Hey guys. I recently started a new project and I thought I would start a thread to help keep up with my progress with the truck
I am going with a Mustang ii front suspension kit from Gearhead enterprises, a 4 link fatman kit from no limit in the rear with a 8.8 mustang posi rear end with disc brakes.
5.3l ls motor with 4l60e trans.
this is as far as I have gotten with parts. it gets expensive quick


but here is some of where I am at.
I believe I might have misjudged the mustang 2 sway bar location about a inch maybe 1 1/4 inch to far forward. but it Is just tac welded for now anyway. I have a long way to go before I will be fully welding this bad boy together.

 

I mocked the front end back up to where it should be and I will definitely be cutting the cut back off and moving it back some. doesn't sit well in the wheel well

 

here are a couple pictures of the 4 link rear kit. I am going to swap the panhard bar to the other direction. I think it may bind with the bracket bottom facing that direction. for this nolimit Fatbar 4-link suspension kit I had to cut off all of the rear suspension components off the fame and cut off the triangle supports for the cab and the parking brake cable supports. I will weld them into a new location once I have everything mocked up correctly.


I have decided once the frame is fully complete with all of the suspension adjustments and I have finished boxing the frame and moving the rear cross member to the back of the frame to leave room for the new fuel tank I will have the whole frame sand plated and powder coated before I start routing the braking system.


as soon as I get the front end correct I will need to figure out a good set of motor mounts for the 5.3L ls motor setup and then work on inner fenders. this will be my first time swapping a fuel injected motor into a classic vehicle so I am looking forward to it.

 

My bro Josh Williams came over today and we decided to move back the mustang II kit 3/4 toward the firewall. After the new placement josh fully welded in the front end and we started working on the rear end. it is now able to support itself again on the mustang II front end and the No limit Fat bar kit for the rear. I still need to C notch the front of the Frame for the steering gear, and I need to begin mocking where I am going to cut the rear to do a 6 inch c notch for the Rear.


after that I will start working on setting the motor in place and getting measurements for the motor mounts.

 

Looks pretty good. I have a similar project going. I have a 1950 3100 short box and I went with the Fatman Mustang II and a TCI rear leaf kit for my explorer 8.8. I look forward to seeing how your's comes together.

 

Awesome project! I did very similar with a Ford '51 F1 truck.
Here's my build pictures - perhaps there are some tips for you that would save you time? https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A855Z2WMGOKzTn

I did a few things twice.
Lessons learned: I used a hydroboost unit with a large diameter master cylinder from a 3/4 ton truck vs. a small diameter vacuum boost (small diameter booster is necessary as the master cylinder is frame mounted and large diameter wouldn't fit down below, but stopping power sucked!). The hydroboost unit gave me a firm pedal with short pedal throw (due to larger diameter master) to apply the brakes, but with incredible stopping power. Don't buy the kits available online. They ream you on price. You can assemble your own for about $300 with high pressure lines. I just have the metric GM calipers with oversized bore from AFCO upfront and standard in the rears on a Ford 9". i bought a new Delco Hydroboost unit from Amazon for less than $150 and fabbed the pushrod assembly using the stock pedal (though I did cut it up to change the geometry a bit).

Installed a new Aluminum radiator from speedway; $250-ish. It was about 26"h x 19" w and built my own aluminum fan shroud and 16" SPAL fan. This was after starting with the original brass, which kept finding ways to pin-hole leak. I was like the boy in the dyke trying to plug those holes. I should have just started with a good radiator and overflow tank (I bought the plastic overflow new from amazon - came from a suburban). Don't skimp on your fan. I paid $140 or so from the-fan-man.com for my SPAL and it cools fine a high ambient temps with AC on full blast. They are OEM - grade and do a great job as long as you have large wiring to support the current draw (22 amps @ steady state. 30+ amps (not 40) at startup).

I moved wiring loads out of the cab to a relay box at the front IFS cross member as it was hard to run very large diameter wire to the hotrod fuse panel already in the truck. If I did it again, I'd have used an OEM - style fuse and relay panel and mounted in the engine bay (I put it inside to keep the engine bay a bit cleaner).
When I would run the AC blower fan, headlights, and the cooling fan came on, I'd have significantly reduced voltage in the interior ~ 12.5V from 14V with no loads.

If you are going to use AC, install a Trinary switch on the receiver drier. One side of the switch is high pressure to dis-engage the compressor clutch. The other circuit energizes a relay to turn on the electric cooling fan. Other ways to do it, but this ensures your fan only runs when needed.

Run lots of grounds when wiring the truck and tie them together. Run a large ground from bell housing to chassis. I welded various ground studs to the chassis and body so there was plenty of redundancy. Run a dedicated ground from your battery to the ground for the computer. I also grounded the computer body to the same stud. You don't want to hunt backwards when your truck won't start. Plan ahead.

My truck fired on the first click. I bet yours will too.

That truck will be amazing when you are done! I love driving mine. Have 5k miles on it in 14 months since I did my L92 swap. I get so many thumbs up / mile it is really great!

Have fun!

Doug

 

I have a 49 and a51 sitting in my driveway waiting to get worked on. 6.0L 80e mustang2 front end and 8.8 ford exploder rear end. I will be following along on this build.

 

thanks guys for checking my post out! couple others with the same ideas is always cool. and big thanks to Doug for throwing me some pointers. your ford came out very nice!.


I believe I am actually going to go firewall mounted brake setup for better stopping power.
My last 1951 Chevy 3600 I built did NOT have AC so I am not sure on any of that stuff hooking it up in this build. but being as I am in Texas it is a must to have. I will definitely look into the Tri switch on the dryer like you said.


I am a long way out from researching radiators and fans and such, but I will probably be hitting you up once I get to that point to see if you can steer me in the right direction.


before I go any farther I am waiting on some sch40 3 inch pipe so I can correctly c notch the front end for the steering gear. I have the 6 inch sch40 waiting for the rear already.


then I need to tackle this motor mount setup. I am still unsure exactly how to make this work. and Id rather not spend 200 for motor mounts and brackets, so hopefully I can get crafty!
hope to have more progress soon!

 

Hey aknovaman is your 49 your main and the 51 a donor, or are they both going to be built? I prefer the one piece windows of the 49 over the vent window setup in the 51

 

root do you have any pictures of your setup?

 

subscribed... looks good. my favorite year trucks. good luck on the build

 

Both will get mustang front end, 8.8 rear as well as 6.0 and 80e.

I have pics on my photobucket page but for some dumb reason I can insert the link using my iPad.

Just google aknovaman for the link.
Hopefully this will work.
Here is a link to my pics.

http://s704.photobucket.com/user/akn...?sort=3&page=1

 

this weekend I decided to tackle the engine mount setup so I went to sit the motor on the frame to get a feel for what I was looking at with the cab in place


found out fast that the transmission hits the cab and that I do not need the first of the 2 cross members that are on my frame.
I was told to go with the busicut motor mounts, but I don't see how they would mount to the frame well, but we shall see.


I did end up moving the cab back and removing the doors to let the motor sit kinda where it needs to.

 

Biscuit mounts were the hot ticket in 1960. But today there are better options like the trans dapt 4501 adapters.

 

What about using the late model Corvette Biscuit mounts? C5 or C6? They are very nice and I suspect reasonably priced. They also would work well with corvette manifolds (I used LS3 manifolds and like them very much in my build and they are good to 500HP in stock application).

In my '51 Ford F1 I installed motor mounts very similar to the 4501s and the thing I don't like is to get the engine out, you have to pick the engine straight up (or unbolt all four bolts from the block-side mounts) to remove from the truck.

In my case picking it straight up to clear the mounts creates contact at the firewall as I just don't have that much clearance between the top of the bell housing and the firewall / trans tunnel. I had to extend (make taller) my trans tunnel about 2" to clear the 6L80.

Doug

 

I like it! Could be because I'm also going to be building a couple trucks, A 51 3600 and a 52 3100 five window. The 51 is getting a LY6 with LS3 intake and mild VVT cam and 4l80e on an s-10 chassis so I can drive it daily. The 52 is getting a 6-71 blown 408 and 4l80e and will be putting down about 750hp to the tires. I'm going to be building a garage this month then hope to get started on at least one of the trucks.

 

DW DS

With the trans dapt mounts you only have to raise the engine up 1 inch to completely clear the mount ears. That's not any more than other mounts from late models.

To me they are a clean, affordable mount that requires only welding at the frame.

Even better, these are only $80

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LS1-LS2-LS3-...-/261563710660

 

I have a thread on here. It has less detail than a thread on another forum though.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...l#post18810101

 

Good find... My mounts are almost identical to those. I just didn't have the clearance to lift up 1" without contact at the firewall / trans tunnel. In the end I'm not swapping / removing engines regularly (and hopefully not for a LONG time). So it doesn't matter. But to pull my engine, which I've done with those mounts, I have to unbolt the brackets from the block and then remove the main bolt which threads the bushing.

Big picture it is no big deal.

But if I did mine again, I'd have used the OEM corvette mounts, since we know they clear the corvette manifolds and I think they likely do a good job of reducing vibration. I had to extend one of the stock manifold aluminum heat shields as those mounts were very close to the manifold. No big deal, again, though.

BTW - I'm not proposing buying from the dealer the corvette mounts. I assume they can be sourced from a low-mile donor corvette.

Sorry if this is losing focus of the build thread.
Doug

 

sorry for the delay. I have been busy with lots of things, but I did get a little bit done here and there.
I removed the original brake/pedal setup and I am still contemplating if I am going to stick with the floor mounted setup or if I am going to move it to the firewall. I have heard better stopping power from the firewall, yet that will cause my clearance issues and such under the hood.

I also used a cut off/grinding wheel to remove the trans cross member on the frame and unbolted the second cross member, which I may still use/modify to work with the 4L60E trans mount. it would have to be significantly more narrow to work though.

I also removed a very large piece of metal that was at the very rear of my frame and I am moving the rear support all the ay to the back of the frame so I can make room for my gas tank. I believe I will be going with the 1966 ford mustang tank and adding a internal walboro pump with a corvette regulator setup. (I have not purchased anything yet so I am still open to change).
I did break down and buy a plasma cutter and I am waiting for my brother in law (Josh Williams) to come help make these cuts look cleaner! I have a few pictures of the driver side c notch that I mapped out and cut. IT IS UGLY. and there is a decent account of gap. But I have faith he will be able to fix my mistakes and make it look and function very nicely lol

I did purchase the Trans-dapt 4506 motor mount kit and it is actually a little wide for my frame. I am having another buddy of mine take the last hole and make it a slide that goes deeper on the bracket to make it function correctly.

Once that is ready I will try to align the motor where I want it and see what exactly I will need to do to make this work.
the AC will have to be removed and moved to the top of the motor and I believe I can use the accessory bracket kit from holley where I just get the ac side and it should work allowing me to use the factory alternator and power steering pump with my Mustang 2 front end. well at least I hope I will be able to .
https://www.holley.com/products/ls_p...brackets_only/
that's the link to Holley's ls1 bracket set. I prefer the cheapest route possible on that approach.
I did have a Harness rebuilt to work for this motor, and I still need to send off my PCM to be reprogramed for this truck and I will be using Brendan Patten from LT1swap.com to reprogram the pcm. he only charges 75 dollars and that includes return shipping. I used him for my brother in-laws 55 chevy project, although we have not fired up the truck yet so I have not seen it work, I am sure he does a excellent job at a great price.