A good way to get hole centers without a transfer punch is to trace with a scribe, then measure the scribed circle with calipers, then set a compass (or calipers) to half that distance and then draw a few arcs with a fixed point on the edge of the scribed circle.
Sorta like this but a little simpler.
I just used a transfer punch. there’s a slight bit of play between the tube and bolt so I can make sure it’s all centered after it’s all welded up in case anything moves a touch under heat. I still think what I’m doing is overkill, most guys that do the swap literally drill holes and run the bolts through the frame with no additional support, and stack washers on the top of the frame to take up the 1/4" gap from the top bracket to the top of the frame. I wanted it to be stronger and better than that. I’m gonna turn up some 14" thick spacers with 1" OD so they slip over the exposed piece of tube and give that top bracket a better mounting face than just the .120 wall of the tube. Hoping to get the rest of the hole’s drilled tonight and move on to welding.
Nice progress. I need to stop by and look at this
Glad to see focus in this project and some progress.
:tup: to progress.
Dan
finished up the main mounting points last night, pretty happy thus far. truck is on the ground/wheels!
Made up the plates for the trailing arm mounts but was getting late and had some pondering to do on how to mount them. On the CV they’re mounted at like a 45* angle or so and I think it’s best to mimick that. they’d probably work flat up to the frame with about a 1/4" plate welded in as a spacer but I’m gonna spend a little time looking at it and thinking about it before I go doing something on them. sway bad mounts are gonna be a sinch so I may do those first.
Trailing arm with mount at 45*
Nice!
got a bunch done last night.
Made up a set of these for mounting the trailing arm bushings to the frame:
Welded in
Then I chucked up some steel bar in the lathe to make the top mounts for the crossmember play nicer with the brackets
feeling much better about the mounting surfaces now.
all that’s left is to drill some holes to bolt in the swaybar mounts, then I gotta order up the floorpans and pull the bed off to swap the rear end to the explorer axle.
Got ambitious last night with help from Mahoneybags and Checko. Hung the rack from the ceiling, got the bed off, yanked the stock rear end, and got the explorer rear end in. Can even use stock sized shocks!
You are making me feel lazy with all the progress you are making
I have that effect on people. lol. over the weekend I hoisted up the cab using some creative jack-work and did some measuring for the rear leaf springs. I’m unhappy with ride height at the moment and spending some time figuring out how to get it where I want.
Stock rear axle mounted beneath the leaf springs.
The explorer axle is mounted above the axle stock.
If I mount the explorer axle above the leaf, the truck is about 4" too low in the rear compared to the front.
If I mount it below, it’s about 2.5" too high.
I might take a trip to Brute Spring and see what they thing is better…making me new leafs 4" taller, or making new ones 2" lower.
It’s either that, or I drill out the rivets on the forward leaf mounts and move them up to the top of the frame and see how much lower that gets it with the axle below the leafs.
Another issue, is the explorer rear is narrower than the Crown Vic front… if I measure center of tire to center of tire, rear is 10" narrower. the tires would currently rub the inside face of the wheelwells on the bed of the truck. so, it appears I need to run some much wider rears with less backspacing. But I’d also like them to match the front, so now I’m super glad I only paid $40 for the steelies, cause I’ll probably have to buy staggered wheels to make it all work.
Can the front end be lifted? I’m guessing that’s a no with Crown Vic parts… Would be cool to lift the whole truck 2.5"
If I sourced interceptor front springs (higher rate) and some beefier shocks, it might come up an inch. but I’m OK with the height up front, just want to get the cab almost parallel with the ground, a touch higher in the back would be OK but not by 2.5"
Get that rake son!
Adjusted the front leaf spring mounts and got ride height where I want. Did some measuring, and for the rear wheels to be flush to the width of the front and also not rub inner fender, I need 9" wide with 3" backspace.
so, Diamond Racing has 16x10 ET -51 available at $165/ea in black powdercoated steel wheels. plus shipping.
or, summit has some Pro-comp wheels, 16x10 with 4" BS @ $96/ea, which would require 1" spacers ($24/ea) and extended studs ($13/side) which comes to $133/side total, with free shipping.
I’m probably just going to get the diamond racing ones to avoid fucking around with all that spacer and stud shit, even though it’s probably gonna cost $200 more. I emailed Diamond to get a complete quote.
I could get 15’s on summit in the specs I need, but if I’m stepping away from 16’s I’d rather be into 17’s all around but that’s even harder to get without custom ordering somewhere.
Burnouts.
So is the whole truck lifted 2.5" now? would love to see the stance get the bed back on!
the truck is probably around a 5" drop up front, and 6" drop out back. I’m ordering air-assist shocks that I can adjust via shraeder valve per load requirement anywhere from 20-150psi. It will be a couple weeks before the bed is back on. I’m going to pull the cab all the way off, patch the floors, bedliner the floor and bottom of the cab, chassis-coat the frame, mount engine/trans and most of the harness, run brake lines, THEN put the cab and bed back on.
PATINA AND BURNOUTS!!!
