Since my engine is a 1963 it had the unusual 2 bolt motor mounts. I had to engineer my custom mounts TWICE to get the engine in its proper position without hitting the headers and clearing the oil pan. Additionally I found that the cross member had to be notched in order to clear the oil pan on the C6 transmission.

 

As you might have noticed the oil filter juts out right where my front steering sits. That's not going to work. So after some searching I found a company that makes a remote oil filter adapter which allowed me to run lines around the front of the engine and to an oil filter sitting right in front of the passenger motor mount. It is tucked high enough to be protected and accessible enough to make oil changes easy.

 

That's going to be an awesome truck ! Mr. Frings was certainly well known in the Wisconsin area. Larry Detjens won a bunch with his chassis. I never had one myself. I ran Dillon and Howe. My 55 F100 has a 460 with an old Dillon style 3 link and coil overs all the way around. My brother just built a jig and is building a complete tube chassis for his 51 F1. It'll have a quick change and I'm guessing some Back-Car suspension components.

 

Next step was to figure out the exhaust and how to make that work. I found a pair of Sanderson headers for big block FE applied to a Ford Galaxy. The headers retail for over $600 and I found a killer deal on Ebay for a set at $400! Winning!! Well, not so much. They actually hit the upper control arm on the passenger side as the engine mounts I designed set the oil pan as low as possible in the cross member and also interfere with the steering shaft. Next step - sell the headers at a loss and buy another set Ebay for a Mustang with an FE engine. Winning! (well sort of) - - Next step, cut the motor mounts apart and add 3/4 inch to the height to get enough clearance to run the new Sanderson headers. A little message with a ball peen hammer and some heat insulation - perfect.


Second attempt at headers that fit

 

I painted the sandblasted chassis with oil based paint in a machine gray. I got my FE 390 out of a 1963 Fairlane GT that had been rebuilt only test run. We took it apart and blueprinted it, along with the C6 transmission. Rather than go with carburetion I wanted to try one of the new fuel injection systems, so I went with a FiTech system and the in tank fuel pump. Everything was plumbed with #6 AN line including the return line and pre- fuel filter.

 

For the rear axle, the chassis already had a 9 inch Ford rear axle that was too wide. I wanted something different so I took a Champ 301 quick change rear end center section, and some custom axles. Dennis was nice enough to help me assemble the 301 and it ended up with a 3.04 gear ratio with the set of gears I had. There was a lot of hand wringing and measurement after measurement to make sure the custom axles would be the right length. We welded Ford large bearing ends on the axle tubes to utilize the stock Ford bearings. The rear axle sat perfectly on the set of unidentified leaf spring set up, and allowed for a 15 x 10 inch rim with a 375/60R15 to fit under stock fenders with no modification. The last picture shows the axle to fender clearance but with no lowering blocks on the springs. The axle sits on top of the springs so I added 1.5 inch block to lower it ever more.

 

Next came work on the body. The cab was relatively intact but had some issues on the floor and all four corners. Another big issue was that a tree had fallen on the cab some time in the past and a attempted repair was done. Sandblasting every piece exposed the ugly truth. All 4 corners and floor pan would have to be replaced, and thankfully we have such good reproduction sheet metal that it's possible.



Rear floor after sand blasting

 

The roof was a challenge as I had never replaced one before. After some calculating the old roof was off and the new one was attached with a combination glue and rosette welded to the cab.

 

 

Next the floor pan was cut out in the rear and the cab corners were massaged.

 

wow! NASCAR's front suspension, a completely new world to me... following...

 

The roof repair looks great. Was the old one spot welded? If so, were you able to drill them out to remove it or did you have to cut it out? Sorry for all of the questions but I have a cab that will need a roof and I'm trying to figure it out. I'm guessing you had to glue parts where you couldn't really access with the welder?

 

Thanks for the questions. I was originally thinking of drilling out the old spot welds, but after looking at the drip rails I felt that there would be too much destruction in drilling out spot welds and pulling the layers apart. The spot welds were plenty strong even after being crushed with a tree, so why cut them out? What I ended up doing was to cut the roof off just 1/4 inch above the drip rails and glue everything down by overlapping the spot weld flanges. The rear of the cab also had a spot welded flange, which I drilled out the welds and ground everything smooth. After that I cleaned everything up real well and made sure that everything fit flush. The tree had damaged the cab underneath the roof as you might notice on the photos, so those had to be jacked up and hammered flat. I glued it all down with the 2 part epoxy and let it dry for a few days under clamped pressure.

Much to my dismay the rear flange adhesive above the rear window began to crack and separate at the flange. You could actually push the roof down and close the gaps. After further inspection of the 2 part epoxy, I found that it can be welded through per the instructions on the tubes. What had to be done was to re-clamp all the flanges and drill holes that i could rosette weld through to the host metal. After it was all said and done, the best way is to attach the roof with a combination of the two part epoxy and rosette welding. Be careful not to disrupt the host metal the roof attaches to in order to get a good seal. The fit of the reproduction panel was pretty close but not perfect. The two back corners of the cab had the new roof panel slightly overhanging the cab slightly. I built that up

with Dynaglass and finished it out with bondo. Good luck on your project!