I need help! Novice restorer wanting to swap out Crown Vic IFS but I know it is significantly wider. Hope to adjust this problem with offset rims. Any advice would be appreciated thanks. This is my high school seniors truck and trying to get it finished before Christmas. Thanks.
Trying to use something that doesn't quite fit just because it's available is usually a bad idea. It ends up costing more in the long run to adapt it or accommodate it than it would have to get something that fits in the first place.
Have one in my 61 ford and despite the naysayers I love it. Though I think your chevy is narower than the ford, and the frame is narrower even so it wouldnt mount clean, and you'd have a real hard time getting enough offset to get tires under the fender.
I believe you were already told that it was a bad idea and a very poor fit on FB and possibly one more forum. Going from forum to forum isn't going to get a different answer on this one. I don't want to sound harsh but a bad idea is a bad idea no matter if you have a dead Crown Vic laying out beside the shed to rob parts from. As DRD57 said just having it available isn't a good enough reason to use it and make a mess out of the truck. Even with the stock cop car wheels you would end up with half the tire sitting outside the fender . There are just better ways to do the truck and not make a mess of it that ends up causing it to end up in the s**** yard.
Agree with the above comments. There is a thread where the OP actually cut up and narrowed his Vic crossmember, it is not a simple job. If you want/need IFS for the truck then look at the Jag. Plenty of great success stories.
Way too wide for that truck, what are you going to run, Olds Toronado rims and still rub the fenders? 49-54 Chevy car suspension, Jag XJ IFS, all sorts of kit options, even an S10 frame would be a better swap than the Crown Vic.
Mid 90's Crown Vic tread width was narrower than the mid 2000s. I forget exactly when they changed. A tape measure is your best friend.
It's very easy to become an expert destroyer. I've fooled with early 50s pickups for nearly 30 years. Forget the CrownVic, Jag, or even Mustang II and rebuild the stock suspension. There are upgrade kits available for the brakes if you so desire. With the stock front end, steering gear and components rebuilt you'll have a good driving and proven system. Don't fall for the magazine BS like a front end swap is a essential and "safe" upgrade. They can do this conversion in three pages or half an episode of a "reality show" but those guys are not novices and they have a unlimited budget plus a million dollar shop. Ask yourself this....What do I turn my 17 year old child loose in? A truck that was designed by engineers with a proven suspension system that is still in use for heavy trucks today.?? A truck literally hacked together by a novice from junkyard parts. Secondly, there is no possible way this "swap" will be ready by Christmas unless Chip Foose is your brother. You may be able to renew stock system by then.
Look into the Jag IFS If you have to have one. I believe that they are 59 1/2 inches wide. I have no idea how wide yours is. A lot of people here are not "novice restorers", they are Professionals that have done it, and feed there family doing it I would follow some of there advice.
I've built many of these trucks over the years in my shop and the Crown Vic is totally wrong for that truck!! The easiest thing is rebuild stock stuff plus there are drop axles, disc brake and power steering kits avalible but if you want IFS use a Mustang II based kit plenty of them out there and its been done a million times with good results.
I'm a pretty good fabricator and I would not attempt a Frankenstein job like you suggest. Maybe I'm lazy (or smarter in my advanced years). I'd look to stick with your stock ch***is.
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