YEP YEP YEP so true But no fun to be had. late nights looking up parts online/no sleep cause you can't figurer it out/busted up hands. YALL GET THE PIC. LOL

 

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your project. If you're getting a good frame with good sheet metal, you're way ahead of the game. There's certainly nothing wrong with the original frame in it's stock form. There's not a whole lot you can do to a 302 that will break it. You'd have to be pushing in excess of 450 hp and lots of torque before I'd start worrying about a custom, racing-type frame.

I'm a firm believer in the MII kit concept as a good update on the front suspension. If you stick with a reputiple company, and install it correctly, you can't go wrong. They are well engineered and plenty strong. For a 56, I recommend Heidts Superide II.

Heidts Hot Rod & Muscle Car Parts - HEIDTS Superide II Truck - Complete Package

If you want smooth, add a 4 link rear suspension and air bags all around. It'll be like riding on a cloud.

So, my advice would be to save your money on the custom chassis, utilize what you have and build it the way you want.

 

Yes sir build it not buy it is my motto. Plus what fun is there when talking about your pride and joy and not knowing how things fit together and having the story of busting you knuckles and loosing your temper when this parts wouldn't fit.

 

Thanks for the advice and that is what I was leaning towards doing but wasn't sure what amount of horsepower these OEM frames could take. They're really just channel and not meant to take the power of a stroked high torque engine. Also you think the air ride is the best???? I was going to go with Bilstein shocks with a coil over front and rear but had been interested in the air ride. I have the Trucks! Project Old Skool DVD and they use an air ride but had to cut the inner fenders to make enough clearance for the bags to drop and I didn't want to get into to much cutting if necessary.

 

You will have to do some inner fender cut/fix regardless which way you go.

Sam

 

Thanks for the heads up. I wasn't aware of that but then again that's why I'm asking now. I'd rather know what needs to be done before I get started so i know if it's something I can do or if I need to get someone who's more qualified to do it.

 

Dozer, what I meant was there are several differant routes to go. You can go with something like ben73058 and spend 3k for a IFS, add another 1k for the power brake conversion, another 1k for frame prep and paint for a total of around 5k and thats not messing with the rearend or you can for an additional 3k you can get a rolling chassis(Classic Car and Truck Brake, Steering and Suspension Parts) ready to go with your choice of gear ratios. Then you can get a turn-key crate motor (Ford Turnkey Crate Engines for Ford 302 and Ford 351W) pushing 300+ HP for 3500 with free shipping, and get a TCI C4 tranny from Summit for 800, so you would then have a brand new frame with all the goodies, a new engine and tranny for around 14-15k. That still allows you 20k of your budget to work on your truck. Yes maybe by doing that it isnt quite as glamourous as the cutting, grinding and welding but there is still alot you can do to customize your truck the way you want it and still be able to say "I built this". I do plan on putting a IFS in my truck and as of right now if I have my choice between buying a frame like the one above or doing it myself I would buy the frame and add alot of time spent with my son and on the road cruising. So it all depends on what you are wanting to do and how much time and labor you want to put into it...

 

Hi Dozer - One of the things I struggled with during the restoration of
my 1950 F1 was when you start replacing big chunks of the truck when does it stop being a 1950 truck? I altered plans a bit in the middle to
save the Frame, the Cab, & the Bed so I can say it's a 1950. I kind of wish I had retained the firewall as well -It's all purely personal preference but when I look at the truck I wanted it to say 1950 not 2011. It's a fine line & may not be important to you but it's something to consider - You can definitely replace everything with brand new but then what do you have?

Ben in Austin

 

You'll have grandpa's hammer. You know the one. It's the one you got from your grandfather. It's such a good hammer that you've replaced the handle three times and the head twice!!

 

Suggestion..Wait before buying and go to the F-100 Nats at Pigeon Forge Tenn. (not too far from you) on May 11,12,13 and talk to some folks and eyeball ideas. Remember, measure twice,cut once. Take your time to research. Build up a realistic plan/shopping list.