Hey all,

First off I want to thank all the members of this board for their wealth of knowledge. This has been instrumental in my success thus far. This is the first build for me of its kind. I've had several import vehicles in the past and currently drive a C63 as my daily .

I had a F150 prior to buying the Mercedes and really like the utility of it so when it came time to starting a project I knew I wanted another truck. I work in my family's contracting business and decided to make this truck a replica of the old service trucks we had back in the day. I found Ethel on craigslist for $2,500 about a mile from my house. It ran and drove when I bought it but couldn't stop well. I almost died on the way home.

This is all being done in my driveway and yes it's messy and yes I'm going to do as much of the work as possible by myself.

Rough plans are pretty standard around here:
5.3 with H/C/I and 76-80mm turbo (most likely huron speed kit)
4l80e with transgo hd2 and circle d converter
no limit engineering 4 link rear
Crown vic front suspension
ford 8.8 rear with Detroit locker, 31 spline axles and 3.27 ring and pinion

Here she is when I bought her








Starting tear down



Original 352 is going to a friend with a 62 f100.





Twin I beam POS suspension finally out





Ebay 5.3 out of a 2003 suburban with 158k on the clock



Bought a 2003 Crown Vic Police interceptor for $500 on CL and took the front and rear end out of it for use in the truck.



The original cab was pretty rusted through on the roof and repairs would cost an arm and a leg. I found this cab in the Nevada desert for $300 and loaded it up in my brothers truck and drove it home.





Safely back in San Diego



Down to the frame we go



The truck was a long bed and I'm converting to short bed.

Cutting 14" out of the frame



Welded back up



4 link mock up



New beefy axles



Rear end torn apart





Starting engine tear down





OOH shiny



Cop car front end in place




And that's where she stands today. I should have the ring and pinion set later this week so I'll be able to set pinion angle and get the 4 link finished up. The heads got sent of to texas speed for the PRC head work. Now I just have to pull the trigger on a turbo setup.

 

Nice start! Gotta ask though, why would you dump the 9" for an 8.8" with c-clips?

 

Cool project. I have the grandfather to your truck ('51). And I'm in Encinitas. Where are you located? Nearby? Might be cool to check out your project.

Your engine removal shot looks like a crime scene. Just need the yellow tape. Hope that was just anti-freeze and not oil.

Doug

 

Oh yeah, most folks use fish plates when they stitch a frame back together. Or strengthen in some way. Will you be boxing the frame?

I bought double - adjustable coil overs for all four corners from viking. If you haven't bought them for the rear yet, I might suggest checking them out. American made and double adjustable for about the price of singles.

I signed up as a reseller just to buy my own set of 4 which ended up costing about $200 / corner including springs, roller bearings, wrenches, everything.

 

Because I never even thought about it. I'm a fool. Now I'll have to research building the original 9" rear end. Only issue would be the track width will be different.

 

Hey Doug I'm down by Qualcomm. It was a mess for sure! Once the truck is done I'm planning on a mini home remodel that will include fixing this nasty driveway.

With respect to the frame I'm going to weld some plate and box the frame around the weld as well.

The 4 link came with Ridetech coilovers and I bought a set of ride techs for the crown vic front end just to keep things consistent.

 

++ on the fish plates. The welds look good though.

 

I will look you up if I'm down that way.
I have some specialty tools that might help if you need. Like AC line fitting crimp tool. You can crimp the lines at my place.

If you want some inspiration and are in north county let me know. My truck is pretty dialed now.

I have a Heidt's IFS and a triangulated 4 link I installed and fabbed. The ride quality and handling improvement is nothing short of amazing.

I also installed the engine and trans as far down and rearward as possible as well as moved by battery behind the rear axle and a 32 gallon fuel cell behind the axle. Weight distribution, I'm sure, contributes to the good ride and handling characteristics. I weighed it at 55% front 45% rear before installing the larger fuel cell (1st one was 11 gallons and also behind the rear axle). It rides a bit nicer with a full fuel load. And range is really great @ about 18 to 20 mpg on the highway @ 80mph.

I have build photos here if you are curious about any of it: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0855Z2WMGOKzTn

Doug

 

Beautiful truck. What did you end up using for a wiring harness? And what wheels are those?

 

Thank you! Us FORD guys with LS swaps have to hang together
I'm called a Darksider @ the ford truck site.
The wheels are american racing salt flats. I'd have done 18s all around vs. 17 front and 18 rear if I did it again. A small thing, but think that'd have been better.

If you are talking the LS conversion harness, I used a guy from FL who used to be an EE Engineer @ GM. In fact, he used to build harnesses for mule vehicles there. I could send you his info. He's not a vendor here, so they don't want us to put that info out there. He was very reasonably priced and does great work.

On the truck, I used a combo of hot rod harness and added relays for lights, cooling fan, fuel pump, etc. I like to use relays and move them near the load for those type of things vs having them all centralized in the cab. You can trigger the relays with grounds and light duty switches, which is cool.

The mini fuse / relay / distribution box from bussman is really great for that. Theres a photo of it in my build thread, in fact. I run power to that right from the alternator lug on a large gauge feed line.

 

That CV front end is so slick. Makes me want to do a Ford truck just so I can do that front suspension swap...LOL

Andrew

 

Yeah, old trucks are fun, for sure! Plenty of smiles per mile. With coil-overs and 4 - link, rack and pinion steering and IFS, and 4 wheel disc brakes the all-rounder performance is downright acceptable, too.

Doug