Richard D is correct,...Speedway, as well as Chassis Engineering sells bone splitting kits, as well as the things to mod the "X" for the later model trans. Keep us posted !!!!! 4TTRUK
Thanks 40FordGuy! My grandpa and I used to cruise around all over the place in it when I was a little kid, so it's an expense of love and a great way to relive the past and honor his memory. The frame on this one is superb. It's been in a dry barn for most of the last 30 years. Sadly, the little 283 isn't in as good of shape. I had Classic Street pull the heads to chk the bores for a bottle brush hone rebuild since it only had 70k miles. Looks like one of the head gaskets rotted through and deposited some mud in one of the cylinders. It's gonna need to be bored and that's gonna make it cost as much as a brand new crate 350. Seriously bummed, but I can't justify the expense when I can get as much horse power and more tire burning torque on 87 octane. Grandpa would not approve. The 283 is for sale in a now confirmed condition - turns over by hand, has an untouched small journal forged crank with a corvette casting number block, and all the typical Super Turbo Fire 230HP goodies and accessories including the generator, distributor, and rams horns. Plenty of meat left for rebuilding. Prolly gonna drop it on Hemmings for someone's '58 Chevy restoration. On a positive note, hauling it in for sand blasting on Friday, then a Por 15 coat on the frame. Body work and chassis work will happen simultaneously, so that should go pretty quick. Do any of you Ford in a Ford guys have a good original firewall for sale?
I don't think either of these were addressed. Keeping the wishbone in tact keeps the simplicity of the front end geometry setup in tact and saves you money and work. If you can fit the tranny in there without splitting the bones, you just saved yourself time and money. Yes, you can reverse the eye of the stock spring. There is a pretty nifty thread on the HAMB, showing a "how to" on using a jig and hydraulic jack to reverse the eye. By doing so, you move the mounting point of the spring upwards an inch. If you choose to do this, I would recommend getting some of the spring slider material from MAC or Speedway, to put between the leaves. The downside to reversing the stock main leaf is that geometrically speaking, by flipping the leaf over, it actually causes the eyes to be wider spaced and causes more downward pointing shackles, which will equate to a bit more bumpsteer. That being said...my coupe has a main leaf that was reversed, as described, and my truck has a correct width reversed eye spring from Posies. Both drive nicely. Next question...why the firewall and floorboard? Did I miss something?
More good news this evening - getting not one, but two complete '96-99 8.8" posi Explorer rear ends for $300 thanks to my neighbor across the street that has some good junk yard connections. They're gonna be pulled and ready to travel for that price plus some tax. WIN. Firewall and floor board: Well, the stock firewall is swiss cheese with a large chunk cut out on the passenger side and then patched with another chunk of sheet steel. Not pretty. Unfortunately the forward floor pan is rusted through in several places along the edges of the raised stamps and the trans tunnel cover was ungraciously molested to accomodate the 3spd floor shifter. The whole purpose of sticking with the SBC was to maintain a stock firewall, so I'd sure like to find a good one that's been discarded.
If you stay with I beam axle - don't replace your with a cast one! Have yours dropped - Your 70 year old one is forged !
I'm quickly moving away from the M20 idea (which seems very involved) and moving toward the 350/350 - which really sucks. I wanted a manual shift. Maybe I should keep the 283 so I can go with a WC T-5 with an S-10 tail? Too many decisions. Open to suggestions. Thanks!
Ditto stick with beam axel.... LOTS of goodies out there, priced right, and new ! keep us posted....... 4TTRUK
Def keeping the beam axle, prolly stock with a reversed eye spring. Seems the easiest route and I can always change it up later. My current concern is which 8.8 axles to grab tomorrow. If I go with the 283/T-5 I'm def going 3.73. If I go 350/350, I'd be better off with the 3.27. Guess I should try to get one of each...
On my 40 Panel Truck, this is what I've got so far........ Stock 40 front end complete with CE disc brake conversion and shock mounts. I got this for free when my friend put a MII under his Coupe. From the same friend I got an original 40 column and steering box out of a low mileage 4 door he parted years ago(free) that is tight like a new one and still wearing nice original paint. I got a 4" drop, chromed Super Bell from another friend for $300 brand new, I found a CE Wishbone split/ TH350 mount in my truck after I bought it that I'm gonna bolt my T-10 to. Called Pete and Jakes and talked to Jerry Slover and he hooked me up with the correct NON-reversed eye Posies spring for my axle and wishbone split.($250) and some dropped steering arms ($80 IIRC). In the rear, I've got an 8" rear (free) that i am hooking up with a Posies Parallel leaf kit(around $600 IIRC) I am going to use the stock 40 pedals with a speedway master cylinder and fab my own clutch linkage. I'll be running a 283 also since building the 348 that I got for it is not in the budget right now. Another big way to save $$$$ is to become an Alliance member! Pete & Jakes is a vendor and I got free freight from them! That alone would have cost more than the Alliance membership and you get to support the HAMB at the same time!
BTW the local Ford rear end guy here quoted me $450 for a completely gone through 8"(that he would supply) out of a Granada with a 3.25 gear that he recommended. With the low 1st gear in the trans I'm running, the 283 will run on the highway all day.
Some pics to share; Classic Street found some cancelled checks from Union State Bank in Florence circa 1948 under the seat (a fold of them being used to raise the seat actually), and here's a pic of it loaded on the trailer last Friday when I took it to the sand blaster. Should be done there by end of the week, then it goes in for paint on the chassis and work on the body. Decided to stick to my guns on the manual. Checking on pricing to build out a 500hp T-5, and also still considering building up the 283. Anyone know any good builders (at a reasonable price) around Austin, TX? Best, Trey
Give the Ford 8.8" a good look,....They usually come with the "hat rotor" disc brakes, and, the Explorer e-brake cables can be used "as is" by running the cable from the handle, along the driver side frame rail...... 4TTRUK
I grabbed a couple of the 3.73 geared posi disc brake 8.8s from Harold's this weekend, both under 150k miles out of V6 Explorers for $300 plus tax and they pulled 'em for me. My cousin is working on preping them now since we cleaned them up after Easter dinner on Sunday. He's got the plugs out of one short side, but having trouble getting the tube out with a bottle jack, so we'll prolly run 'em over to Austin Drive Train to get them pulled and welded. We're gonna pull one short side and one long side, swap 'em, then end up with a 57" rear end for the '41, and a 62" rear end for his Camaro. I'm trading him the other rear end to do most of the work. What a deal!
Here's an album link to the pics I took before we started - some of you guys might get a kick out of this: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/21814020_bwVKw7 Trey
My '41 pickup runs a dropped axle, split bones, triangulated ladder bars, transverse springs front and rear, with tube shocks. Saginaw box, GM disks front, Ford drums out back (8" rear). The poor old girl is pretty rough, and the combination of well-worn 327/350/tall gears/tall (30") tires makes it not a rocket by any means. But it sits right on its 15x5 and 15x8 wheels (165 and 265 tires) and is fun to drive. I drive it daily. I hope you have as much fun with yours.
Can some of you guys comment on the 302/351w in this application and why you decided against it? I have access to a wrecked '86 Capri with 80kish miles and a running motor for pretty cheap. Thinking about using the short block and T-5 with some new pistons, different heads, and a carb set-up but not sure if it's worth it. My understanding is that the SBC fits like it was made to go there and the SBF takes quite a bit of work, but I'm thinking with the Fox oil pan and since I have to replace the firewall anyway, maybe it wouldn't be too bad? Thanks!
Here are some pictures of my '41 project for comparison. It has a Sid's dropped axle that is stretched back to the original width. The axle is tied to a Posies reversed eye spring. If I had to do it over again, I think I'd use the narrower dropped axle from Sid. I think I will put a spacer above the spring to gain a little tire clearance. I used Chassis Engineering shackles and their tube shock kit. The shocks hit the tire so I'm going to have to change shackles. I want to note that the instructions provided with the shock kit warned that there might be a clearance problem. Depending on the combination of parts used there could be a issue.....I used a combination that created the problem! I have absolutely NO Problem with Chassis Engineering components. The truck has a Chassis Engineering rear leaf kit which was avery simple install.
Quick update: swapping axle tubes on the 8.8" has proven to be impossible thus far at home. My cousin and I have broken parts of 2 hydraulic body rams trying to pry them out of the center sections. Also looking like the bored 283/T-5 combo is going to be the ticket for the path of least resistance. Sandblasting was completed last month and all panels are at the body shop. The Por 15 sprayed frame is also done and currently sitting in my back yard. Need to get my firewall/floor metal ordered and over to the body shop - and need to get my CE chasis components ordered and over to Custom Street along with the frame so they can get the chasis rolling. Too bad work is kicking my ass so hard right now or I might actually have time to manage everything properly. Trey
Looks great! I'm planning to use a new CE reversed eye spring and front end kit for a 1" drop, but keep the stock axle as-is. Do you think it would have been any better if you had kept the stock axle, or would it still rub? Thanks, Trey
On my truck and boy have I been dragging my a--! '36 dropped axle (Sid's damn good! It's narrower) Stock '36 spring we reversed ourselves (so easy) Lowered round back spindles that were re-bushed (Okie Joes) Raised front crossmember '56 drum brakes 16X5 rims '36 unsplit bones 283 with 327 crank, 3x2 carbs T5 with S10 tailshaft Won't need to split the bones if you move your block were you want it. Plenty of room upfront for a 3 core radiator mustang style or walker. I may need to add one or two leaves back to the spring pack. Out back is a parallel leaf set up ala MJ40s tech Indstructable 8.8 axle Still fabbing my firewall and floors from scratch, pan hard bars, and maybe sway bars.
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