Hi everybody, I just bought a 56 Ford Fairlane and didn't even saw her in person. According to the pictures it has all i'm looking for on the exterior. The car is missing the whole drivetrain and as far as i heard, also the most of the frame under it. I also have a 95 Lincoln Town Car frame sitting in the shop with all the goodies and a 4.6 / 4R70W combo that i plan on running with a 97 Mustang ECM. The web is full of panther platform ch***is swaps for all kind of cars except the 55/56 Fairlane and similar! Am i missing something? Hard to believe that no one ever did this swap. The car is not here and i would like the planing done before i start cutting and welding. Has anybody on here a link to a site that has attempted such a swap or done it? Any and all info is highly appreciated! Mustsed
You’ve been registered on the HAMB for a while, so you should know that we don’t condone frame swaps to modern underpinnings.
Yes frame swaps are frowned upon here but given where the OP is located there might not be a lot of options. Just saying. And as far as successful frame swaps check out the frame swap @Stan Back did. Just a thought.
I guess that i should give a little more info of the situation. First of all, i live in Turkiye where parts are not available and importing is more money then a commen human can earn in its lifetime. No parts and most probably this car would end up in a junkyard in a not far future. I am a Ford guy and the oppertunity came to get hands on this car, knowing that it was impossible to restore to oem specs but just to rescue this great drive. On the other hand i drive a 63 Fairlane with 5.0HO and 4R70W daily in town and between cities 600 km apart. When i first dreamed of a 56 Ford, my intentions have been, Astro van springs and blocks on the rear but thinks came different and this was the only 56 Ford, i can afford and save from the dirt. The upgrades are made to make the car relaible and economic to drive, gas is damn expensive over here. I posted this threat on the Customs prefix so not to offend any pure hot rodders (one i would love to be) and just looking for some hints i should be aware of before attempting this project. Hope this lightens things up a bit! Mustsed
First off, go ahead and move it to the off topic section if the mods don’t do it sooner. Second, there’s a guy over here that did something similar with a Lincoln. (I think) front frame along with the engine. It’s either in off topic, or on the Ford Barn, or both. The search function, or google should turn him up, and then try a pm. Good luck.
I have no input on the frame swap but I do have some info on the engine - ecu swap. It won't work without a lot of work. The 95 has a different ignition setup than the mustang. I have EVM manuals for a 95 crown vic and a 96 mustang. I also have a ecu for a crown vic that is of no use to me. I tried swapping into the 96 explorer harness that has the same pinout as the mustang with no success. The reason for the 95 was it's before anti-theft. The 97 mustang with have pats that will have to be disabled to allow for operation. Check the tread width on both vehicles to start. The ch***is can be shortened with a little work but if the width is way off, I would suggest using the drivetrain and electrics and adapting to the Ford. Be patient and best wishes.
I suspect the ch***is under the modern car is much wider then the 56 Ford will be. If this is your goal, you may want to consider replacing the sheet metal of the newer car with the sheet metal from the 56, and modifying that 56 sheet metal to fit. It will be much easier then trying to cut down the modern ch***is to fit under the original unmodified 56 sheet metal. That may sound like the same process, but its not. I'm purposing you leave the ch***is untouched (except maybe t******* the ends and shortening the wheel base) then adapt the 56 sheet metal to cover it. Picture it like building a model car. You have the ch***is (Ford has built that for you) then you stretch the body over top of the ch***is. In your case, you will probably have to modify the body to fit over the ch***is. A lot of the bodies that were modified to fit a modern ch***is don't look very good, in my opinion. I have done several frame swaps, putting modern ch***is under older sheet metal. It is a lot of work! There might not even be enough of the 56 sheet metal remaining to put a modified ch***is under. You need to be able to park both vehicles side by side and make some measurements to figure out how much work its going to be, or even if its something you have the skills and equipment to try it.
As written above, i don't know any dimension of the 56 so for now everything is just in my head. But i kept the Lincoln floorplan just to be safe. The wheelbase of the lincoln is 117.4 vs. 115.5 for the 56 pretty close. Shortening the frame isn't a problem when need araises. I am not a novice in swapping frames and have done quite a bit of them but this will be the first MY CAR and ı would like to make it right from the start. I also have a shop with enough equipment to do such projects. As for the engine, i got two options in my sleeve! First, i got a great running 5.0HO that i can use and second, doing the 4.6 lincoln engine with a 97 Mustang ecm and using Ryan Mccormick's wiring diagram to hook everything up. Have read lot of success about Ryan Mccormick's harness. My Mustang has a wiring harness according to his diagram and it runs as it should since years. Nothing to loose, if it doesn't work out, i change it to the eec-iv 5.0HO and use the USshift transmission controller as i did in my 63 Fairlane. The reason for creating this threat was to get some hints and guides to avoid mistakes that cost time. Thanks for inputs, Mustsed
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