Customs The Mild Custom Transformation, mama's 55

True, but the interior is all laying in the car and the trunk is completely full of parts.

 

The blocks came in early, so we jumped on it. We have done it 3 times now so we are getting pretty quick at it. We have it down to about 30 minutes. She starts on one side and I start on the other.

I am pretty happy with the ride height. Mama was hoping for more of a tail dragger stance, but I already have to let the air out of the tires to get them on. This is with 4” blocks. I figure the springs will settle also.

 

Did you make sure the rear shackles are “Flipped up”. The shackle end with the spring in it should be on top (positioned between the frame and the spring hanger). If I’m looking at your last pics right, it looks like you can flip the shackles.

 

Good catch. I can actually see they are flipped in the pic. That will give that taildragger stance Kim is looking for.

 

Dang. Good catch guys. It may be too low now. Luckily, I have the old blocks and we are quick, no biggie. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

You guys were absolutely correct. I flipped them and it is ridiculously low now. She loves it, but it is sitting on the bump stops on the axle. I removed them to see if it was at the bottom of the stroke. It basically is but there is only 3” of travel between the axle and the frame. I doubt very seriously if a tire would come out of there if needed.

I would either have to c-notch the frame or remove the blocks and go back to the 2.5” blocks, which seems to be the lesser of two evils. Good thing is, we have gotten good at it.

 

Looks good from here.

 

It’s perfect now.

 

If you have to change a tire, simple, jack it up flip the shackle change the tire and flip the shackle back and let the jack down!

 

You could switch to lug bolts instead of studs to get the tire on and off easier. Sits perfect now!

 

I thought about adding helper bags I could inflate to try and gain some clearance if I had a flat. Just keep enough air in them to keep from pinching the bags. I don't know much about airbags, to know if that is even possible.

 

How does it sit now that the shackles are flipped with no blocks? Mine is sitting at 17.5" to the center of the wheel opening with worn out stock springs and 3" blocks. Just curious in case I ever have to replace my rear springs.

 

Thanks. That is where he was with the new springs, shackles flipped incorrectly, and 2.5" blocks. Should be sitting nicely with the 2.5" blocks and the shackles flipped to the correct position.

 

I just bought a helper bag kit from Air Lift for my truck. Here's how they mount to my pickup, with leaf springs outboard of the frame. Not sure if this kind of application will work for you, but gives you an idea of how they work.

 

The real problem I have run into is the depth of the back side of the Wheel getting past the Drum. On my 57 Ford I narrowed the housing 2" and went to a 2" reversed wheel. No more problem. If I remember my numbers right I lowered the back on it 4.5" and did that without blocks and with Stock springs but then I generally don't do things by the Book. I tend to stay away from blocks due to spring wrap on launch.

 

Right now, the opening is at 16”, which looks awesome, but would ride like hammered crap. I’ll have the 2.5” blocks back in it tonight. I didn’t think it would take this long honestly.

 

C notch it! You know you want to!

 

So, here is the final ride height. She says it’s not an option to go any higher, so do whatever To make it work. Something is hitting on the down stroke, I think the bolts in the calipers are just grazing the frame on both sides. I may have to make some relief cuts for clearance. I have about 3.250” of clearance above the axle, so a C notch may have to happen. That’s with no bump stops at all installed.

 

So, we have been struggling with what tail lights to install. We have gone from Packard to Mercury Wagon, just about everything under the sun. We wanted something that looks like it is supposed to be there, but different from stock. Make people scratch their head wondering what happened.

The Packard lights are great, but probably beyond my skill level.

The Mercury Wagon tail lights are pretty dang slick, but they cost as much as a 4 post lift and would rather have one of those.

Mama and I started perusing the little books looking for old articles about tail light swaps and we found one that was printed in 1957ish when the 57 Fords were brand new. A guy had taken a 57 lens and cut it down to fit a stock 55 ring. That was our answer, so we started digging through my old parts and found a bunch of NOS tail light lenses I had bought from a hamber 10 years ago when I had a 57 wagon.

The trick was going to be how to cut them down without cracking them. So we decided to use an electric rope cutter. It’s basically a soldering iron with a blade.



Then she took a barrel sander on a die grinder to smooth off the melted plastic and finish up the final fit.

Here are few pics for comparison of the original and the 57 lens before she started whittling it down.

This is it after she took a hand file to it and smoothed it all up. We just need to use a soldering iron to make the mount holes and then I will final ream it to size with a dull drill bit. I have about 412 of those.

Not bad and I have about $20 in these total. Changed the look of the tail light but doesn’t look hokey. The best part was Mama did it while I changed the lowering blocks for the 4th time.

 

I did a quick Google search and see that there is a couple different locations for the Calipers on these. Do the caliper brackets bolt on to keep the wheel bearings/axles in the housing? If so can you just change the location by rotating the bracket to a different location? I've never had my hands on any 8.8 so have no first hand info on that.

 

It’s a 2000 Ford Explorer. As far as I know, this is basically it for mounting. They do not keep the axles in. They are like a GM 10 bolt.

 

So the caliper brackets are welded to the housing?

 

No Sir. They bolt on to a bracket. I can take some pics tomorrow.

 

Maybe just a little rotation of the way it's mounted will be the cure?

 

Let me wander back out there and take some pics.

 

Tail light treatment is trick! Way to be cool and thrifty... win win.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Here you go. It just grazes the side of the frame. It has taken off the paint, but not a lot of damage.

 

Brake lights look good! And, the ride height will be fine once it settles some. You wouldn’t want it any higher.

And, what are those funny looking drums in the rear? Mine has no issue with stuff like that crashing...

 

Yeah, but mine will keep me from crashing.

I still have to trim the U-bolts and paint everything. Just making sure everything clears.