77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

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yamahaguy2007
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77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by yamahaguy2007 »

Ok, here we go. This is the story of Baby Blue. The truck is a 1977 Ford F100 Custom short bed 2wd, the original drivetrain was a 351 modified with the c6 auto behind it. My parents purchased the truck in 2002 for an amazing $800 from a friend of my uncle to fix it up for my first vehicle. She looked ok with a few dings here and there but no major rust, needless to say I was excited!

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Sorry, I didnt think to take many before shots, I was kind of antsy.

After we brought it home we started the project of freshening Blue up. We started up front by pulling the front clip and drivetrain. As we tore the engine down we started noticing some major issues internally. A hard life of many miles on Penzoil had left the modified in sad shape to say the the least. At this point we didn't have the time or the money to continue the project.

So typical story, the truck has set for all of these years awaiting the right time for her reemergence. In 2013 my little brother and I set conversing over the bed of dust covered Blue in the shop, he then says "let's finish this thing!" So here we go!

A couple years ago my grandpa decided he was tired of paying insurance on his 72 F100 that he never used, so he gave it to me. It was a long bed with a LOT of rust in some critical areas but it did have a jewel under the hood, a 351 Cleveland 2v. He said he pulled it from a 70 Torino when the orignal 302 laid down. I decided at that time I had found Baby Blue's new engine. I won't even tell you what happened to the rest of the truck but I had no choice, I even shed a tear when I did it.

On to happier events! I had heard all of the hype about this Crown Vic ifs fitting so well on the F100s. After filtering through the forums and builds I decided that this was something that I could make happen with support from my wonderful wife and help from good friends and family. Next step, find that Crown Vic!

I did just that. One of the nearby small police departments had several Vics that were setting out in field. I could tell by the rear antenna on the passenger fender and the shiny plastic wheel covers that one was an 05. Bingo! So I did some tree shaking and found out that a local shop had purchased most of the cars including the 05 at public auction. I went down 3 blocks from the P.D. to a little shop where I found the owner inside. I asked him about the cars and what his plans were. He said he got them cheap enough that he was just going to scrap them all to make a little money, so I began to plead my case. We finally came to an agreement where I would pull the parts I needed myself for $250 and he would scrap what was left, but they were going to the scrap heap in three days soo I had to hurry. The next day I assembled a little crew and some tools and we went to work.

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Here is what we found when the shop owner thankfully made our job super easy by using a tractor to flip the vic. Jackpot!

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The front and rear out of the vic. I do plan to use both by the way. He even loaded them for us!

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Just the front suspension.

I think I have bored you guys enough for now. I will continue the story of Baby Blue a little latter. Thanks for sticking with me!
:woohoo:
Ford is the only option in this family!

77 Ford F100 Custom SWB (work in progress)
11 Ford Edge (wife's ride)
03 Ford Expedition (my ride since high school)
99 Ford F-350 Centurion (the barely used 40k mile trailer tugger)
yamahaguy2007
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by yamahaguy2007 »

Time for a little more of the Baby Blue story. So now that we had all the big parts rounded up it was time to make a plan of action and a concept of what we wanted. We knew we wanted a fun cruiser that we could take to weekend car shows but didn't want to sink a ton of money into it. We also want it to be safe and reliable with enough power to show these little ecoboost turkeys who's boss.

Blue has a pretty neat petina that she has earned in the last 30 plus years so of course we wanted to keep that history. A simple semi-gloss clear coat will be the paint job, nice and cheap as well! Old farm truck on the outside with no indication of what lies beneath! (evil laugh here) I mean we are in the 405, home of the original sleeper Farmtruck!

For the suspension we will put on the vic front end and mount the vic rear to the original leaf springs with a hanger flip. I don't see a lot of people use the 03 and up vic rear end but it was cheap, matches, and has the disks I wanted. I have measured and I don't see why it wouldn't work. Might be an update on that soon since it is my next step.

For the engine a nice rebuild with some nice power adding upgrades as we go along. This is where we started. I had a bit of day dreaming in the next picture where I sat the Cleveland in Blue just to see how it looked.

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We started breaking down the Cleveland and surprise! Tons of sludge!

After hours and hours of cleaning we made a parts list and ordered our first round of fun stuff.
-Lunati Bracket Master cam and hydraulic lifter set. Can send you the specks if you like.
-Edelbrock Performer intake
-Edelbrock 750cfm carb and matching breather
-New Clevite bearings all the way around
-New Lunati valve springs and retainers to match the cam
-New stainless valves to replace the factory two piece valves that were prone to breaking
-New timing set to get rid of the vinyl factory set
-New rings and just a quick hone. Cylinders were perfect.
-All new gaskets
-New oil pump (water pump was almost new)
-New electronic fuel pump and block off plate

After all of dad's little performance tricks and some Ford blue the engine was mostly complete.

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Bolted it to the newly scrounged c6 which we shift kitted for the first test fit.

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Shining diamond in the rough.

Next up, out with the old. Started with the old factory I-beams and trailing arms.

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Last look with everything still together. BTW the bike is a Suzuki GSX 1100.

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With a little tugging and some WD-40 we got everything off that we could unbolt.

For the next step I dialed up the cousin who welds for a living so we could weld in the brace between the frame rails before we fired up the torch.

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Got the brace welded in. A bit that we learned, just weld it in like you are going to leave it there. The tack welds broke mid cutting and we had to re square everything and bolt in a piece of all thread that you will see later.

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Time for some heat! Years of hidden oil accumulation in the frame rails revealed itself when the flame hit it. We started with the crossmember.

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Some of that oil I was speaking of.

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We used the torch to blow the rivets from the spring towers as well. Torch was the way to go here. Litte hot and very messy but made it pretty easy.

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With the crossmember out we took the torch back and cleaned up the pieces inside the frame rail to make room for spacers.

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After cleaning the shop we wanted to do a little teaser test fit of the vic cradle.

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Wow, what a difference this is going to make. I couldn't stop smiling at this point. I knew that we had made the right choice for Blue.

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Looking good.

I will try to get this build caught up to date as soon as I can next week. That work thing will get in the way im sure. Thanks you all for the warm welcome.
:woohoo:
Ford is the only option in this family!

77 Ford F100 Custom SWB (work in progress)
11 Ford Edge (wife's ride)
03 Ford Expedition (my ride since high school)
99 Ford F-350 Centurion (the barely used 40k mile trailer tugger)
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Coupe5oh
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by Coupe5oh »

Looks like a neat project. Keep up the good work. I have a soft spot for the blue and white. Drove a 75 in high school that was wind blue/ Wimbledon white.
-1993 Cobra #121, Black/ Grey leather
-1968 Mustang GT Fastback, Gulfstream Aqua
-1967 f100 pile of parts...
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by elgemcdlf »

A couple things come to mind. I am glad to see another Dent getting this swap. Most Dents I see are lifted. Next on the list you may not be aware of. This site has a sister site http://www.fordification.net that is devoted to Dents. You will probably get the most help here as Bump guys have done bunches of these. Dents and Bumps are the same truck from the firewall forward.

Dave at http://www.truckirs.com is currently working on a mount kit to put the MN12 IRS under a Dent. It might be something of interest to you. If you are not familiar with the rear swap you can check out my build thread. You are going to love how your truck drives when you get it driveable.
yamahaguy2007
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by yamahaguy2007 »

elgemcdlf wrote:A couple things come to mind. I am glad to see another Dent getting this swap. Most Dents I see are lifted. Next on the list you may not be aware of. This site has a sister site http://www.fordification.net that is devoted to Dents. You will probably get the most help here as Bump guys have done bunches of these. Dents and Bumps are the same truck from the firewall forward.

Dave at http://www.truckirs.com is currently working on a mount kit to put the MN12 IRS under a Dent. It might be something of interest to you. If you are not familiar with the rear swap you can check out my build thread. You are going to love how your truck drives when you get it driveable.
:doh: How did I miss that..... Thanks for the heads up! Your build is one I have looked to many times. Sweet truck!
:woohoo:
Ford is the only option in this family!

77 Ford F100 Custom SWB (work in progress)
11 Ford Edge (wife's ride)
03 Ford Expedition (my ride since high school)
99 Ford F-350 Centurion (the barely used 40k mile trailer tugger)
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elgemcdlf
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by elgemcdlf »

yamahaguy2007 wrote: :doh: How did I miss that..... Thanks for the heads up! Your build is one I have looked to many times. Sweet truck!
I just thought by posting over there as well you might get a few more guys interested.
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by yamahaguy2007 »

After a little more cleaning on the frame we measured the frame for spacers inside the frame. Made them a nice tight fit so they would hold themselves while they were mig welded in place.

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Cousin did an ok job on the welds...har har har. :lol:

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Looks like a professional did it!

Next up was to figure out how to mount the engine. The most logical choice I could see was to figure out how to maintain the factory perches. I have seen a couple others adapt them to the vic cradle.

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Here is what we were looking at. We needed to cut down the bottoms of the perches enough to slip a pad underneath that we could bolt to the crossmember. As far as front to back alignment it was pretty close. It amazes me how this vic setup just seems to fall into place it an old truck.

Once we cut down the perches it was time to cut some metal for the a - arm mounts and the motor perches. Luckily I have a wonderful neighbor with a plasma cutter. He said draw what you want and we'll get

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So with a silver marker I did just that. No making fun of my drawing here! :lol:

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This is what we ended up with for mounting pads. Still need to slim them up a bit and drill the holes for the bolts that attach them down to the cradle. As you might be able to tell, when we used the factory holes to line the perches up the one on the passenger side had to be drilled to allow one of the four main bolts to pass through. The other side wasn't an issue. This also set the final gap on top of the frame rail. Now I just have to make spacers for that gap.

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Here you can see it drilled through and the gap on the front bolt that we have to deal with.

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Here is the driver side. No interference here, just needs spacers front and back.

Next was the mount for the rear brackets on the a-arms. I saw several designs that including just welding the round part right to the frame, ones where the bracket was kept as well as the original angle, but I decided to keep the bracket but loose the angle and make it flush with the bottom of the frame.

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Turned out pretty slick in my opinion! With the support triangles and weld wherever we could get it I really don't think they will ever have an issue.

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Got some weld on the inside as well. Should be plenty tough enough!

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Trivia time! Identify this Ford engine! It's my baby for a special Mustang someday. Couldn't resist snapping a pic while I was close. :thup:
:woohoo:
Ford is the only option in this family!

77 Ford F100 Custom SWB (work in progress)
11 Ford Edge (wife's ride)
03 Ford Expedition (my ride since high school)
99 Ford F-350 Centurion (the barely used 40k mile trailer tugger)
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derbydad276
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by derbydad276 »

I used a 1971 400- 335 series engine in my build of my 67 used a 351m/400 4x4 rear sump oil pan and was able to set my engine alot lower
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yamahaguy2007
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by yamahaguy2007 »

derbydad276 wrote:I used a 1971 400- 335 series engine in my build of my 67 used a 351m/400 4x4 rear sump oil pan and was able to set my engine alot lower
Looking good! I don't plan on running any hi rise intake or monster breather so I'm hoping my height won't be an issue.

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The engine isn't all the way down, but close. Just to give an idea.
:woohoo:
Ford is the only option in this family!

77 Ford F100 Custom SWB (work in progress)
11 Ford Edge (wife's ride)
03 Ford Expedition (my ride since high school)
99 Ford F-350 Centurion (the barely used 40k mile trailer tugger)
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by elgemcdlf »

The lower the engine the lower the center of gravity. Lower the center of gravity the better the handling. If you can shift it rearward it will also help with handling as it helps to balance weight on each wheel.
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by yamahaguy2007 »

elgemcdlf wrote:The lower the engine the lower the center of gravity. Lower the center of gravity the better the handling. If you can shift it rearward it will also help with handling as it helps to balance weight on each wheel.
With your experience do you think it would be worth the extra cost to swap the oil pan and pick up to drop it lower? With the current pan it's only got about a half inch clearance between it and the cradle.
:woohoo:
Ford is the only option in this family!

77 Ford F100 Custom SWB (work in progress)
11 Ford Edge (wife's ride)
03 Ford Expedition (my ride since high school)
99 Ford F-350 Centurion (the barely used 40k mile trailer tugger)
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by elgemcdlf »

My 302 had a rear sump pan. When I swapped to the 460 it had a front sump. The headers dumped into the firewall. I switched to rear sump and got the engine about 3" lower. That allowed the headers to empty right above the cross member like the 302 did.

If you plan on running headers I would buy them and put them on prior to finalizing the motor mounts. That way you don't have to potentially rebuild your mounts after the truck is all back together.

Personally I would swap to a rear sump pan. More clearance is always your friend.
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by elgemcdlf »

Something else to think about is your steering sector shaft. I did the same thing with my 302 mounts since I wasn't keeping the 302. The left perch needs modified. Would be much easier with the engine out.
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by yamahaguy2007 »

elgemcdlf wrote:Something else to think about is your steering sector shaft. I did the same thing with my 302 mounts since I wasn't keeping the 302. The left perch needs modified. Would be much easier with the engine out.
On this note I did notice that I will have to cut a section out of that perch to let the shaft pass behind. Waiting till a better paycheck comes along to get my new shaft and joints from Summit, see how we can make it work. May have to do some playing around with the motor mounts and see if I can massage a little more drop out of em'. I would like to figure out how to keep a rubber mount though to maintain that isolation.
:woohoo:
Ford is the only option in this family!

77 Ford F100 Custom SWB (work in progress)
11 Ford Edge (wife's ride)
03 Ford Expedition (my ride since high school)
99 Ford F-350 Centurion (the barely used 40k mile trailer tugger)
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Re: 77 F100 Crown Vic swap project "Baby Blue"

Post by elgemcdlf »

If you are sitting on factory mounts you should be fine height wise. Trying to use factory mounts on the 460 was a nightmare. Once that idea was abandoned the issue of the oil pan came into play. You have a much smaller engine physical size wise.
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