The Bandits 72

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:29 am

Also I'll share one more thing with you guys,
If you're going to do this swap or as others have done, swap the body of the truck to the CV frame and plan on running the CV wheels and tires that came on the car be sure to look at the wheels really well and make sure they are the 17" steel wheels as they had a lot of issues with the 16" steel wheels in that they were rusting at the welds that hold the wheel center to the ring and either rusting through or breaking that the welds.
You can just look for an 06 or up as they switched to the 17" wheels on them all and did not have any issues with them.

Just an FYI for all thinking of using the factory steel wheels that came on the CV police and taxi cars.

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Wed Jan 01, 2020 8:56 am

I finally got the chance to work on the frame for the truck last night and got the front cross member cut out of it .
All that is left now is to trim out the pieces that are left and clean up the frame to get it ready to mount the alum cross member in to it.

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:07 pm

Managed a little more progress today with the frame and was able to get the left over pieces cut out of it and the frame cleaned of all the old welds and rivets that were used. Those rivets are a pain...

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:15 pm

With the old stuff completely removed It's now time to start measuring and drill for the locating dowels on the new cross member.
This took me quite a while to get it done but I was able to get it drilled and set down on the cross member to get a look at how she's going to sit.

hfdco4 · Post by **hfdco4** » Tue Jan 07, 2020 1:45 pm

Nice work!

sargentrs · Post by **sargentrs** » Tue Jan 07, 2020 7:52 pm

Excellent! And thanks for the detail progress photos. This can be a great "how to" for others.

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Thu Jan 09, 2020 12:43 am

sargentrs wrote:Excellent! And thanks for the detail progress photos. This can be a great "how to" for others.

Or how "not to" Randy.

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Thu Jan 09, 2020 12:55 am

I know it's Wednesday so sorry for the late update but on sat we were finally able to bolt in the front cross member and weld the tubes in their final resting spots. now to get the lower control arm mounts made up and welded to the frame to wrap up the cross member install.
As with all the others that have completed this swap the sway bar mounts are a perfect fit and will line right up with an existing hole on both sides so that I only have to drill one hole on each side.

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Thu Jan 09, 2020 1:02 am

With the cross member bolted in we decided to sit the motor in it's place just to check fitment and it looks to be in the right spot with no clearance issues for anything. I'm planning on using the trans mount off my C4 that came out of it as it will bolt right up to the new trans that way I can use the same cross member for the trans and only have to drill new holes at the frame rails.

sargentrs · Post by **sargentrs** » Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:58 am

Exciting!

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Sun Jan 12, 2020 5:17 am

Finally got the chance to work on my little project again today and made good progress.
AS far as all the drivetrain goes it's all complete and worked out really well for me as I will be able to use the aluminum driveshaft out of the crown vic donor car as it is the perfect length for this swap

I really thought I was going to have to have a custom driveshaft made for it so this is a big relief!

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Sun Jan 12, 2020 5:26 am

So now that the mock up of the drivetrain is complete i can take it all back apart and start boxing in the frame where the tubes are welded in the frame to help stiffen it up a little. We decided to box it in from where the rear lower control arm mounts will be to just past where the sway bar will bolt up to the frame.

Ohiotinkerer · Post by **Ohiotinkerer** » Sun Jan 12, 2020 6:31 pm

Great thread you have going here - I've got the CV front for mine and your photos are gonna be a great help!.......

........as far as the 4 bolts thru the frame that holds the suspension on a Milwaukee M18 Fuel 1/2 impact makes very quick work of them......even the 17 year old salt soaked one's that were in mine.....

The Bandit · Post by **The Bandit** » Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:34 pm

Ohiotinkerer wrote:Great thread you have going here - I've got the CV front for mine and your photos are gonna be a great help!....... ........as far as the 4 bolts thru the frame that holds the suspension on a Milwaukee M18 Fuel 1/2 impact makes very quick work of them......even the 17 year old salt soaked one's that were in mine.....

I really don't know what was up with these but we had a 3/4in drive air impact on them and only managed to break a couple sockets and extensions and not cheap ones either they were all snap on or Mac tools.

Hopefully when you get to yours I'll have finished mine and you can check back on my build if you need to know something about it.

Post by **DuckRyder** » Mon Jan 13, 2020 5:03 am

You’re making great progress.

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