well done my friend.......keep the pics and updates coming...........

Fresh parts always look nice. Usually work better too.

You do pretty work, Steve.  Very nice and a big improvement in driving/handling I bet.

BB

6sally6 wrote:

I'ma lik'en it Ultrastang!
Are you gonna lower the front by cutting coils.......or are the new springs "lowering sprangz"?
6sal6

The progressive springs are standard height. I don't intend to cut them. Cutting coils on the I-beam suspension gives unwanted camber on the wheels.

If you're going to lower a '65-'79 truck, you would need to install lowering beams, since no one makes drop spindles for them.

If you want to really lower the truck, you would need to install a front suspension from something like a 2003-2011 Crown Victoria. I do have a 2003 Crown Vic front suspension and a 1990 Thunderbird Super Coupe IRS rear assembly. I haven't totally made up my mind if I'll install them but if I do, it will be at a much later date.

For now, I just want to improve the existing setup and enjoy driving the truck with the new components.
 

I'm sure you are noticing that NEW TRUCK feel now as compared to what was on there before.  Seems like it would have been less work to just put the CV front end under there, though.  It is a one day job.

At least a MONTH if THE LAW is applied.  If you are a perfectionist, triple that.

MustangSteve wrote:

I'm sure you are noticing that NEW TRUCK feel now as compared to what was on there before.  Seems like it would have been less work to just put the CV front end under there, though.  It is a one day job.

I don't have the truck back together, yet. I still have brake work to complete (fab new lines and add a combination valve, etc.).

After that, I have the power steering setup to install then, install the tilt column.

I haven't made up my mind on the Crown Vic/ Thunderbird IRS setup. The bad part about having the Ranger is I don't know that I want to cut it up. If it was just a base model or Custom, it might be different.

As far as the Crown Vic & T-Bird IRS goes, they are both too dirty for my standards, as they are now. They would have to be disassembled, cleaned, painted and put back together before I would install them.

I don't care if the parts generally don't show and very few people would see them. The parts may get dirty later on from use but, if I'm putting parts on, they are going to be clean, initially.  I give just as much attention to the parts that don't show as the ones that do. --I know what they look like so, above anyone, It has to please me.

I grew up driving a truck like this and I know how they behave. With the new parts, I'm sure it will be a world of difference, in improvement, from what I just took out from under it.
 

MustangSteve wrote:

I tend to agree with you, ultra.  With the new disc brakes, that truck will drive as good as it will ever need to drive.  I could see the CV thing maybe, but not the IRS.  When that happens, it ceases to be a truck.

I know a guy with a '68 Bumpside that has the CV front suspension and T-bird IRS with a 460 big-block. That thing will really hang a tight curve. If you didn't know it was an old truck, you would think it was a car with the way it will handle. He doesn't really use it as a truck. He uses it as a nice modified cruiser truck.

I will haul wrecking yard parts and whatnot with my truck but, I don't really plan on hauling loads of gravel in the bed or pulling a backhoe with it.

It'll just be a lot nicer, more reliable and more comfortable than what it was.
 

jerryF wrote:

How did you ream the king pin bushings?  On mine, a local machine shop couldn't do it...  I took it to a large truck repair shop.

I called all around to local alignment shops and garages. Nobody had the equipment to do it. I called a guy that owns an engine machine shop (CMS Racing Engines) in a nearby town, told him what I had and asked if he could ream the bushings. He asked me what the pin diameter was. He checked (while I was on the phone with him) and said he had three reamers. I asked what he would charge and he said I was welcome to borrow them (he didn't even know me).

The shop is a couple of blocks from my workplace. I stopped by there last Friday, on my way home from work, and picked the reamers up.

I had never done this before and had never seen how it was done but, I figured it out.

I started out with the piloted reamer.



After the piloted reamer just passed through the other side of the second bushing, I turned the spindle to a horizontal position to run the reamer on through.



The piloted reamer was undersized compared to the kingpin diameter. One of the other borrowed reamers was an adjustable one. I adjusted it and made the final pass through the bushings with it.

Everything was straight, pin was snug with no slack and the spindle rotated nice and smooth.




 

I didn't get to work on the truck this past weekend but, I got the first of five brake lines made this evening.

How do you like those greenish brown brake lines?  I miss the silver you used to be able to get at the parts stores.  Starting to make Nicopp brake lines more attractive.  

Looks really great, Steve. Wish I had that much room to work on stuff - not so much room on the Mustang vs your truck. You and Hakan always do such nice work. You guys set the standard.