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Hey Charlie, I took it to Ed Hanson's in Spring Valley, CA. They are great people and did a fantastic job. Kevin over there listens and then talks to you about different ways to accomplish what you are trying to get done. If anyone is in the San Diego area looking for exhaust work to be done the gang at Ed Hanson's get a thumbs up.
Yep, Ed's a good guy...been down in his "pit" many a time. My next door neighbor went to Ed to get a new Magnaflow put on his truck. Ed had a new one that was "out of the box" so Ed sold/installed it for $140 out the door...hard to beat service like that.
Yesterday I got my truck back! They did the most awesome presentation ever! There were plenty of burnouts!
So now she is loaded up with a new Mustang II front end (I ended up with regular spindles (not the drop spindles I started with), power steering, 302 putting out 315 HP, AOD Transmission, 8.8 rear end with 3:73 gears (from a 2000 explorer), disc brakes on all 4 corners, TCI parabolic springs in the back, Magnaflow exhaust, new wiring from EZ and a bunch of new friends at Rose Automotive in Spring Valley, CA (the shop that did the work) and here on this board.
There is still lots of little stuff to do on the old girl. She will never be a new truck. I knew that and know that. I think that is part of the allure of having this lifetime project to play with. But I do have a reliable truck that will start a thousand conversations.
Here are a couple of pics from the side. After a couple days of driving it I am thinking the backend needs to come down another inch or two. Or the front end needs to come up another inch. Or a combination of both. The looks piece is the hard part. So I am guessing some lowering blocks will be in her future. They can be easily undone if I don't like that look. Right now the backend springs are pretty tight. I am hoping they loosen up a little bit.
After I did a couple of burnouts, I let the guys have a little fun with it. You gotta reward those that take care of you. :-)
Lowered the back end down with 2 inch lowering blocks and some new shocks. Now I am happy with the stance.
Do you still have much room for travel between axle and frame, I might be facing the same scenario , I'll know more once I get a box placed on my frame.
John, I was just looking at that today and the answer is NO, there is not much room for travel. The bump stops are trimmed (cut) in half. I need to measure but it looks to be about an inch of clearance to the start of the "modified" bump stop and 1.5-2 inches of travel left for the axle and frame.
I think if I throw anything heavier than 250 or so pounds in the back, the axle will meet the bump stops. That was the scientific test of me jumping up and down on the rear bumper to see what touched. So now I need to think about a c-notch. Not ready to concede that I need to notch, but I am thinking I am going to have to.
Here is a pic of what it looks like on the drives side with the block in.
While you are looking at the axle to frame clearance don't forget to look at the differential to bed floor clearance as well. Once the axle housing is allowed to travel up into the frame, ala c-notch, the top of the differential rises as well. I had to raise my bed floor up 2 inches to get the clearance needed after I notched my frame.
Thanks for the heads up Charlie. I appreciate it!!!! I have a list of 10 gazillion things I want to do to the truck and raising the bed is not on that list. :-)
Nice truck! I also have a 1955 Ford F100 and am in the final stages of a full blown restoration. I really liked your license plates. Where did you get them?
looks good under there.
