1972 F100 CV & Mark8 swap

[drc9723]

How's the wire diet going?
Do you have a build thread? It would be great to follow your progress too!

[yarko]

Sadly, i dont have a build thread. So far ive shortened the frame, bought a short box, installed the crown vic front and began some body work/welding. Ive been collecting parts here and there...inner fenders, rad support, outer fenders etc. I just picked up an explorer rear end with 4.10 gears as well. I managed to pick up a 1995 mark viii for $300 canadian (that price included a free CAA tow to my place). I sold about $700 worth of parts off it,pulled the motor, trans, wiring harness and a bunch of odds and ends, and then sold it for scrap. Ive purchased the mark viii wiring manual and sourced out as much info as i could. right now im working my way through the easier portions of the harnesses. Im not sure what to say about it....it stresses me out and my general wiring knowledge and understanding isnt great. Im relying heavily on the help of others on facebook groups. Every wire or circuit I remove, i consider it a small victory.

[drc9723]

Sadly, i dont have a build thread. So far ive shortened the frame, bought a short box, installed the crown vic front and began some body work/welding. Ive been collecting parts here and there...inner fenders, rad support, outer fenders etc. I just picked up an explorer rear end with 4.10 gears as well. I managed to pick up a 1995 mark viii for $300 canadian (that price included a free CAA tow to my place). I sold about $700 worth of parts off it,pulled the motor, trans, wiring harness and a bunch of odds and ends, and then sold it for scrap. Ive purchased the mark viii wiring manual and sourced out as much info as i could. right now im working my way through the easier portions of the harnesses. Im not sure what to say about it....it stresses me out and my general wiring knowledge and understanding isnt great. Im relying heavily on the help of others on facebook groups. Every wire or circuit I remove, i consider it a small victory.

Yarko, you should start a build thread. Btw, nice score on the mark viii! I thought I had done alright at $650 cdn. What facebook groups are you using for help? Where in Canada are you located? I'm in eastern Ontario, near Kingston.


I had a few hours over the last week to work on the truck, so I continued on with the CV IFS install.

Got the template for the CV holes in place, measured and looked at it, measured and looked at it some more.

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And then to quote the great Hackster as he put it in his build thread "Finally stopped being a wuus and drilled the holes in my frame for the locate pins on the frontend"!

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[drc9723]

Then drilled the holes for the 4 mounting bolts and spacer tubes.
Here it is installed, ready to weld in the spacers.

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And just so I could see what it looks like on the ground, I threw on a pair of old 15" snow tires. I know these tires are a couple inches shorter than what what will be on the truck when its done, but it still gives a good idea of where it'll sit.

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I'm happy with how things are going. I'll update as I find time to get more done.
Thanks for reading along.

[yarko]

Thanks. As far as the mark viii goes, I was watching it on kijiji and had it saved in my kijiji profile. It started out at 1500. Then went to 1400 and then at the bottom of the description it said 1000 obo. It had fairly low kms at 160. When I called the lady she made it out to be virtually mint and we agreed to 800 over the phone. I drove up to London with a friend and my plan was to put my plates on it and drive it home. When I got there I was shocked at the condition. It was terrible. The motor ran like a clock but it was pouring gas onto the ground by the passengers door. After telling her I was going to pass she quickly blurted out 300 is the lowest she'd go. That got my attention. I still was going to pass because the tow would be expensive. She said she had CAA and would tow it to my place for the 300. I couldnt believe it. . Hahaha. Sorry for the long winded post. BTW..... I live in Simcoe Ont. .

[yarko]

Any updates?

[drc9723]

Not much in the way of updates. It seems like I've no spare time to work on the truck lately.

I did pick up a set of used 235/50R18 Firestones to put on my steelies. They still have decent amount of tread, will definitely work for mock up purposes and will be fine for initial test driving when the project gets to that point.

Here's what they look like on the front. I think I like the look.

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I'll throw a fender in place and take some more pics to give a better idea.

I hope to have a little bit of time this weekend to get some work done. Maybe getting the plate cut to box in the front of the frame.

[drc9723]

I also picked up a few bits and pieces.
- good set of black arms rests (they'll look fine in the truck even though the originals are green)
- rear box marker lense (to replace a broken one)
- '69 instrument cluster (not sure if I'll use it, but it would match the '69 grille that I've got for the truck and for $20 I couldnt pass it up)

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[hfdco4]

Nice progress.

[drc9723]

Threw a fender up yesterday to check things out. I think the wheel looks like its in a good place.

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[yarko]

Any more progress? I'm very interested in this build!

[drc9723]

Sadly I have had little to no time to spend on the build.

I was able to find a few hours to get the cab pulled off.

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Hopefully I'll find some time soon to get the front part of the frame boxed. Then I need to tackle getting the original rear end out.

[yarko]

Any progress is good progress! Keep up the good work!

[hfdco4]

Funny how we have to work to afford to play.

[Manny]

The fit and look of the wheel in the wheel looks about perfect! Nice work!