Thread: 46 Ford front clip? 8.8 in rear?

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Ive got a 46 Ford Super Deluxe and it has a 2in drop axle in the front right now. Part of the deal of me getting it was that my cousin would take the drop axle. (because it was his car and he gave it to me). Therefore i need a new front suspension. I was thinking about front clipping it with a Ranger or fullsize Ford p/u front end, but im not sure (dont have the measurements yet). I dont know what type of vehicle would be best to use for the front clip. I want to go the IFS route, BUT i dont have the $ for a new Mustang II IFS. So im stuck with cuttin the front end off one vehicle stickin it on here. Ideas?

Also, im most likely ill be goign with an 8.8 rear because its readily available to me and i know others who have bult then and it seems like it would work with my application. Thoughts? Ideas? Advice? Criticisms?

The full size pickup will most likely be too wide and very heavy. Don't know much about the Ranger front ends. I believe some of the early model Rangers were twin I-beam. If you're going to all the work to do this I would use a better type of front end than that.

Most front clips I've seen were Metric GM. That would be 80's era B bodies(Cutlas, Monte Carlo, etc). S10's used this front also. 70's Camaro and Firebirds have been used too.

The 8.8 out of an Explorer will work. I considered one for my car, but used a 9" instead. The 8.8 has discs available also. I have Explorer discs on my car and they work well.

Mike

Thanks for the response and info on the brakes. And preferably id like to keep the car all Ford, which i know might make things a little harder. But its just something id like to do u know.

Much as I hate to admit it, wanting to stick to a Ford product for a weld on front stub is going to be somewhat limiting. The majority of the good parts on front ends were unibody cars. Might want to do some looking at and measuring on a Crown Victoria or Grand Marquis front end (mid 70's through mid 80's). They are rather wide, but so are the fat fendered Ford's from the last half of the 40's. Might require some jigging and narrowing to get a Crown Vic front underneath the '46, but they are allready setup for running a small block Windsor in them and have big front disc's and good suspension. On one of my Merc's I'm running a Crown Vic frame, worked out quite well, had to do some "adjustments" to the front wheel well opening to make the Merc body fit the chassis, but it worked out great. Got some pic's in my gallery (the red Merc) if you're interested....

The best part of using a Crown Vic donor car would be that with some searching you could quite easily come up with one that has the cop car options on it, bigger sway bars and brakes, some had 4 wheel disc brakes and a positraction rear end....

46Ford

To answer your question on swapping frames, I can only pass on second hand info.

I have heard that the mid 60's B-body GM products are very close to the track and wheelbase dimensions of 41-48 Fords. These were V-8 cars with decent(1960's) suspension and rearends. They also had triangulated 4-bar rears with coil springs. If you plan on running air bags, that would make it a lot easier. The downside is that these were front drum brake cars and most are going to need complete suspension rebuilds. They are also getting to be very expensive. You might find a beater four door Lemans or Chevelle cheap though.

As far as being easier to swap, that's the big question. Most likely the entire floor and trunk will need to be rebuilt. If you have good floors now I would be hesitant to cut them up. Your call. I'm better with frame work than sheet metal, you may be the opposite. Of course you also have the option of channeling the body when you do the swap. The bodies are pretty heavy too and you may need to move them around several times before you're done. Most people don't have that capability easily available.

One other option you have is to use stock MII or Pinto. I did that to my car because I was "bucks down" when I built it.

Even though they are uni-body cars the MII(and Pinto) has a crossmember that can be cut out and grafted to your frame. That is the "old school" way to do the MII. It was done that way for many years before someone got the idea to sell pre-made crossmembers. The frame has to be notched on the inside for the crossmember slide in and the frame needs to be boxed. You will need to c-notch the bottom to clear the steering rack and brackets will need to be fabricated for the MII strut rods. Don't be tempted to bend the struts to fit as some have done in the past. Build the brackets to fit the stock strut rods. Too many ways to screw up the geometry if you bend them. The advantage to using this front end is that most of the original frame stays intact so other that inner fenders everything still fits(body wise) as it should.

As far as the rear suspension goes, parallel leaf(Hotchkis type) is easy to fabricate and doesn't require cutting up the rear of the frame or body.

Also, no matter what you do to the front end, remember to mark the center line of the front axle before you remove it. I bought a 46 parts car one time that had the wheelbase 4" too long because whoever had installed the MII had put it where the original crossmember was. The 41-48 cars had the axle behind the crossmember.

Thanks for all the info and advice guys. I appreciate it.

Do you have to give up the beam axle? If I were you and really had to give it back to cous, I would look for a replacement beam set up from someone upgrading to independent. I have MII under my 46 and it is really not THAT much better than a good beam axle set up correctly. If you look at sites like this one and Fordbarn you will sometimes see such a deal. Good luck which ever way you turn. Joe

I agree with Slowpoke, horsetrade Cuz out of the axle that's already under the car. Buy him a new one if need be, cheaper and better than most clips anyway.

Originally Posted by R Pope

I agree with Slowpoke, horsetrade Cuz out of the axle that's already under the car. Buy him a new one if need be, cheaper and better than most clips anyway.

Im trying to negotiate with the cous, but negotiations arent goin so well. And what sucks is that the front in the A is about 2in narrower than the one in the 46, and the rear is about 5in narrower in the A than in the 46. So their damn near useless to me when he takes the parts off the 46.

Also, as far as a front end, the ONLY reason that i wanted to do an IFS is that i wanted to put air ride on it. BUT, my woman is trying to talk me out of it saying that since i already have air ride on my truck, why not just drop this one and call it a day. I guess i will still need to negotiate with the cousin and see what he has to say. But i do know that the 46 sits wayyy to high right now lol.