Interesting. I wouldn't have thought of brown, but it seems to work. Fits with the patina. Good luck!

 

They are going to look Bad Azz. Looks like you're going to have to curl those wheel openings so you don't cut the sidewalls in a hot turn. But worth it. With the right tires you're gonna have to cinch your harness pretty dang tight. Otherwise jambing a hot right turn your rig will throw you out the door!

 

Thanks guys...I agree, a little unconventional on the color but it does seem to work so far.

Well, an update that is worthy of some pics for a change.

I decided on the Falkens. I know that they are not the best tire out there but for the truck size they are the best tire for me right now. Ordered these up a few weeks ago and got them mounted up this afternoon.

Giddy like a little kid about this point, they look great.





Typical wheel and tire install tools at my house.

Also add to that BFH, SFH, dolly and a couple of pieces of pipe just for good measure.



Just one side done, still needs to finish rolling and pulling the fenders at this point but wanted to see it in the sun.







So with that, I got the other side done. Cut the lips on the rear openings and rolled them in as far as I could. I might need to pull the bedsides out just a touch to clear the tire at full bump, but it has a bit of room in there now.

I pulled the front fenders as far as I could at that point. It is very subtle and looks very clean and nice.

Here is what she looks like, first trip around the neighborhood.






Good shot of the wheel here



All in all its been a ton of work to get them on there but I am super happy and the truck looks mean, just like I wanted it to.

Keep it clean and in one piece till Goodguys next weekend, then back to the track.

Keep on truckin!!!

Sean

 

Love the new wheels. Keep up the great work.

 

I like that tread pattern. Far better than goodyear.

 

That truck has a nice stance with those. Be interesting to see the difference in handling

 

Perfect!

 

Sean, set up looks great.
Im curious if you could go wider on the back if you wanted to or does the coilovers mounts on the axle prevent you from going wider? I realize you're not after super wide tires out back I'm merely curious how much more room, for width, you have. Nice color choice by the way, fits well.

 

Any chance you have a set of those Crown Vic trailing arm brackets left over.

 

There is a lot of room on the rear, to the inside of the wheel tub, probably an inch or so. If I had it to do over again, I would run a little more BS on the rear wheel to pull it in a little tighter than it is now. Currently I am running 18 x 11 with a 7.125 backspacing. I could easily have gone with 7.5 or 7.625 and had room. As it is, I dont think I can run much wider in the rear with this wheel setup.

The color choice was a total gamble, I was thinking it would be a little more towards the gold range but it looks pretty cool. You can easily mistake it for Black or Charcoal in some light, others it looks gold.



No sorry. I know that there is a guy that sells them for those folks that do not want to build them. I have had a handful of people ask me for them.....if you are doing a crown vic swap, you are going to have access to some cutting device to get the frontend off, its not a hard part at all to make. You dont even need a template, outline the stock lower control arm mount, mark the holes and duplicate 2x its that easy.

Sean

 

Love the new wheels

 

Truck's really looking good. I like the color of those wheels. I painted a '72 chevelle SS in high school almost the same color. It was a factory midnight bronze. Daytime it looked dark brown. At night it looked black or a dark chocolate.

 

I love everything about this build. Thanks for sharing it!

 

Sean, after attending the Ron Sutton class, is there anything you would do differently in your suspension setup with your rear axle? I know you mentioned adjustable panhard axle mount.
Did you use any literature for setting up your final ride height, or just draw on your past experience?
I ended up getting a 08 mustang rear end for my pickup and I plan to read and read, and then read some more before trying to execute the swap and establish my desired ride height. Interested in recommended information on figuring out those details. I hope you're enjoying this beautiful weekend.

 

Thank you

Yeah, that is about exactly how it is. I love it.

Thanks for following along!!!

There are a couple of things I would do differently but nothing major. I am extremely happy with how the rearend works.

I would still mount the shocks and springs where I did, close to the tire and outboard of the frame. It does a far better job of controlling the axle out there.

I would do an adjustable panhard mount on the axle side as well as the frame side.

I would do a double or tripple adjustable shock on the rearend instead of the single

Adjustable Sway bar would also be on the list of items I would include. But as far as the suspension geometry its very close and works very well.

On the ride height, I wanted it as low as I could get it and its still too tall. I build everything with finished ride height in mind. Now on the frontend, that is a totally different story. I would have slid the entire frontend up an inch or more to get the proper frontend geometry at the ideal ride height...I would make it an inch lower next time, maybe 2

Ask away man, I am happy to help as much as I can.

For those following along.....first time with the camper on the old 12 valve dually and it was night and day difference, half the power of the 14 but it handled the camper so much better than the 14. I was shocked. Truck did extremely well. Need a few things for it. Steering box needs replaced, and it desperately needs the 3k governor springs. Those are next on the list but I was very happy how the truck did with the camper, trailer and F100 in tow.

What a weekend.

Got up to the fairgrounds about noon on Friday and got the truck unloaded and the camper all setup, its just better on the dually.

We hit the show about 1 or so and met up with my old man there. I was surprised how many cars were there on a Friday. Got to meet some cool people there that day. It was hot out.

Few pics from the show on Friday.





Yeah...you are seeing this correctly





This thing was super clean....and you know I like these trucks.





We got done at Puyallup and headed out to the drags. I cruised out there with my dad, F100 did great in the hot weather and sitting in traffic, I was pretty happy.

Met up with Rushforth and a few of his buddies for some Karting time.. I had no idea that I would be sore afterwards. For being a pretty big fella, I was happy with mid pack, 8 of 15 guys. It was a blast. 2 fifteen minute sessions were enough though. If you are ever up there, check this place out, its totally worth it.



I met this chap at the track and talked with him for a while. Super cool old truck. It was an original short bed that someone used to tow with and was just cool. I talked with him a bunch over the weekend. Great guys.



Was an awesome first day up there. I walked a lot, was pretty tired and hot by the end of the day and was so busy having fun I had forgotten to eat or drink anything from about 1 or so on.

:confused59: