11 setup. The complete thread copies to around 1" thick.

Ive no comment on the Volare or similar MOPAR since Ive not used or even seen one for that matter.

 

Vern

Got a source for your info? That does sound more like a GVW with passengers and luggage rather than an empty weight. I think your 4500# curb would imply the car is good for 5500# loaded (which I doubt)

In any case, you are good to go for your F1 application. I have not read of a single Volare catastrophic failure. There are plenty of folks pushing their luck with non-rebuilt junkyard clips and apparently still no rash of K-member failures.

 

I've been thinking about the durability and structural integrity issues (they are different) for the various front end suspensions different FTE folks are using. It seems to me that you guys should talk to the SCCA Solo II Autocross folks. SCCA Solo II is a bunch of regular guys and gals taking their cars out on a parking lot or runway and beating the **** out of them trying to shave 0.010 seconds off their time getting through a course laid out with cones.

Most of the cars are stock with very minor modifications. More to the point, my brother and I raced a 1987 Plymouth Reliant (K-car) in the H-stock class. He also raced a 1987 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z (chassis based on K-car) in D Street Prepared Class. If those cars could take what we did to them over a number of years on the autocross courses - they will hold up forever on your F-1 or F-100.

Solo II is a great test of the suspension since:

- you constantly push the car to it's maximum cornering performance limits
- there is a LOT of HARD straight-line braking
- one of the modifications that is allowed in most classes is replacing the stock tires with wide racing tires

The racing tires allow you to put a lot more stress on the suspension than it would see under normal use since they have a huge amount of traction during cornering and braking.

I bet a short conversation with some of the elder Solo II folks would quickly tell you which, if any, stock suspensions can't hack hard use (and abuse).

Just a thought.

 

George

That's probably good advice. Do you know anyone who would admit to ever having Autocrossed an F100, Mustang II, Volare, Dakota, Aerostar etc? Of course you just confessed to racing a Chrysler K car so maybe there is hope. Forgive me, I just can't picture that.

 

Yeah, the announcer liked to say the "USS Reliant" was on the course when we raced.

You'd be surprised what goes out on the courses. One guy actually came in first at an event in H-stock with a 1975-ish chevy station wagon. It has a lot more to do with the driver than the car - he was an experienced and very good driver who did it to prove that point. My brother won a number of events with his tired Reliant but I was usually near the bottom of the pack in the same car on the same course.

At any rate, I remember at least one Mustang II, a Chrysler LeBaron, and a Crown Victoria but I don't remember the exact years. Those cars were in the local SCCA Solo II chapter - I'm sure there are more of these and similar cars running in SCCA chapters all around the country.

As an example of the kind of info you might find, I know the LeBaron had a few problems with the flex plate. As I said - just a thought. Wouldn't take much time and might reveal some interesting info.

 

'fenders,

The source for the 4555 pound weight of an 87 Chrysler New Yorker comes straight off the state of New Hampshire plate registration form in a box labeled "gross weight", so perhaps that's the weight totally loaded. It's still quite high for a passenger car. Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead anyone. I thought curb weight and gross weight were the same thing...