Projects Crazy Legs My 54 Ford Build Thread - Old Custom

Thanks guys!

Paddy, the dang thing is so low the front tires rubbed the ducts really bad & wouldn't let the car sit on the frame so I hacked them off so they would clear, now I can actually turn the wheels almost lock to lock if needed with the frame on the ground lol....... not sure why I'd ever do that but what the heck I'm plannin on having a/c on this anyway & I figure worse case roll the windows down and open the wing vents

 

Hey there Crazy Legs, what a great looking car - I think you have a brilliant canvas upon which to build your custom, and you are doing an awesome job.
Thanks for posting so many pics, but please keep us updated along the journey.
Cheers.

 

crazy legs, car is bitchin' and great metal work, keep the updates coming....A+A+A+

 

That thing is gonna haul ass


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Neat car!

 

keep up the good work

 

Looking amazing with some really innovative solutions to the rear end.....!

More!

 

Lookin good...I love the 52-56 Mercs. I think I met you one day when your dad and his wife and kid {you?] came over to the Council Bluffs area to look at several 53-54 Stude coupes I had for sale at a buddy's farm. I really don't remember if John bought any of them or not but I don't believe so.
Really nice work on your merc...and I usually like hotrods, not customs.
Rocky

 

Fantastic work, I actuaklly like the stuck on Continental kit and I don't usually like 'em.

 

Great fab work. Can't wait to see this finished.

Also, what are those caps off of? I really dig them.

 

Liking the work you've done so far. May have to copy the 2 link and crossmember for my shoebox.

 

Really nice work. I hope you loose the piece of plastic on top of motor

 

Rocky, yep you've got the right guys, yes that was me as well.

the caps are 59 Dodge Lancer (crab or claw caps) - I removed the emblem & installed a chrome bullet to them.

Stay tuned on the finished 2 link, it'll change a little bit

I'm not a fan of the LQ4 engine cover either but it looks alot better than whats underneath it (truck intake) I figure the hood will never be open so the Ford purists don't shank me when least expected.

 

Maybe I can bring mine over and we could have a notch and bag party! haha

outstanding work man! can't wait to see it finished out

 

With an LQ4 you'll probably never NEED to open the hood.

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Lol, hey Custom Crestline, I wouldn't dare start hacking on you're car, its new compared to mine - I thought it looked great when I met you & I believe you're dad at the last Pile up!

 

Yeah that was my pops! Thank you, I really appreciate that. I still think I may bag it one day, I'm not sure really. I've got too much going on these days to even think about it!

But, I need to say that your car is on a whole different level. You guys are doing such amazing work, and approaching everything with so much thought and craftsmen ship. I can't wait to see it done.

You should PM me if you plan on going to a show near me. I might be going to Salinas this summer, and i'd suggest you think about doing the same if you can get your car put together in the next six months!

Its such a neat build, and its going to be one hell of a car.

 

Salina is the place to be!!! We've went for the last couple of years now and its awesome! EXTREMELY HOT! but still worth it.

That is the plan with my car, I hope to have it going and reliable enough to be able to drive it this year down there.

 

Excellent fab work! Hope to see this car around soon.

Walt

 

Update after the weekends progress,

I got the first coat of Nason Urethane 2k primer on the firewall, blocked out, & some of the waves & low spots & filled w/ Rage Xtreme filler (I’ll post up some pics later) – I also got the brake lines bent going from the master cylinder to the proportioning valve, sounded simple at the time, it damn near took me a day to do it cuz I figured out I suck at making double flares so I kept trying to bend 8” lines I bought work instead of doing it from scratch. lol

Here is a couple of pics of the welded in notch, the first pic is from the backseat looking down through the factory frame that’s slotted to show how the new notch slid into it, next step will be to support the back end body better cuz we are kinda worried what will happen when we chop out the body mounts that mount to the old frame.



These 2 pics are from the back of the car showing how the narrower notch goes back and ties into the stock frame, next is chopping out the old frame.

 

Here's an update,

The firewall after some primer and blocking



And here is the RF shock mount tacked in place and the I ran the braided brake line, basically this was the only option to put a shock since in front of the A-arm it interferes with the sidewall of the tire and behind the A-arm didn't work either cuz of the tie rod/spindle would interfere.... TBD if any of it works



I ordered all the parts needed for the panhard bar, when we get this done I'll post more, Oh and we are getting some more of the steering finalized but waiting on a 11/16-18 die so we can change the factory tie rod length and locations. Stay tuned!

 

Bag it and drag it <3

 

The car is coming along great! Hope to see ya driving it in Salina!

 

thanks guys, Todd thats the plan, not sure if it'll be ready but I'm sure trying

 

Here is the back side of the stock radiator mount/core support I&#8217;m working on modifying to be able to fit the full sized condenser, radiator, & dual electric fans from a 97-2002 Camaro/Firebird I&#8217;ve got.



I have to remove all this to be able to fit it all do it doesn&#8217;t hit the different pulleys on the engine



After realizing almost the entire support bolts in, and needing to fill in the original fresh air holes behind the grill in front of the tires anyway, I decided to remove the entire front sheet metal support, I think it&#8217;ll look better in the end and hopefully be easier in the long run. Here is 1/2 of it gone



Here is a better pic of the driver&#8217;s side inner wheel well; basically I wanted to show how I made the A-arm notches



Here is an updated pic of the Corsica/Beretta rack we are using. If your familiar with the stock Ford tie rod locations you&#8217;ll notice the 3/8&#8221; bracket my dad made has moved the tie rod end mounts to match the same pivot point of the lower control arm to help eliminate bump steer and with such a huge amount of suspension travel this has cuz of the bags we figure this all helps.



I'll post more pics ASAP

 

Dang it, I thought I said it already, but quit building super nice stuff. You're making everyone else look like hacks! Well, you're making me look like a hack anyway.

That shock mount is slick, everything about that front end is pretty slick. Let me know how that front shock mount holds up! It looks like a good solution to the problem of shock relocation.

Keep up the good work, and maybe see you at the end of july

 

Haha I agree! Although, you're also making me want to go out and work on my Ford, which is a good thing.

I almost did the same thing to the radiator support as you're doing. I still might, when I can afford a bigger radiator with better inlet/outlet placement, but for now my little Griffin seems to be able to cool off the LS with a single puller fan. Then again, I'm not running A/C.

Keep up the good work!

 

i might have missed it somewhere in the thread, but... did you fabricate the rack mounts for the frame? do they use the stock holes? i'm still kicking around the idea of a manual rack for my 54

 

Thanks guys!

Yes the mounts are all done buy us, we used the stock mounting locations on the rack that are encased in rubber. The drivers side is "D" shape with a male slot on the flat of the "D" to keep the rack from moving. And yes the drivers side is using the stock holes, but the passengers side doesn't, we are actually still working on finalizing that mount. This rack only uses the drivers side mount for all the locating, the passenger side mount is just to support the other side of the rack........ does that make sense?

I'll post alot more pics of that once we get it figured out.

One issue we are having is this is a powered rack and the way we have that tie rod mount, it contacts the 1 of the hard lines that goes back into the rack. We have actually thought about not making it powered and running it manual even though its a powered rack but not sure if thats a good idea'r yet. It would sure solve some issues and clean up the engine bay!

 

Looks Great!!!!!