Chassis Swap (1972 onto a 2002 Chassis)

[FoPAR]

Ok so decided to go all in and do a chassis swap. Some of you may have seen my post about the $500.00 parts truck I picked up a little while back,





and one of the things in the back of my head was to try this swap once I got the body out of the way.

















So now that’s done I spent last week mocking up engine mounts for my 460 (I got out of a 77 Lincoln) so it could mount onto the 2002 frame.
I cut out the cross member from the Lincoln Mark V and grafted it onto the truck cross member and the 460 dropped right in. The 02’s frame has two trany mounting positions and the back one was a perfect fit.


















With that done I moved my truck into the shop and took it apart.














Pushed out the old frame and moved the 02 in.










Did a test fit with just the bed first, pulled it back off and then put the cab up on it.









I couldn’t believe it but the front cab mounts were an exactly perfect fit. As you can see in the pic’s the bolts dropped right in and are straight.































The bed is about 3" to high so I will need to fugure out how to make it line up but It looks like I should have room to lower it by notching the bed rails.
Now the 02 was an extended cab and I have always wanted a short bed bump so I will have to cut down the frame and then the bed but I planed on doing that to the old frame before I got the 02 so no big deal. 23-1/2” will need to be cut out and that will bring the rear cab mounts up to the correct position. The 02 has disc brakes all the way around and a very nice ride so this should be a great upgrade for my old 72.

[elgemcdlf]

I don't want to be the one who let's the air out of your project but did you miss the insurance crash tests on that truck? 1997 - 2005 of that body style (extended cab) on a 45mph glancing collision to the left front always killed the driver. Other than that interesting swap choice. I know the cab landed on the front mounts are the fenders in the correct spot with the cab in that location?

[Hemp8709]

Nice! Patiently waiting for more pics and progress!

[FoPAR]

I don't want to be the one who let's the air out of your project but did you miss the insurance crash tests on that truck? 1997 - 2005 of that body style (extended cab) on a 45mph glancing collision to the left front always killed the driver. Other than that interesting swap choice. I know the cab landed on the front mounts are the fenders in the correct spot with the cab in that location?

are you talking about this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB0araA0T_k

Well i think that those years are kinda weak due to the fact there’s nothing for the front and back door to lock to. if you watch the vid it buckles right there where the doors meet....normally the doors would support the cab in a way that it wouldn’t crush around the driver. It's due to the lack of a B-pillar in the Supercab models. The lack of a B-pillar on the SuperCabs really was a stupid move on Ford's part, IMO. I believe a B-pillar between the front and rear cab doors would have improved the crash test results dramatically, not to mention provided less rattles and more tactile solidity. I don't have to worry about any of this because mine is not an extended cab. and at 45 mph we all would eat the steering wheel and be killed anyway from the lack of no shoulder harness. That was a horrible crash test result for Ford. I wish the IIHS would have bothered to perform the offset crash-test on the Regular Cab and SuperCrew model F150s. The Regular Cabs and SuperCrew F150s did great in the NHTSA's frontal impact tests. In the NHTSA crash-test videos of the 1997 Regular Cab and 2001 SuperCrew F150s appear to fare just as well as the 2007 model year half-tons did in NHTSA's tests.

As for the fender location no I didn't get a chance to put those up on it yet but I did take some measurements and the cab mounts were very close to the same location as to front wheel local. These pic's are not at the same angle so it's hard to show but you can see they are very close to the same spot.

[elgemcdlf]

That is probably part of the complete test. Ford spent their time and money in the frame not the body. You can't tell from that video if it ran outside the rail or included the rail in the collision. Interestingly enough on a straight on hit (head on collision) the trucks passed with flying colors. Git urself a volunteer to hold the fender up there ;^}

[FoPAR]

Went home for lunch and this is the best I could come up with (no volunteers)


Stock




Now (2002 chassis)



Looks like it will be just fine

[FoPAR]

I've been working away at test fitting things back onto the truck and happy to say the radiator core support and inner fenders went on without to much of a fight. I will need to drill holes for the rubber isolators that the core support sits on, but shouldn't be to hard. The fender & wheel look right as for how they sit. Also there is plenty of frame sticking out up front to work with for the bumper and ect.










The steering box is way up front so I will have to see if I can modify the shaft off of the 02 to hook up to the 72 column.




And here are some random shots under the truck.

[SoCalExile]

Tag for updates.

[Fordnatic]

Tag for updates.

Ditto. How the heck did ya score that parts truck for 500 bucks??

[FoPAR]

SoCalExile wrote:
Tag for updates.

Ditto. How the heck did ya score that parts truck for 500 bucks??

Here is the post about the parts truck.

http://fordification.com/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=59795

I'm going to test fit a few more parts and line up the bed real good then go under it at mark all the bed rails so when I take it all back apart I can C notch all of them. Also I will have to dive right in and grind out the frame welds here in this pic.



After it is separated at that point I will need to cut off 23-1/2" slide it back together and reweld it. I am at the point that I really can't do to much more without cutting the frame so might as well get it out of the way........ right?

[Joshpow]

Cool. Looking to see the final results!

[elgemcdlf]

Are you sure you only want to take out 23 1/2"? I thought I read earlier you wanted a short dump. Short = 6.5'? Another option is to build a never built by Ford extended cab bump to take up the extra length.

[FoPAR]

The bed is about 3" to high so I will need to fugure out how to make it line up but It looks like I should have room to lower it by notching the bed rails.
Now the 02 was an extended cab and I have always wanted a short bed bump so I will have to cut down the frame and then the bed but I planed on doing that to the old frame before I got the 02 so no big deal. 23-1/2” will need to be cut out and that will bring the rear cab mounts up to the correct position. The 02 had disk brakes all the way around and a very nice ride so this should be a great upgrade for my old 72.

.

"short bed Bump" bump is referring to the bump going all the way down the sides of our trucks so we call them "bumps" The 23-1/2" is the wheel base difference between a short bed 67-72 truck and the 2002 extended cab short bed. So cutting basically 2 feet out of the frame will make it match a stock short bed wheel base. Then I will take my long bed and cut it down to match the short bed specs. As for the extended cab bump I would need another cab to add to it and it would be cool, but not what I'm looking for.

[elgemcdlf]

Here is a thread you might find useful. He cut his longbed down to a correct short bed. 16" out of the front and 4" out of the back.

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 22&t=37897

[Ranchero50]

I'd slot the front cab mounts, then you can slide the cab forward a bit for better front wheellip fit and the rear cab mount rail will be centered over the frame mount.

Looking almost too easy...