Its been awhile since I got to work on the truck, and post. Life keeps getting in the way. My oldest daughter is getting married next month, my middle daughter is having surgery about the same time, we are updating/relocating our sound equipment at church and Ive been asked to oversee it, and we are getting a Creation seminar going for spring, hopefully. So Im a little busy.

So I got going this morning on moving the cab. I needed the jack stands, so it had to get set on some 4x4s and a rolling cart. Once the frame was level on the jack stands, we set out to mount the rack and pinion. This required the engine and bellhousing to be in place, so we worked on that also. We started the motor mounts too. We will finish the motor mounts Monday hopefully and make some transmission mounts. We got the angle for the rear-end too. With the intake at 3 degrees nose down, the bellhousing is 90 degrees. So we can set the rearend up now too. Not a lot of work done, but some big things are started, with the mind of finishing them soon. That will allow me to set the cab (after painting the frame) and started the re-wire and dash and steering column.

Still shooting to get it on the road by next summer.

Here is the steering rack mount.

Engine in place and centered and leveled.

Plenty of oilpan clearance. And about 1/2-3/4" between the rack and pan.

We will wind up c-notching the frame for the steering tie-rod ends.


You cant see it here as much, but it will have to be c-notched.

 

Not a lot of progress. It seems Ive been working on everything in the yard BUT Isaacs truck. I had to get the F100 brought to the house. Im trying to get it roadworthy. Its been a fight, but it has made it 3 trips around the block. Not bad for a 50 year old ford that sat for 15 years in a farmers yard.

I ordered some motor mounts and another bellhousing mount. They should be here in about 2 weeks, then I can set the engine, and then the cab. Then I can start some more work. Im still trying to figure out some questions on the 4-link. The upper bars are typically shown splaying outward toward the front. Or put another way, mounted close to center at the rearend, and as far outboard as possible at the front. But I have seen this opposite, and Im thinking this might be easier. Also the lower bars have a shock mount built in, but Im adding the uppers. Ive seen the shocks mounted inboard of the bars and frame rails though, and this also seems easier. Im still looking into it though. I dont know if there would be any negative effects from mounting the bars opposite or the shocks inboard. I know leaning the shocks changes their effectiveness, so Ill mount them vertical. Any advice on these might be helpful.

Hope to have an update soon.

 

I don't think it matters which orientation you mount the bars, (closer together at front, or rear...) the idea I believe it to 'triangulate' the mounts, so they also control side-to-side motion.

 

There are all different types of triangulated 4 links depending on the mount locations. With triangulated you don't need to install a track bar. Check out this link, It's more for 4WD but gives you a good explanation of things. Also check out the links at the bottom.
https://www.crawlpedia.com/4_link_suspension.htm

Here is a good source for 4 link stuff.
https://thorbros.com/catalog/4-link-...-bar-bung-kits

 

I have seen the rock crawler stuff, and read a ton on 4-links. Ive even seen the airbag guys reverse the upper bars and make them point backward. This makes the pro-touring guys twitch. Im still learning as I go. Im not out for just performance, but I dont want the truck doing weird things in corners either. I just thought it might be easier to make the bars attach in the center at the forward point, plus if the upper bars arent attached to the round portion of the pumpkin, I wouldnt have to worry about clearance issues with the bed and rearend. It would be easier, and give me more clearance. Either way, I hope to get a good start on it again in a few weeks.

 

We got the motor mounts tacked in. I went with the chrysler motor mounts from paul hortons welder series, p/n 254318. They were a little expensive, but they are very nice. Over the next few weeks, Im going to make some boxing plates, and some gussets for the IFS lower control arm mounts. We will finish welding the suspension and the motor mounts, and c-notch the frame at the tie rods. Then Ill clean it up, and paint it all. I might even paint the rack and pinion.

Im going to go with QA1 coil overs for a few reasons. Itll take awhile to get them, because they are about $250 each, but they are just too nice, and the shocks included in the IFS kit just look cheap and shady. The springs are also smaller on the QA1s, so itll fix several issues. I do have to address a few questions in the 4-link. Im going to call QA1, and see what they suggest concerning the upper shock mounts and cross members. Ill also add a trailer hitch to the back cross member. Hope to finish the frame in the next month or two.


Tacked in and ready. They will get a top plate and boxing plates on the side.

A little hard to see, but this view shows the clearance between the mounts and the steering. Motor will be in the same place.

Suspension is back out, and we will finish welding the suspension and motor mounts. Then Ill clean it up and paint it nice.

 

So we got some things dont lately. We got the front c-notch in place and welded. Stephen will go over it one more time, and Ill smooth it and paint it. But I went ahead and set the cab and bolted on a door, the fenders, and set the hood on to see how its going to look. It is very low. I like it, but it may have to come back up an inch. It is still higher than my car, and I drive it daily. So itll work, but we will see. Im going to set the bed next, and see about the 4-link. I also have to figure out the shocks. Im going with QA1s, which are great. But thats going to cost about $1200, and with all this corona virus nonsense going on, Im not spending money I might need in 6 months. We are going to make an educated guess on the shock height, and weld up some setup bars. Then we can finalize the 4-link, and weld it. Then I will make some stands to jack the truck up about 12 inches, so we can get under it to run the brakes and fuel lines.

So, less typing, more pictures...

Motor mount placement. Theses are the mopar motor mounts from Tim Hortons welder series. Very nice stuff.

All welded up. We also boxed in the cross member, and braced it. I smoothed all of this and we painted it.

This is with the first coat of the "magnet paint". Its a POR15 type of paint used by DOTs. It sticks like crazy, and stinks like crazy.

Cab in place. Looks good to me

The wheel tuck is great, to me. It does interfere with the inner fender skirt. With a different wheel backspacing that would go away. Im not sure what Ill do about it. Not a problem right now.

The money shot. This is how it sits. The fenders havent been aligned, and the door is off. The hood is just sitting in place, but you get the picture.

 

I also wanted to mention, we boxed the motor mounts. The picture above is not the final install. I dont have a picture of them right now, but Ill get one.

And a lot of my time lately has been spent on another project, which has me feeling very guilty. We have a 20 year old daughter, and a 17 year old, about to turn 18. I still help them with their cars. The 17 year olds ford taurus blew a head gasket last fall, and we have been killing ourselves trying to stay ahead of the vehicle failures. Its costing a fortune. Every car has 150k miles plus, and they are just tired. I had previously made a deal with a church buddy to buy his grandfathers f100, so we decided to bring it home, and make it work as a backup. Long story-short, it runs and drives, but not too well. Im still massaging it into a driver, slowly. It sat for 15 years, so its a work in progress.

This has been consuming my time and money lately. Eventually, it will get a v8, a crown vic swap, an auto and some better wheels and tires. Probably a rear disc conversion also.

 

Looks pretty good for having sat for so long.....

And I understand the 'kids are expensive' thing. All to well. My son finally got tired of asking me to help him fix his car (he lives about 600 miles away....) and went out and bought one with a warranty. He works on the Army base in Missouri, and has a good job, so, he can afford it. (he isn't in the service though, manager at the PX.)

 

Still making progress. Im taking it easy because the country is crazy right now over a virus. Dont know how things are going to go. Im still working, but its slow.

We finished the c-notch for the steering. I also sanded the front end in preparation for the final frame paint up front. Ill install the front suspension for good and then the engine. I need it in to set the pinion angle, and set the 4-link up. Im going to make some set up shocks. Hopefully itll be on its own weight soon. Then I can put it on jacks and install all the lines. I also installed the brake booster and master cylinder. Slow, but still moving along.

C-notch finished. Itll get paint soon.

Brake booster and master.

Goodies. Combination valve, adjustable proportioning valve, pressure switch and line lock. Getting ready to install these and run the lines

Upper rear shock mount. Im not welding it yet. Just checking it out.