I would buy my wife a pair but I think they would be too tight...........especially when she ties them around my throat, and I know she would

 

I am setting my 49 up to tow a car trailer. I have gone the XJ-6 Jag IFS and 1970 F-100 9 inch rear route. I would consider the matching Jag IRS but to make it look good takes a good bit of fabrication plus I already had the IFS for cheap $. I too am old enough to remember the rolled R in Cordoba. In fact thru the family I had my wife driving one a 76 for a short while. Note that she hated it but it was such a good deal! She still reminds me how much she hated it. I have two other memories of that car-make that three.

1. The lean burn system was a bad idea.
2. The suspension/handling was not memorable (it was a very low mileage car)
3. Lying on my back at the chiropracters with him about to yank on my neck when he said he saw my son driving the Cordoba and asked me when he got his license. He did not have a license, he was 14! Note that he is a real gearhead. Built a motor with me at age 13. The good news is that the chiriopracter had to own that Cordoba. It made my wife very happy which has the reciprocal effect of making me happy. There ends my Cordoba story!

 

And now the voice of Ricardo Montalbahn (corinthian la-ther) can be heard on Taco Bell commercials. AFA lingere is concerned, I'm always happy when my wife comes out to the garage, regardless of what she's wearing. Some guys are easy to please. Ok Karen, waiting to you to post.
Sounds like you've got lots of choices there, my opinion is the choice you make is the best one. I've got a jag front in mine, with an explorer rear axle, but since you've got the volare almost done I'd stick with it.

 

I made the corinthian leather reference the other day in a group of people, that was a mistake, they didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about. No idea who Ricardo Montalbahn was (they didn't even know Fantasy Island -- de plane, de plane), what a Cordoba was, or even what corinthian leather was.

My wife will come out into the garage on occasion (no in crotchless bib overalls though but I'm working on that) She doesn't help memuch but she will sit and chat for a bit andmaybe share in a frosy beverage.

Bobby

 

That`s a big bonus, it`s always nice to have some good company!

 

Keith, I speak from personal experience when I say that it probably takes 3 or 4 SC's to keep one on the road! They are such nice cars...when they're running! Having converted my son's to 5-sp, replaced the electronic shocks with normal ones, done the head gasket ritual, and most painful of all, replaced the steering rack, I think we have a keeper...

I wouldn't consider the TBird rear, it has very little to recommend it. Very heavy, not really that strong, and can't keep the wheels vertical for more than a week. It rides like a dream, but it also requires shock towers that would be up above the bed. Someone on here sells kits to use it on trucks, tho.

 

I used the Cordoba IFS on my '60 F-100, used a kit from Gibbon F-100s. I've put over 40,000 miles on the pickup since then and have been happy with it overall. It looks like the company has moved from Gibbon, NE to VA. You may be able to get individual parts such as the rear torsion bar mount from them.

There are a couple of items to watch out for:

The rear torsion bar mount is a really simple piece, and probably should have been a larger piece when you look at the loads that are fed into it. I believe it is a piece of square 1 or 1.5" tubing.

I did some driving on washboard dirt roads at one point, and the brackets which support the strut rods deformed significantly. I ended up rebuilding them out of 3/8" plate.

The spring rate of the original Cordoba torsion bars didn't work very well in my application ('60 F-100, 351W). When I pre-loaded the bars enough to keep it off of the bump stops, the adjustment 'ear' contacted the frame. I ended up going with aftermarket road-race torsion bars to fix the problem, they required less pre-load. Putting some initial preload in the bars when the rear sockets were welded in would have the same effect, but this would make assembly a little trickier.

 

Part IV

In my last installment (I've always wanted to say that. It makes me feel important.) I asked a bunch of suspension questions. This time, I'm on the engine.

From day one, when someone would ask me what I was putting under the hood, my reply was the same, "Whatever I have when I get to that stage."

...and I meant it. I expected that if I had a 440 Wedge sitting there unused, it'd be going in. ...or a Rover V8. ...or an 1100cc Honda V-4 motorcycle engine. ...or a...

I think I might dismiss that V-4 idea. ...not enough torque.

Now days, I'm leaning more toward a Ford engine. I think the reason is that I've grown into a "Ford guy," and that's what's primarily in the yard.

The 440 never showed up but I do have the Rover V-8. It's destined for a pseudo replica of a Lotus Seven that I've been dreaming of.

I also have 2 supercharged V-6s, a 5.0 V-8, a '95 4.9 six and a DOHC 4.6 Mark VIII engine.

The SC engine could be cool if I went all SC suspension, especially if I retained the SC's active suspension. ...but I'm not THAT ambitious.

The 4.6 would be cool, as well, but I'm presently leaning toward the 5.0. It's reliable as a stone, there's tons of cheap parts available for it and it can have as much torque as I need to build in to pull the trailers.

Opinions?

Keith
1950 F-1
1993 Thunderbird LX
1993 Thunderbird SC (being rebuilt)
1993 Thunderbird SC (wrecked)
1992 Thunderbird SC (rusted heap)
1990 Thunderbird SC (good shell, no title)
1985 Thunderbird 5.0 (G-machine in progress)
1994 Lincoln Mark VIII (son's car to be)
1980 Rover SD1 (?Lotus Seven donor?)