Subscribed to see this monstrous undertaking. I can't wait until all of your hair falls out sorting out the electrical. This looks like a great father son project.

 

Found out if you get tired of messing with all those wires, they do make a carbed intake for the 4.6. And like the chevy ls engines, MSD makes a stand alone ignition system to fire the coils.

 

WOW!!! I cant wait to see the finish job.

 

I wasn’t sure if anyone was watching this thread. I’ll keep updating progress as we go. Nothing really picture worthy from the weekend, just some finish welding and a little more gussetting. We still need to c-notch the frame, but did get the donor rear end out of a 1999 Crown Vic (the older rear ends are almost the exact same width as the one that came out). We stripped all of the brakes off and started cutting all of the brackets off. We have it to a place that my dad can spend some quality time with a grinder to get the rear end good and smooth. Swapping the Ford 8.8 into Jeeps is pretty common and we found a complete kit that allows you to put these rear ends into just about anything, so we ordered it up.

 

Oh we are watching!
Just speechless on the work done so far.

Who makes the kit for the 8.8 mounting in "just about anything"?
I know guys on the AMC forum I am on, also use the 8.8 in the small body cars.
They pick up an extra short axle, pull the long axel and tube out of the housing. It works out you cut the pulled tube at the mark where the tube stops in the housing, IIRC about 3". Press the tube back in and weld it up, slide in the short axle and you have a narrowed rear housing.
Dave ----

 

The steering column and dashboard are going to be swapped too?

 

I agree with everyone else here, I'm loving this thread, looking forward to seeing updates...also, don't repaint it!!!

I do have a total noob question...Why the CV suspension swaps? Is it for overall ride quality? Once it's installed, how much of a difference is there?

Great work!

 

The main reason is to get away from the twin i beam suspension. There is one or two companies that make dropped beams for them, but you are somewhat limited to the drop that they design into their dropped beams.

And with the CV swap you get better steering. It gives the truck a more car-like ride for people who want that. It's not really going to be suited for "truck duties" but more for hot rod duties. It's much like the mustang II swaps, where the whole crossmember unbolts from the donor CV and then is retro fitted complete into whatever vehicle you have.

 

Ruff Stuff Specialties makes a great, all included kit for swapping these 8.8's. They make them for all of the axle diameters that the 8.8 comes in, too.


The 2003+ CV rear ends are too wide (for what we wanted) at a little over 70 inches wide. The older (pre 2002) CV rears are almost the exact same width as the 8.8 that came out of this truck. For $150, we got a unit that comes with the same bolt pattern as the front (5x4.5), disc brakes with built in parking brakes and plenty of options for upgrades. Add the kit above, center it up and set the pinion angle, and weld 'er in. Time will tell if the driveshaft will work....

No plans to swap the steering column, just reuse the cluster from the Mercury.


Yep!

This swap has gotten so popular, that many aftermarket companies are offering tons of aftermarket support for them. Everything from bolt-on big brakes, bolt-in coilovers, and even air bag systems.

 

Spent some time in the shop last weekend but hadn't had a chance to upload some pics. First off, we received the RuffStuff axle kit. This kit is BEEFY, to the point of almost overkill. Very nice kit, complete and ready to install. Here is a pic with a tape measure for reference. I would highly recommend.


Then we continued working on the boxing of the rear trailing arm mounts.
With with frenching in the rear mounts, I wanted it to be as strong as possible. Its boxed below and then this insert should make it nice and strong.


Then, I wanted to mount the rear arms. I saw @Hackster1 mounted his rear arms as they come from the car, on an angle, and decided to follow suit. I started with some 2 inch 3/16 square tubing and marked and cut and ground and fit until I had the desired mount. Then I duplicated these on the other side. They are only tacked on the lower mounts until we drop the front end out-I didn't want to melt the stock bushing. I will weld these solid.



Here is a pic of the rear end in place, in the new axle-over position. This rear end will be sandblasted and POR15'ed like the frame and gone through before we set the pinion angle and weld on the brackets and shock mounts.

 

Monkey nice work and keep the pictures coming!
Dave - - - -

 

Thanks. Another update coming soon. Been in the shop all day. I just need some time to get all of the pics uploaded. Closer every day...

 

Any mods on the 4.6? I run one in my drag car with lots of boost with good results! 4r70 trans I assume as well?

 

No mods on this one other than an intake and exhaust. My dad is 67 and is more about reliability and mileage. I think this truck will be able to get high 20’s with him driving, be as reliable as possible, ride and drive great, and best of all (even though we have used several parts and pieces from other vehicles) be all FORD. He will be able to walk into any parts store and get anything he should ever need. He currently has 5 other ‘daily drivers’ but I have a feeling that this one will be his go-to when completed.

The trans in this one is a 4R75.

 

Nice work!!!