77 f100 mod engine projet

[fbird71]

hello everyone have a new project that iv been working on here n there with no real motivation but finally inspiration hit and i'm ready to give this old school ride with a modern twist a try!

so the history with this truck is short, we purchased it off a family member that lived in Washington state and brought it down to California. its been sitting in the back yard for about 4 years and last summer i started working on her wanted it as a daily driver something about old pickups get me. Anyway i tore the thing apart and started by removing the front suspension and installing a front crown victoria unit had some sleeves welded in place had to get someone to weld for me because thats one thing i havent had much practice on, the guy who did the welding for me went to some school to learn about frames and suspensions(he builds bagged and body dropped pickups) and suggested i dont box the frame because it wasnt nessesary and i went with his advise even though it still bothers me till this day i just feel like i skipped a step. got some motor mounts tacked up on my on and had him finish the welding up for me so so the 351 could o back in. gave the engine a bit of a refresh and stuck it back in. got the motor runing but i was just not satisfied so i begin to loose interest in the truck and rolled it back into the side of the house for storage..

now fast forward a year and iv been itching to get back to it again! this time im going out of my confort zone and im going to try to build the actual truck i really want!

what i want is a 77 f100 with a 05 mustang drivetrain prefebly manual, cammed and lowered. body wise i want to leave it as is maybe make it look rusty and beat up, paint the engine bay the inside of the cab and apply spray-on bedliner all new/refurbished moldings and have a few ideas to give the truck some modern touches.

before i start tearing it back down to the frame i wanted to see if i could get some help here! i want to purchase a 05 mustang gt prefebly totaled and do a complete drivetrain swap. the idea is to have a good daily driver with ac since i live in the desert in california(palm springs) and since i can get the car for what astand alone harness from ford costs it seems like a good idea in my head but im sure im missing something or am thinking this is easier then it realy is.

first question is- will i need to modify the harness if i have a complete doner? or can i just swap everything from the car to the truck and modify things to fit as i go?
iv worked on a few of these mustangs and im somewhat familiar having swapped trannys, removed engines, and fixed issues here and there, but definatly not a professional. i know i will potentialy run into an issue with the pats system i do want to keep my original steering column but if i cam the truck i need to tune it and i can hopefully have the pats disabled my the tuner.

thanks ahead of time and please be patient as im learning as i go! i will post a few pictures as soon as i can find my camara!

[fbird71]

picked up a parts car, iv been spending all week tearing the parts car apart. pulled the drivetrain, gutted the interior, just need to get the rear end and fuel tank and then off to the wrecking yard, the idea is to modify the original harness while keeping some things like air conditioning, guages, and all power in the interior.
now im not sure if i can use the stock gas tank or not i figured if i can get it mounted i can later make some fuel lines this will save some money on the build.

[NorthFalcon]

I love the enthusiasm! Before anything else, do you have this truck registered now? The one problem I see you having is it a post 1975 vehicle which means you have to smog it. If you are going to continue I would definitely research some of the issues you may encounter and the process of registration for a drivetrain swapped car.

[fbird71]

I do have the pickup registed and im contemplating swaping the cab for a pre. 75 to save time on pattching floors and headeaches at the dmv later down the road but im waiting on more info from a buddy of mine who works at a dmv here in CA.

Im still currently stripping the car, al thats left is the A/C hoses, gas tank and rear end so hopfully ill have those out and get rid of the shell in the next few days.
Also some info on the drivetrain its a 3v modular engine out of my 05 gt that i swapped with an 06 engine and auto tranny because my fiance wanted to keep it and i saw it as an oportunity to swap my engine out of that car and into my truck! Its got a few mods like comp cams mutha thumpr stage 2 cams, K&N intake and filter, exeddy stage 2 clutch, and a tune so we have lots of room for improvement but at leadst ill confuse people with the cams theyll think i have a carburated engine in there!

I stripped the doner car very carefuly and saved all the wiring so it can be an easy swap, removed all the air conditioning items, and even the abs system which im not sure if ill use or not. The truck already has a crown vic front suspension so the swap will be a bit faster and easier then starting with a stock frame.

Im getting excited and wanting to order wheels already which iv decided a few years back that i want the AR407 im thinking 18x10 or 20x10 up front and 20x12 for rears, i want the biggest lip i can get but i dont know of anyone here that shortens rear ends so ill have to wait till i can get that figured out before i order them but as soon as i find somone to shorten the rear end im going to order some 4:10 gears to upgrade the 3:31 thats in there.

[wfo guy]

The earlier crown vic rear from 97 will be narrow enough to do what you want. Some have used an explorer rear but the 73 and newer frame is wider than the 67-72 and it would cause problems.

[fbird71]

I havent had time to measure what i need, but the mustang one seems a bit too wide if i end up getting the 20x12 i want the biggest lip i can get hopefully about 8” or 9” i dont think the 98 cv rear end would be what i need but ill do some reasearch!
Also i purchased some ridetech shockwaves abou 2 years ago for this project and i ordered the wrong size i read online that i can ship them back and get them resized for a fee and iv been emailing them through theyre webside with no response any ideas?

[wfo guy]

I used a 96 mustang rear in my 51. With a 3 5/8" back space wheel, the tires barely clear the box sides that are 4' inbetween wheel wells. This website has lots of info, just not a lot about 8.8's. http://www.enjenjo.com/9inch.html If you measure from the frame to the fender lip, you will have the 1st step in determining how much work will have to be done to accomplish your goal.

[fbird71]

measured the wheel opening available between the leaf springs and the inner lip and it measures about 17" so i should be safe running 20x12 with a 315/40/20 or a bit wider tire. for the time being im keeping the leafs against a 4 link because the price of getting the work done for the 4 link around here would kill the budget and iv welded once in my life on sheet metal thats one department i really need practice on!

[JohnJ@RideTech]

I havent had time to measure what i need, but the mustang one seems a bit too wide if i end up getting the 20x12 i want the biggest lip i can get hopefully about 8” or 9” i dont think the 98 cv rear end would be what i need but ill do some reasearch!
Also i purchased some ridetech shockwaves abou 2 years ago for this project and i ordered the wrong size i read online that i can ship them back and get them resized for a fee and iv been emailing them through theyre webside with no response any ideas?

Sorry that no one has gotten back to you, I will be more than happy to get you going in the right direction.
Feel free to contact me direct when you get a chance and we can see about getting the ball rolling on those.
812-481-4737

[fbird71]

finally got rid of the shell and had a few hrs to work on the truck. went ahead and removed the front end, properly drained fluids all over my driveway, pulled the engine and trans and a few things i wasn't going to re-use. swapped the 06 mustang motor mounts for 05 crown vic mounts and slid right in perfect fit only thing im going to modify is the transmission crossmember has to me pushed forward about 1/2" itll work where it is but id feel alot better if i bolt the tranny down in the middle of the crossmember. also gutted the interior down to the dash and wiring i realized that if i want to keep the A/C i have to cut the notch in the middle of the cab/firewall where the trans tunnel starts and make it flat with the rest of the firewall and hope the dash wont hit it when i bolt it back in!
also the rod that connects the steering column to the rack rubs on the manifold when i try to steer it so i need to figure that out!

[fbird71]

back on the project, so just to make it clear i DONT have any experience welding so dont make fun of my crappy welds! theyre strong i started mig welding them with no gas which was a disaster but once i bought a tank full of a25 it made it a whole lot easier. the welds arnt clean but theyre strong im going to be undercoating floor inside and under the cab and possibly the firewall so i wont even bother grinding it down, moving on i started cutting the firewall out so i could make it flat so the AC box out of the mustang will bolt on and fit without it protruding into the footwell area on the passenger side. i did have to cut a small area on the dash right in the lower middle that the center console will cover.

[fbird71]

the issues im facing are a few now, since i had already set up my steering connection from the column to the power steering assembly which was perfect with the old 351 that was in it now that i installed the 3v engine the driver exhaust manifold prevents the bar from spinning so i went ahead and bought a set of shortie headers and the issue is still there. it needs at least 1/2" of clearance i have 3 options, 1.smach the header tube till i have enough clearence, 2. make a half inch spacer for each engine mount and lift the engine enough so it clears, or 3. somehow slide the column down an inch and cut the bar shorter which is easier to do but i have no idea if i can just slide it down an inch or if its set where it is! another issue is the front shockwaves i have wont work for the front where they were intended to go so is it possible to use them in the rear and buy a aero universal bag for the front strut and go that route since buying new shockwaves isnt an option because of the budget.

on a good note i struck out on a set of wheels that i was drooling over a few years ago and after a trip to LA last week and a search on craigs got me for dirt cheap which is gona help the budget out a bunch! anyway ill try and post more pics looks like there will me more progress made this week!

[fbird71]

long time without posting, lost interest since no one replies lol makes me think my project is too low buck compared to the other projects so no one cares lol .
anyway, installed a new clutch, built a tranny crossmember, moved the firewall 2" forward so the mustang A/C box fit inside the cab, ran most of the wiring and now im installing a fuel cell and the rear axle, lots of work done

[RMMiller]

What did you end up doing with the steering shaft? Seems like it would be somewhat simple but it never works that way!

[fbird71]

I used a few u-joints? Conected with a DD rod, drilled into the rack conection to insert a bolt through it with threadlocker and did the same on the column side.

Iv been working alot on the truck im one month away from the wedding and starting to feel all the pressure with funds, wedding stuff and my fiance constantly reminding me i should have finished the truck already lol and to add to it my cousin asked if id do a gender reveal burbout with it in 4 weeks so no pressure!
Anyway, wraping it up so i can start it for the first time (in the truck at least) i still have to figure out the plumbing for the lower radiator hose, for the rack/power steering fluid reservoir, was going to skip air ride all together because of the issue i had with the shockwaves but went on a buying spree online and ended up purchasing everything i was missing so more work for me! Decided against painting the interior and im using some brown mustang seats i traded my fiancé for my boss302 recaros since shes keeping my car since its now auto and she said she felt safer in those because of the huge bolsters, just need to go buy door panels, headliner board and a dash pad and instal everything, hoping i finish in 2-3 weeks!

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