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Sounds good. I was looking up pictures on some and figured I would fab up a way to make that sway bar work. The vic discs I have are 11" I believe and the axle ends should be the same so I might be able to mount this brake and abs set up on it. I'll know more once I find a explorer rear.
For the rear floor I was also thinking of going with a steel floor out of an 8' truck bed or van. Figured those are both longer and wider than the panel so I could cut it and make it fit. Any thoughts?
Yeah I plan to box the entire frame if time and money allow. Honestly with the solid aluminum body of the suspension I doubt boxing the frame will do much in a two foot area that most do it. I don't wanna spend $500 on steel trying to do it all so we will see what happens as I get closer to that. First I plan to get the frame blasted and go from there. That'll be a little while though.
Sounds good. I was looking up pictures on some and figured I would fab up a way to make that sway bar work. The vic discs I have are 11" I believe and the axle ends should be the same so I might be able to mount this brake and abs set up on it. I'll know more once I find a explorer rear.
For the rear floor I was also thinking of going with a steel floor out of an 8' truck bed or van. Figured those are both longer and wider than the panel so I could cut it and make it fit. Any thoughts?
I used a skin from a truck bed in mine but also covered it with 1/2" thick oak plywood because I like the look.
Wow that's super slick and beautiful. So many unique touches with the tail lights, rear door, raised floor. Did you raise the floor for axle and frame clearance? Since I'm doing air bags I want to get mine to sit as low as possible without having to c notch too much or raise the floor 7". If I did my math right I should be about 2" off the ground the way I'm planning to set it up then I'll have a drive height around 5-6".
I raised the floor because I swapped frames, the panel is build on a 72 C10 Chev chassis. With the suspension I have it can be bagged if I wanted to very easily.
Well I'm finally back able to get some work on the truck going again. My next door neighbor just started a dustless sandblasting company for some side work and I've been holding off any further work until he had that up and going. So yesterday we got the frame all blasted and primered so I can get an explorer axle and finally get the rear suspension tacked in. Here's some pics:
Finally went and pulled an explorer axle with the limited slip and 3.73 gears today. That will fit in much better than the crown vic axle and it was only $130 so not too bad. Hoping to get the brackets torched off and ground down tomorrow then tack in the triangulated 4 link. Hardest thing I've been trying to get lately is steel to box in the frame. Even the welding supply shop didn't have a good contact. I want to box the entire frame in. After carrying it to set it up on the jackstands to blast it, its amazing how much it flexes. So I figured boxing, putting an x brace in the middle somewhere and welding the cross brackets instead of them being riveted will work WAY better. Plus the front ifs and air ride. It'll be nice to have this ride like a new car.
My 65 mustang has some suspension upgrades but its still old technology and you can definitely tell. Part of the fun of it though, just not what I want for this build. Also anyone done the coyote swap? Pretty sure I'm gonna ditch the vic 4.6 and upgrade.
It's not so much the steel that causes flex in these frames, it's the rivets. You can add quite a bit of rigidity by welding the existing crossmembers. Another way to add rigidity and to add some protection for your under bed gas tank is to weld in a length of 2x4x0.125 rectangular steel as shown in the pic...
Thanks. I was figuring the rivets were a major source of the twisting. I also plan to add a hitch to the rear that I will hide behind the rear roll pan with some sort of removable panel when I need to tow my trailer. I figure that being welded in plus the additional supports will be sufficient.
56panelford is your explorer rear end pinion off center? The one I bought is off set from center a couple inches. With the driveshaft length it won't be an issue I don't think but just was wondering if they were all like that or not.
I should have some progress this week on the rear suspension arms after I get some steel to box in the frame back there. Of course the steel supply place is closed on the weekends.
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