I bought this 1977 F-100 Flareside Free Wheeling truck in 2010. I ran across it and just had to have it.


After I got it home, I got on the net and saw people doing the Crown Vic swaps on the older trucks and have wanted to do this truck every since. After running across Davewild's thread, that only fueled the fire. Over the years, I have done a few things to this truck like replacing the fuel tank/sending unit, then I updated the stereo, and the last big project was adding power brakes. Then, life got in the way and the truck got bumped to the back burner. In the meantime, I have been plotting and saving to CV swap this truck. Then, we started a build for my dad using a Mercury Marquis as a donor. I found a low mileage donor of my own and that is when the plan started coming together. The donor is a 2007 Mercury Marquis with 53k miles.


Once I got it home, I started selling off parts and pieces that I wasn't going to us to recover some funds. These cars are everywhere and the parts I sold almost cleared the car. That left me with a low mileage 4.6, 4R75W trans, the front suspension, and the fuel system that will live on in my truck. We had some parts on Facebook that we were selling off of my dads '85 F150, and an older gentleman called asking about these parts and wanted to know if he knew where he could get a good running 302/c6 combo for his truck. He came over and we struck a deal for the engine and trans that was in my truck- more funds for my project. So my truck was ready for the project to start as soon as we got out Bullnose project off to paint.


Last Friday, I started removing the front suspension and crossmember to get ready for the swap. In just under 6 hours, we had the frame completely clean and the crossmember mocked into place.








Then, last Saturday, I started getting everything lined up, square and locating the suspension before boxing the frame:





Today (day 3) I was able to get the boxing plates complete, and the rear lower control arm mounts built. On the last truck, we left the rear mounts on an angle and this truck, I cut the bushings and rotated them so that I could mount them flat. Then, I cut some plates and braces and welded them all in:





The day ended with us completely disassembling the truck to get it ready for c-notches, sandblasting and POR15 before we start reassembly.



I have the engine harness from Hotwire Auto along with the reflashed ECM from the donor car that should be back soon, a huge order from Summit Racing that included a new American Autowire harness, Ididit tilt column, all new Borgeson steering components, new Prothane urethane body bushings, -6 PTFE stainless braided fuel line and fittings, and a Rock Auto order that has all new hoses and serpentine belt. I started a build on a Ford 9" that included a brand new set of Explorer disc brakes and new bearings and seals. I still need to find a Trac-Loc center with 3.70 gears to complete this project (it will replace the stock Dana 44 rear). I will be adding to this thread as we progress on this project, or until I run out of money. With a 20 year old daughter in Nursing School and a 5 year old son in day care, there is always something else that we need to spend money on..

 

Loving it. I'm doing the swap soon in a bump I just acquired...or maybe the whole frame swap we shall see. I've heard several people say the truck will be lighter than the vic sne makes the motor feel snappier. The vics only make like 250 hp though. I wonder how they do with a twin screw on top. I believe they are identical to a modern mustang "PI" motor 99-04.

 

Nice looking truck, looking forward to the build...

Pat

 

X2!

However...you won't be able to run your Styled Forged Aluminum Five Slot wheels on the Vic's 5X5 lug pattern.

But you ought to be able to get some more good money for your build out of them...

 

I would love to put a Coyote in it, but my daughter drives this truck and I don't want to make it too much of a handful. I am hoping this will be a pretty peppy little ride with a CAI, exhaust, a tune and some 3.73 gears. I ordered a new third member this morning to complete the rear end.

I cannot bring myself to part with them. I will sell the tires and hang onto the rims. I would like to put them on our shop truck, but it may be CV swapped before long anyway.

 

Ah, I see. If you are keeping the 9" how will you handle the speed sensor for the transmission control?

 

 

The transmission needs a speed sensor input to shift. They are usually located in the 8.8 diff housing with a tone ring on the ring gear. Trans wont operate properly if it doesn't know wheel speed.

 

following this one, LOVE the truck!

 

FYI - Our EEC-IV controlled E4OD needed a speed sensor so we used one of the front wheel abs sensors. We ran it thru a 90's F-series speedo (that is able to be calibrated) and then on to the ECU. The speedo takes the pulsing signal from the sensor and converts it to a square wave signal that the ECU requires.

 

Monkey, being you did your fathers this one looks to be going a lot quicker.

I will be checking in on this one too.
Dave ----

 

Great build so far. Love that you've got a thread going too.

Subscribed. Keep it up

 

Haha, I hear you. I have a set waiting to go onto my rig!

If you are really wanting to keep the look of those wheels after a Crown Vic swap, then there are very similar OEM slotted wheels which Ford put on Starsky & Hutch Torinos, '73 Mustangs, and plenty of other mid-'70s cars.
I'm pretty sure they're 15" in diameter, and I don't know how wide they are, but if they clear the newer brake rotors, then they should bolt right up to the Crown Vic's 5 X 5" lug pattern. They also made a 4 lug version for Mustang IIs and Pintos.


Then you might be able to use truck-style center caps from an older Ranger or Aerostar, since those have the 5 X 5" lug pattern as well. Simply mask off the chrome center faux hub lockout cap and paint the rest satin black. Then paint the fake lockout indentations red, to match the originals.




It would be a good way to hide a Crown Vic swap, and it would likely fool 99% of the people who look at it. You would probably have guys who still have stock 5 X 5.5" hubs trying to buy them off you!

 

I have not heard of this being an issue, but like JP3 suggested, I may have to use the ABS ring from the front end. We will see.

Thanks man!

I do dig these slots and wish I could reuse them. That will be one of the last things I have to buy, so budget at that time will dictate more than anything what gets put on here. I had some money set aside to work on this truck and it goes pretty quick.

I played hookey from work one day this week and got the fab completely finished. Someone had undercoated the frame of this truck in its early life and although it was a pain to scrape off, underneath it looks brand new. Even my dad was saying that my frame looked better than his did and his is several years newer. It was literally about 15 lbs of crap we scraped off this frame. After that, I was able to build and cut in the c-notches and finish welding all of the front boxing plates. I am no stranger to the latest technology and am fluent in CAD (cardboard aided design).


Tonight, I am going to blast the frame and roll it back in the shop in preparation for POR15 and UV gloss coat for the frame. I also have to remove the floor shifter out of the truck and repair the hack job of an install that one of the PO's did. I will also shoot Lizard Skin thermal insulation on the interior of the cab.

 

what about if you're doing a big smoky burn out and the rear is going 60 but the fronts aren't moving? Have you tried...you know... for science?


monkey-1 I'll be subscribing to see how the rear turns out. I'll be doing this to a '69 and don`t want a big ugly hump in the bed.