1972 F100 CV & Mark8 swap

[Dylan68]

Project looks good. Wrench when you get the chance!

[jamesdfo]

I noticed back on pg 1 mention of wheel adapters, but if I recall correctly, the hubs from the Mustang IRS, which are 5 on 4.5"can be made to work on the Lincoln/T-bird/Cougar IRS.

James

[drc9723]

It's been a while since I've posted. I haven't done a lot to the truck in the last while. Been collecting parts and working at some small things as time allows...

I noticed back on pg 1 mention of wheel adapters, but if I recall correctly, the hubs from the Mustang IRS, which are 5 on 4.5"can be made to work on the Lincoln/T-bird/Cougar IRS.

James

I did pick up a set the the Mustang IRS hubs to install in my Mark 8 IRS. (have yet to get that job done)


With my truck being an original 3-on-the-tree and the plan being to run the 4R70W auto trans, I need to do some things with the steering column and pedals. I pulled an auto column from a junkyard 1973 F100. I rebuild the column, it needed new bearings and turn signal switch. (swapped the wires to make it plug and play with my 1972 truck). I prefer the look of the older 3-spoke steering wheel from the pre 1970 trucks. I found a used one from a 1968 f100, it wasn't in great shape, had some cracks. I cleaned it up, ground out the cracked areas and filled them with some epoxy, sanded and painted the wheel. I'm happy with how it turned out. (unfortunately it seems I forgot to take any before pics of the wheel)

Here are some before and after pics of the column;

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[drc9723]

I also grabbed a brake pedal and booster assembly from a 1975 F150 while at the junkyard. I like wider factory automatic pedal from the dentsides. (I'll use it instead of the narrow brake pedal in my truck). I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing for brake booster, but the cantilever booster brackets and linkage may come in handy.

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[drc9723]

Not being particularly found on the plastic grilles of the later bumpsides, I found a 68/69 steel grille online, so i grabbed it. It's really straight, but has some surface rust. It could easily be made to look nice.

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While at the junkyard where i got the steering column and brake parts, I found an aluminum grille from on a 1969 F100 that had been hit in the front right corner. The grille was bent, but I thought it could be saved. The price was right, so I took it home too, to see what i could do with it.

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I am definitely not a bodyman, but I was able to get it fairly straight. I'll play with it more, when the front clip is back on the truck. I don't need it to be perfect, this truck will be a driver, not a showtruck.
I found a decent right side headlight door online, since the one from the grille was missing (probably wrecked when the truck got hit). It's not 100% right, it's from a 1969 Ranger grille (black paint and a ridge in the aluminum around the paint). It'll work after I get of the paint removed tho.

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I'm not sure which way I'll go on the truck, painted or aluminum. I'll try both, to see which look I prefer. I am definitely going with a painted front bumper, I'm not a shinny chrome guy... If I use the aluminum grille, I'll think I'll try to scuff it with some scotchbrite to give it a brushed look.

[drc9723]

The Bench seat in the truck was either going to need to be recovered or replaced. I first looked at recovering options, but price wasn't cheap for something that would look nice. I then started exploring some options for complete seats to swap in. After lots of looking I settled on a rear bench from a 99 thru 03 Super Duty. They came with a one piece bench very similar in dimension to the original bench in a bumpside.
I've always liked the early King Ranch Leather, so the hunt was on for a hard to find, one-year only 03 King Ranch Super Duty rear bench (03 was the first year of King Ranch trim in Super Duty truck, and in 04 Ford changed to a two-piece rear bench)
I was lucky enough to come across a reasonably priced bench from an 03 F350 in a junkyard in New Mexico. It was in nice shape, but had been sitting in the NM sun and heat for a while with no back window or left side door on the truck. The leather was dusty and very dry. I spent some time cleaning it and gave it a ton of leather conditioner. It came back to life quite nicely, I'm happy with it!

in junkyard truck;

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after cleaning and conditioning (picture doesn't do it justice);

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I've made a couple of adapter brackets to bolt on the original sliders from the 72's factory seat.

It should look really nice in the truck. I'm going to try to get a matching piece of leather to make a headliner out of. And I think I'll try to cover the sun visors in leather too.

I've picked up an original dash pad that's in nice shape (the one in the truck is beyond repair). It's black. I'm throwing around the idea of getting it covered to match the King Ranch leather also...

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I think it could look fine in the truck being black too? Interior paint in the cab will be the factory green. I think I'll go with some shade of brown carpet. A black dash pad and steering column and wheel would look ok tho. We'll see, when I get to that point.

[Fordkid68]

Looks nice! Good luck!!!

[hfdco4]

Any more updates?

[drc9723]

Time for an update. I seem to terrible at posting anything! I haven't had much time to work on the truck. (life seems to have a way of doing that) Here's what's been done since my last post.

I stripped rear portion of the truck frame to get ready for the IRS from the Mark VII.

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[drc9723]

IRS torn apart, ready for rebuild;

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First I tackled the 8.8 diff. I removed the open 3.07 gears and replaced it with the 4.10 trac-lok unit from the Ranger 8.8 axle. It took a few tries to get the shims right to get a nice pattern on the gears, but i finally able to get it to where I was happy. (sorry, don't have pics to show)

[drc9723]

Next I moved to the spindles;

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I pressed out the old 5 x 4.25" hubs.

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New upper and lower Poly bushings, new bearings and 5 x 4.5" hubs from a Mustang Cobra (to match the Crown Vic IFS)

[drc9723]

Then I machined some caliper relocation brackets out of aluminum to be able to use Mustang Cobra rear rotors. Mark VIII guys came up with this upgrade years ago. It simply moves the rear caliper bracket mounting holes so you can use the stock Mark VIII calipers with the larger Mustang brake rotors.

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[drc9723]

Sand blasted and painted the upper control arms and installed new bushings;

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Cleaned up and installed new Poly bushings in the lower control arms;

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I didn't reinstalled the toe links in the lower control arms, put some metal bushing in to take up the space. From reading the Mark VIII / t-bird forums, the links aren't needed after installing the much stiffer than factory Poly bushings.

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[drc9723]

Got some goodies from Andrew's Tuning and Performance. Lowering Coilovers for the Crown Vic IFS and the Mark VIII IRS;

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Also got a Dakota Digital VHX dash for the F100. I've got two options.... the simple steel dash bezel from a 69 F100 or the original 72 plastic dash bezel that's got the bar in the middle with the "FORD" written on it.(I haven't cleaned or painted either bezel yet) I was planning on using the 72 bezel all along, but after putting the Dakota Digital dash in both bezels, I now think I like the 69 bezel. It really shows off the dash more I think. (sometimes less is more?!?)

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[drc9723]

I was playing around with "Big Brake" options for the Crown Vic IFS. I had been reading some Mustang Forums, guys on there had been using Brembos from Cadillacs on foxbody cars. In doing some rough measuring, I thought it might be possible to make this work on the Crown Vic front spindle. I bought an extra front spindle from a junkyard to do some experimenting with. I also got a used set of Brembo from calipers from a Cadillas XTS. (they look like new, the car had less than 10,000km on it when it got wrecked)

Here are the results;

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I machined a couple of aluminum "plugs" and pressed them into the holes in the spindle where the caliper attaching bolts went. I then re-drilled the holes, moving them outwards 4mm and down towards the centre of the spindle 1.5mm. The cadillac Brembo bolted right up like Ford wanted it to be there. I'm using 14" rotors from a mustang GT500 (2008 thru 2012 I think?). The centre bore of the rotor had to been opened up approximately 0.030" to fit on the Crown Vic hub.