My 66 chassis swap

[sloth71]

Back in May, I decided I needed a project. So, off to CL I went. Then, I went to Houston and picked up a pile of parts and a complete shell with long bed that had already been blasted and primed. I bought it because I knew exactly what I was getting. This truck had a lot of the typical slick rust problems, but it was pretty straight. It came with some extra parts to boot.
The next day I went back to Houston and picked up this rust bucket.The cab is completely rusted from floor to roof. The front fenders are in good shape, the grille is straight, and it had a lot of the missing parts that the blasted truck was missing (like a short bed). After buying these two trucks, I thought I was done buying slicks for the project. But thennnnn I was browsing good ol CL for some parts and the search turned up a Slick in my home town. This one has a 460, C6, 9" rear, and a new aftermarket harness. It was someone's abandoned project. This was the most complete truck I've bought and it was by far the cheapest. The bad: Someone's idea of customizing back in the day was a few pallets of bondo. I think I am going to make another project out of this truck. IE; more power, air ride, etc.

[sloth71]

I was at work (doing a little research on here and a couple other sites), and I decided I would start looking for a crown vic donor. I started browsing some of the auction sites. I was working in Midland, TX at the time and noticed that they had a few crown vics in their bone yard. So, I searched for their auction and found the auction host. Needless to say, I took her home.



Showed her a good time.

And then this happened.

I labeled every wire and plug as I disassembled because I plan to reuse most of the CVs features.
http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr2/ ... G_0578.jpg

[sloth71]

Let me try this with linked pictures.
SOOOO I spent a little time planning and researching after the deconstruction of the CV (Thanks guys!) Meanwhile, the frame was sitting in the shop patiently waiting
I kind of neglected taking pictures for a while. I'm doing this by myself, so documentation is often a hindsight.

After another hitch at work (and more online reading), I came home and started working on the truck again. I took the floor and firewall out of the CV since I plan on using the CV a/c and everything else. Sorry, no documentation of this process. Since the floor in the 66 was in need of repair any way, it made the floor and firewall swap a no-brainer to me. I cut out the floor and firewall of the 66, and began fitting the cab onto the floor and firewall of the CV while the CV floor and fw were bolted onto the CV frame.




So I rolled it back into the shop like that (minus fenders) when I went back to work. While at work, I did some more reading and planning. I worked a 35 day hitch and only had 3 days off before I went back to work, so I didn't get much work done to the truck. After that hitch I had some time off ( a little too much).
So, I started welding up the cab to the floor of the CV. There was a gap between the sides of the cab and the floor of the CV that tapered from 5" at the door to 2" at the top of the firewall. I made a few patch panels from the CV for the floor, and fabricated the patch panels to joint the cab to the floor. I got a little crafty and repurposed an old Ford tractor hood to transition the newly formed step down at the door.
Back Wall

Rear floor and back wall patch

Floorboard patch

Fender well area of the firewall

The newly created step down with a little help from a tractor



I patched up the rear wall that I clearanced for fitment.


These are all the pictures I have at this time, but I have made more progess. I spent the last 2 days fitting the front clip to the CV frame. I have everything cut and moved I will have to rebuild the core support and move the radiator and A/C condenser back nearly 2". Before I can do anything to the core support, I am going to sand blast the front clip that I pulled off the rust bucket. Once I blast and prime, I will completely rebuild the core support and mount it to the CV frame. While I'm blasting, I might as well blast the bed as well. I will get back on it next week if I am not at work.

[bruceandersson]

All I can say is WOW. A lot of thought and sweat. Can't wait to see the end result and progress along the way.

[sloth71]

Thanks! I can't wait to start driving this thing! The project is fun though.

[jamesdfo]

Geez, you're not fooling around!!

I'm thinking the handle sloth71 is one of those ironic names, like when someone names their St. Bernard TINY. lol

The pace you are going at so far is anything but sloth like!!

Cheers!
James

[2dr_sedan]

You're making good progress, I'm following along!

[sloth71]

I've been at work a lot here lately, and I went on a hunt so no progress on the truck recently. BUUUUUUTTTTTT I did manage to score some goodies.


20x10s for the rear and 20x8.5s for the front. I am almost positive that I am going to have to change my rear axle to fit the rears, but I am willing to sacrifice a little work for the right look.



If you notice, the lights have a blinker in them...... bye bye 66 blinker pods, hello 64 upper grill ( not sure the exact terminology for that piece). No pics of that yet.

[sloth71]

It had been a while since i had any time to work on the truck, but I got a couple days to work on it. I had the wheels sitting there, so I had to test fit everything . The rears are too wide to fit under the bed, but I have a plan for that. The fronts are going to work, just barely.

After getting the front frame rails trimmed back, the radiator moved back, and the core support trimmed down, I began to mock up the front fenders and core support. As I began squaring everything up, something just wasn't right. After checking and measuring everything over and over again, I came to the conclusion that the front frame rails were tweaked . I thought the front end damage was isolated to just the body of the CV, but I was obviously wrong. I guess I will be taking the frame to the body shop to have them true everything when I get back from work. When I get the frame fixed I will finish the fab work to get the front clip mounted. Until then...

[sloth71]

I had a couple days off and got to work on the truck. I managed to get the Crown Vic steering column mounted. I am going to try to build a sheet metal cover instead of the plastic cover and probably put a billet steering wheel on after I get the truck to road worthy status and take a few test rides. I also plan on building the dash down some to cover everything a little better. I made a support for the front mounts of the column out of 1/4"x 2" strap along the bottom and 1.5" angle that runs to the top of the dash.

[HawaiiKid]

Looks like we'll be seeing a second full floor and firewall swapped F100 on the road soon...haven't see anyone finish one since we first did it haha. Truck looks great, 10s in the back are doable but you're gonna need to pull the bed out some to make it work with the 03+ Vic rear end...may want to look into swapping to a 98-02 rear, they are narrower but you'll need to remount your shocks-clearly no big deal since you know how to fabricate.

[shipwrecked]

If you notice, the lights have a blinker in them...... bye bye 66 blinker pods, hello 64 upper grill ( not sure the exact terminology for that piece). No pics of that yet.

Please tell me more about these right here! Im a far way off from installing any headlights but I would like to keep on top of things that would be great in my build.

[totten]

Super job so far!

[sloth71]

Looks like we'll be seeing a second full floor and firewall swapped F100 on the road soon...haven't see anyone finish one since we first did it haha. Truck looks great, 10s in the back are doable but you're gonna need to pull the bed out some to make it work with the 03+ Vic rear end...may want to look into swapping to a 98-02 rear, they are narrower but you'll need to remount your shocks-clearly no big deal since you know how to fabricate.

Thanks HawaiiKid! Your build was one of the builds that made me realize the potential and benefits of the frame swap. Maybe I will cruise it up to the DFW area and we can compare notes when its done. I am located in Nacogdoches, TX. Hopefully, I will get some quality time off to continue progress soon. I will still have to blow it back apart to paint. I plan on widening the bed 1.5"-2" (depending on what I can get away with body line wise) to fit the 10"s. I may go with a wider wheel combo and an explorer axle at a later date. I am going to cruise it basically stock for a while, and maybe do a built 5.4 DOHC later (reason for wider tire desire).

If you notice, the lights have a blinker in them...... bye bye 66 blinker pods, hello 64 upper grill ( not sure the exact terminology for that piece). No pics of that yet.

Please tell me more about these right here! Im a far way off from installing any headlights but I would like to keep on top of things that would be great in my build.

I ordered them from Amazon ( fingers crossed on quality, although they seem decent initially). They are an H4 bulb as well. I got them and an earlier model header panel because I am not a fan of the blinker buckets on the 65 and 66. It should really smooth out the front end. I also plan on narrowing and reshaping the factory bumper to help achieve the sleeker front end goal.

Super job so far!

Thanks! Hopefully, I will have more progress to report when I get home in a month.

[sloth71]

SOOOOO...... I've been EXTREMELY busy the last 6 months! But not so much on SLICK VIC. I have been working 30-50 day hitches with only 3-5 days off in between. It looks like I will be getting some scheduled days off over the next couple months. The last time I was home I was evaluating my bed situation, and I made the decision to shorten the long bed since it is not eaten up with cancerous rust like the short bed I have. I only got as far as measuring and marking my cut lines. When I get home and have time to work on it, I am going to shorten the long bed down to a short bed. It's also going to be widened to match the body lines of the cab more closely and allow for wider wheels in the rear with the CV axle. I had Grant Kustoms make a roll pan and tailgate skin 2" wider than the normal 65-66 skin and pan. Hopefully I can get the bed cut down and mounted while I'm home. I will be updating with some pictures soon...... Stay tuned, shortened and widened bed coming up in the next couple of weeks.

[jamesdfo]

Looking forward to seeing the process, and the outcome. Sorry to hear that work is hampering your progress, but I guess it also helps finance it too, so whaddya do?

And make sure you go look at some of the links in this thread, there is a thing or two to be learned by looking through the photos Lyle took in the course of the bed shortening. (As illustrated, the use of a hammerform on the rear section so that the taillight extension housing can be plug welded back on to the box panel is a super clean way of doing it, and should make for less warpage than a full height vertical buttweld.)
And there are two other galleries showing two different bumpside LWB styleside boxes getting shortened up as well......

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34905

Cheers!
James

[sloth71]

Looking forward to seeing the process, and the outcome. Sorry to hear that work is hampering your progress, but I guess it also helps finance it too, so whaddya do?

And make sure you go look at some of the links in this thread, there is a thing or two to be learned by looking through the photos Lyle took in the course of the bed shortening. (As illustrated, the use of a hammerform on the rear section so that the taillight extension housing can be plug welded back on to the box panel is a super clean way of doing it, and should make for less warpage than a full height vertical buttweld.)
And there are two other galleries showing two different bumpside LWB styleside boxes getting shortened up as well......

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34905

Cheers!
James

Thanks for the link and ideas. I have some ideas to work into the design as well if time permits.
I work for a directional drilling company (pretty fortunate right now to still be working).

[jamesdfo]

sloth71: The use of a hammerform I mentioned may not have been shown in the '65 box album, but in the '68 Merc Shop truck album, and the '69 box album. The '65 box & Merc shop truck albums are in the link in the previous post, link for the '69 album is below.....

http://www.rodsnrestos.ca/69ford/

[sloth71]

Well, I only had a couple of days that I could work on Project Slick Vic. I got the rear portion of the bed cut down and welded back on. I got the front cut down, but I ran out of time before I got to weld it back up.





Hard to see, but I cut some of the trimmed piece off and welded it inside to create a flange to strengthen the seam. I plug welded it in place. It acted as a bit of a guide as well.


Almost done with all the spot welds.


This is the cleaned up seam. A little filler, and she will be good to go. I still have to weld up the inside seam. I am not going to pay much attention to the bed floor seam since I am going to have to rebuild the bed floor to go over the notch anyway. I am still kicking around ideas about the finished bed floor. I probably won't know exactly what I am doing until its done. The next time I am home, I will finish shortening the bed and possibly look into fitting an axle inside the bedsides

[sloth71]

I got a little more progress done while I was at home last time. The outer portion of the bed is done (ish), but I did not have time to really tackle the inside of the bed or start the body mounts. I am going to shave the stake pockets and weld all the seams when its all said and done ( whenever that may be). With no further ado, lets get to some imagery!
Here's a shot of the bed on end after I got the front welded up. I put it on end so I could start cutting the inside to clear the vics rear suspension.

Here's a shot of the bottom side after I cut the floor and the sides of the wheelwells out.

A little bracing ( not very good picture, but you get the idea)

I'm going to try to use the vic tank, so I took out the vic floor. With it on there, I think I am going to try to utilize the body mounts as well as the floor and build a false floor over the top leaving the space between for semi dry storage.

I will have to shorten the rear section of the trunk to make it fit.

I shortened the frame rails to 74" passed behind the front of the bed. I cut the exhaust at a bias flush with the frame just behind the tires (for now). I didn't get any pictures of the shortened frame rails or the exhaust. The next time I'm home, if I have time in between moving, I am going to set the bed on and start the mounting process. After I get it mounted, I will start the beautification process of shaving the stake pockets, and building a false floor frame to float above the vic sheet metal. The cubbies that the vic sheet metal make will work well for mounting air compressors and valves when I decide to take that on.

On another note... I have decided to use a rear axle out of a 2001 CV to solve my width issue instead of widening the bed (way too much work). All of the 4 link, coils, and watts link will mount up. I will have to move the shocks inside the frame, but that will be pretty easy ( move the right shock mount to the inside of the left frame rail and vice versa). I already have the 01 CV rear axle. I am going to refresh all the axle seals and everything. I plan to use the larger rotors and calipers off of the 08 as long as everything bolts up ( It looks like it will ).