Back in May, I decided I needed a project. So, off to CL I went. Then, I went to Houston and picked up a pile of parts and a complete shell with long bed that had already been blasted and primed. I bought it because I knew exactly what I was getting.



This truck had a lot of the typical slick rust problems, but it was pretty straight. It came with some extra parts to boot.
The next day I went back to Houston and picked up this rust bucket.

The cab is completely rusted from floor to roof. The front fenders are in good shape, the grille is straight, and it had a lot of the missing parts that the blasted truck was missing (like a short bed). After buying these two trucks, I thought I was done buying slicks for the project. But thennnnn I was browsing good ol CL for some parts and the search turned up a Slick in my home town.



This one has a 460, C6, 9" rear, and a new aftermarket harness. It was someone's abandoned project. This was the most complete truck I've bought and it was by far the cheapest. The bad: Someone's idea of customizing back in the day was a few pallets of bondo. I think I am going to make another project out of this truck. IE; more power, air ride, etc.

I was at work (doing a little research on here and a couple other sites), and I decided I would start looking for a crown vic donor. I started browsing some of the auction sites. I was working in Midland, TX at the time and noticed that they had a few crown vics in their bone yard. So, I searched for their auction and found the auction host. Needless to say, I took her home.









Showed her a good time.



And then this happened.



I labeled every wire and plug as I disassembled because I plan to reuse most of the CVs features.



I spent a little time planning and researching after the deconstruction of the CV (Thanks guys!) Meanwhile, the frame was sitting in the shop patiently waiting.


I kind of neglected taking pictures for a while. I'm doing this by myself, so documentation is often a hindsight.

After another hitch at work (and more online reading), I came home and started working on the truck again. I took the floor and firewall out of the CV since I plan on using the CV a/c and everything else. Sorry, no documentation of this process. Since the floor in the 66 was in need of repair any way, it made the floor and firewall swap a no-brainer to me. I cut out the floor and firewall of the 66, and began fitting the cab onto the floor and firewall of the CV while the CV floor and fw were bolted onto the CV frame.












So I rolled it back into the shop like that (minus fenders) when I went back to work. While at work, I did some more reading and planning. I worked a 35 day hitch and only had 3 days off before I went back to work, so I didn't get much work done to the truck. After that hitch I had some time off ( a little too much).
So, I started welding up the cab to the floor of the CV. There was a gap between the sides of the cab and the floor of the CV . I made a few patch panels from the CV for the floor, and fabricated the patch panels to joint the cab to the floor. I got a little crafty and repurposed an old Ford tractor hood to transition the newly formed step down at the door.
Back Wall



Rear floor and back wall patch



Floorboard patch



Fender well area of the firewall



The newly created step down with a little help from a tractor







I patched up the rear wall that I clearanced for fitment.






These are all the pictures I have at this time, but I have made more progess. I spent the last 2 days fitting the front clip to the CV frame. I have everything cut and moved I will have to rebuild the core support and move the radiator and A/C condenser back nearly 2". Before I can do anything to the core support, I am going to sand blast the front clip that I pulled off the rust bucket. Once I blast and prime, I will completely rebuild the core support and mount it to the CV frame. While I'm blasting, I might as well blast the bed as well. I will get back on it as soon as I get a chance

 

Great work, man. A unique approach too. Smart idea to keep the CV body/frame mounts. Keep it up!
Eric

 

Want to sell those rusty old Crager's off the black truck? This assumes a full set that are in good shape other than the rust.


Nice project by the way.

 

Yeah, I could sell them. I'm in East Texas though

 

Arkansas isn't that far from E Tx. I have a son who lives in Killeen, so we make the trip down I-30 from time to time.
If you're shouting distance from I-40, I'm headed to California at the end of Sept. I'll have room for 'em at the time.
Send me a PM, or email me at walliscrow@yahoo.com, we'll set something up.(Boy is my wife gonna love me for this...not)

 

I've been at work a lot here lately, and I went on a hunt so no progress on the truck recently. BUUUUUUTTTTTT I did manage to score some goodies.

20x10s for the rear and 20x8.5s for the front. I am almost positive that I am going to have to change my rear axle to fit the rears, but I am willing to sacrifice a little work for the right look.



If you notice, the lights have a blinker in them...... bye bye 66 blinker pods, hello 64 upper grill ( not sure the exact terminology for that piece). No pics of that yet.

 

i like your goodies

 

It had been a while since I had any time to work on the truck, but I got a couple days to work on it. I had the wheels sitting there, so I had to test fit everything . The rears are too wide to fit under the bed, but I have a plan for that. The fronts are going to work, just barely.



After getting the front frame rails trimmed back, the radiator moved back, and the core support trimmed down, I began to mock up the front fenders and core support. As I began squaring everything up, something just wasn't right. After checking and measuring everything over and over again, I came to the conclusion that the front frame rails were tweaked . I thought the front end damage was isolated to just the body of the CV, but I was obviously wrong . I guess I will be taking the frame to the body shop to have them true everything when I get back from work. When I get the frame fixed I will finish the fab work to get the front clip mounted. Until then...

 

guess it could be worse. Good thing you caught it now

 

Hello,
I have a 66 step side and an 01 Crown Vic I'm considering doing the same with. Question I have is what did you do with the radiator supports? Did you section them together? Or eliminate one? My problem is the 66 rad support is rotted out from battery neglect and finding another 66 rad support is not an easy search. Do you have any photos of what you did for the rad support?


Thanks

 

As of right now I don't have any pics of moving the CV radiator support back. Although, I don't think your 2001 radiator mounts the same as 2003+. 03+ has a modular mount that is independent of the front core support. My 08 has a mount on top of the frame rails that has 3 bolts on each frame rail and the bottom had a support held by 2 bolts. I just moved the whole module (radiator a/c condenser and all) back until it cleared the trimmed f-100 core support. You may be able to get an 03+ radiator mount to simplify things for you.

 

I will take more pics when I get back home from work. I will take pics of the finished/semi-finished core support, radiator relocation, and all the mounts.

 

Are you just gonna keep the stock 4.6?

 

The 4.6 will remain stock.......for a while. I plan on doing some forced induction,injectors, cams, and programmer for some mild power upgrades. At this point, I am most concerned with getting it on the road as a cruiser. I will continue to tinker with it when money and time will allow....But lets not forget the aforementioned black truck with the 460 in it. That will likely be the next project.

 

I had a couple days off and got to work on the truck. I managed to get the Crown Vic steering column mounted. I am going to try to build a sheet metal cover instead of the plastic cover and probably put a billet steering wheel on after I get the truck to road worthy status and take a few test rides. I also plan on building the dash down some to cover everything a little better. I made a support for the front mounts of the column out of 1/4"x 2" strap along the bottom and 1.5" angle that runs to the top of the dash.