Plans for the next build

[Willowbilly3]

I got this 58 and 60 F100 pickups last spring and have been itching to get started. I would not start that project until the hotrod was done and it now mostly is. So also I have been giving a lot of thought to the direction of the build. At first I thought about a Crown Vic front frame stub and the 302 I have. Then lately I got to thinking I should put an Aerostar front suspension because I could keep the stock frame, much easier. So I am under my Aeorstar measuring and get to thinking, why not use an Aerostar all wheel drive front and make it a nice low 4x4. You see this will be my daily driver and I want it low for easy access to stuff in the back, not have to crawl up inside to fetch things. And good fuel mileage gets me to thinking a 4.6 mod engine. Then yesterday I come across a rolled Expedition for a nice price and think, hmmm that whole chassis would be nice, torsion bar front so I could lower it. Only thing is the Expedition is about 4" wider in the track. So that's as far as my train of thought has gone, except I suppose the rear frame on the Expedition is humped up so a bed won't set over it.
Frame swaps generally turn out looking like crap but I might be able to pull it off. Then again that good used 292 I can get for $100, go through the stock brakes and have a driver might still be the best way to go.
Feel free to comment, hit me with a dead fish, commit me to the Henry Ford clinic, do an intervention....

 

[Dirtyrat]

I vote for the aerostar awd setup, would like to see something different!

 

[sawzall]

I'm with DR Aerostar AWD the 58 would look great with that setup. it might even start a AWD RAT ROD movement.

 

[Sam_Fear]

I like the AWD idea too. Probably not a bad idea to have it in your winters.

 

[Bamamav]

didn't some of the explorers and Mercury Mountaineers come with the AW D?

 

[Willowbilly3]

Yeah but they all have the ITT front end, the modified twin I beam affair.. I'm not sure what T-case I'd use, maybe a conventional 2 speed type. The auto engaging one from the Aerostar is nice in the winter but low range is nice sometimes when you get off the road.
What I'm thinking is a 4x4 that doesn't look like a 4x4. Maybe even a couple inches lower than a stock F100. I like a truck I can get stuff out of the bed without crawling up in the bed.

 

[Bamamav]

Not so! The newer ones thave torsin bars with A arms, about 99 and newer.

 

[Willowbilly3]

That's good to know, I thought they had a arms but my freind who works at a Ford garage (and has been known to be wrong) told me they all used the ITT. Maybe I need to look for a late 302 Exploder/mountanineer and get a good 302 in the mix.

 

[Bamamav]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think when they went to the IFS, they started using the 4.6 in the Explorers. I've got a 99 Ranger 2wd, and it's IFS with the 4.0 V6.