anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

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NUMA NEWBERN
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Joined: June 9, 2013, 3:58 pm
Location: South Of Atlanta Ga.

anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by NUMA NEWBERN »

Have the suspension out of f100 1965, have been thinking about a updated one from the aftermarket companies like SCOTTS, FATMAN etc.
Considering the bolt in units
ANYBODY done one of these conversions? Your opinions about such?
There is so many companies/brands out there I can't seem to make a good decision on WHY one is better than the other
thanks
aarons428
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by aarons428 »

Boy you just opened up a can of worms!!!!!!!!

What will you use the truck for!!!! If you use it as a work truck stay with factory style. if you just cruise around with it pick your poison!!

What will your truck weigh? Mine only weighs 3600lbs. you can get by with almost any aftermarket system if you weigh 3500 or less.

You will get all sorts of opinions on here from new style crown vic, old style crown vic (full frame or front stub), Dodge Dakota system, mustang II, torino front stub(my truck), Camaro, full frame swaps of newer trucks, and the list goes on!!

Truthfully use what YOU want or you can afford to get the most out of it you can.

This is just my opinion!! Have fun with whatever you choose.
2010 Ford Edge
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11.96 sec @ 110mph 1\4mile (best with the 428)
luckystiff
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by luckystiff »

yep as above lots of options.. my personal favs are 1) Jaguar XJ of course since thats what i do. i've actually been waiting for a local guy to bring me a 66 to do jag swap in(possibly bagged). i do jag swaps installed for about what one of those bolt in kits cost....... 2) Industrial Chassis Dakota Crossmember. Steve makes a damned nice product and actually does research on what he builds not lets just see how much stuff we can cram a mustang ii in. 3) Flat Out Engineering C4 corvette crossmember. and 2 and 3 are a REAL close tie and would be based on what your overall desire for the truck is. 4) 2nd gen camaro but probably not what your looking for if your talking bolt in in any way since not only is it not so but it actually requires cutting your front frame off and grafting the camaro to it. 80s/90s crown vic is also a good choice if doing a graft but unless i had one sitting in front of me free or near free i'd probably do the camaro. 5) Porterbuilt has the bolt in kits for these trucks but i hope your wallets FATT. and another local shop that loke me does jag in his personal stuff and has installed a few porterbuilt set ups and the owners told him they wish they knew about the jag swaps first. esp when he told them jag swap cost half or less than porterbuilt. 6) Mustang II if you must. i haven't used a bolt in kit like the Scott's but have heard decent enough reviews on their product, but again the bolt in version cost about the same as the JW Rod Garage kits i prefer AND a Professional install. so other than getting to do the bolt in install yourself it really ain't saving you much....ken.....
luckystiff
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by luckystiff »

oh and i guess theres the volare/5th ave but some parts are getting hard to find...

03-10 Crown Vic is low on my list because it being 5" wider than the stock front it requires you to usehigh offset fwd type wheels at least 16s and limits your wheel choice. i'm a wheel whore. i have actually changed wheels on a car 3 times in less than 2 years just because. if you don't mind these limitations it's a great donor....
69supercj
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by 69supercj »

As for the Crown Vick swap, talked to a guy over the weekend at a show that narrowed his and then swapped it into the vehicle. Said it worked like a champ and didn't have to use funky offset wheels.
bruceandersson
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by bruceandersson »

The easiest and cheapest upgrade is to go with 73-79 components to get power disk brakes and power steering. It won't win and autocross, but stops and steers much better and is designed for a truck.
luckystiff
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by luckystiff »

69supercj wrote:As for the Crown Vick swap, talked to a guy over the weekend at a show that narrowed his and then swapped it into the vehicle. Said it worked like a champ and didn't have to use funky offset wheels.


it can only be narrowed 2.5" or so. so you still have to be choosey with your wheels. and i could be wrong but i'm pretty sure if you narrow the crossmember you also have to pinch the frame rails to match. i know the cv in my buddy's 65 the mounts fall dead center on the rails in stock form. wouldn't be hard to "step" them inwards and box.

but most people looking at "bolt in" options certainly aren't set up to narrow an aluminum crossmember.

again i can do the same with jag as any of the possible options and typical install is usually between $1250-2500 depending on what your goal is, standard 4.5" of crossmember straight to frame, crossmember notched into frame to get lower like in my uni, bagged, frame Z'd and bagged to lay out,etc. lots of options. i tell people how i can do the job and save them money. i no longer need front clip to set centerline so bringing me the truck with front clip off and engine/trans pulled can save them money. the only time any of that needs mods is if the frame gets Z'd the inner fenders need trimmed and of course motor mounts need to be made to suit and trans crossmember as well.
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Toyz
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by Toyz »

Although the Crown Victoria components are quite robust, narrowing the crossmember is not only a bunch of work, running a wheel with less than the original 38 mm offset COULD result in premature bearing wear or failure. Seems like a bunch of work for that sort of compromise.
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theastronaut
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by theastronaut »

I would say that No Limit Engineering has the best front clip and it's built specifically for a truck. Look into their history with trucks and what Rob's been doing lately with their product on the GoodGuys autocross series. I bought their rack and pinion kit for my '66 C10 and it's really nicely built. Their front clips are complete with rack kits and brakes, and Rob has found one of the most effective brake packages out there without breaking the bank and still being able to fit 15" wheels. They're not the cheapest but look at what you're getting compared to other "universal" clips.

http://nolimitengineering.com/products# ... d=26244394

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NUMA NEWBERN
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by NUMA NEWBERN »

THANKS a million for all the suggestions, well the crown vic & those type setups are out based on my lack of expertise & LAZYNESS, so I'm looking at 1st Bolt in setups due to the fact one of my 65s I had disassembled the front end to TIME myself & see what parts needed to rebuild by daily driver which I ended up paying another person $600.00 labor to rebuild the front end along with installing the disc brake conversion, someone suggested I think the fatman setup, which I will look into.
Now looking at Heigths bolt in setup.
NUMA NEWBERN
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Joined: June 9, 2013, 3:58 pm
Location: South Of Atlanta Ga.

Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by NUMA NEWBERN »

MEANT to say THANKS for the NO LIMIT info, so many choices.
NUMA NEWBERN
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Joined: June 9, 2013, 3:58 pm
Location: South Of Atlanta Ga.

Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by NUMA NEWBERN »

Thanks for the Porterbuilt info, had never heard of them, BUT they are for straight axle stuff.
luckystiff
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Re: anyone UPDATE STOCK 65 SUSPENSION WITH AFTERMARKET ONE?

Post by luckystiff »

i think Porterbuilt is working on the 65-72. don't know where they are with it. with a twin beam truck getting the old stuff out is 1/4 ot more of the job. 61-64 is soooo much easier. i can drop the stock stuff out from a 61-64 and have it prepped for whatever donor in an afternoon. getting to that point with a 65-66 to get to the same point. neither are hard.
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