1947 Ford 2 door sedan frame swap ideas?

I just bought a 1947 Ford 2 door sedan , I took the old frame/suspension out of it , looking for some ideas for a later model frame swap for the brakes and ride etc , trying to do this on a budget is the reason for no mustang suspension , the wheelbase of the car is 115 inches , and drum to drum on the rear is 54 inches , anyone have any ideas for a swap? , would rather make it GM , but up for any ideas , thanks in advance

 

42-48 Ford Passenger Cars have a wheelbase of 116", I believe.

 

I have a 48 2 door sedan with a front and rear clip from a 72 monte carlo. the clips are tied together with 2x4 box tubing. The job was done when I got the car and now I am driving it. It turns good, rides good and stops as well. This may not be the best way for you, but the parts are really cheap. I will try to post a pic of the car.

 

lets try again

 

if you are trying to do it cheaply, leave the original stuff in it. The ride nice with the factory setup

 

put a dropped axle up front with F-100 brakes , and then install a later rear (ford Granada works good) on Chassis Engineering parallel leafs springs. CE also has motor mount/tranny mount kits for sbc and sbf

 

Yea what 36-3window said. That is pretty much what I am doing with my 46 tudor. It road good stock so I am sure it will ride good when it is done. If you got a decent frame I would not swap it out but just change the suspension. Thats my 2 cents.

 

My '47 Coupe rides very smoothly, stops well, steers with one hand, and is 100% stock. People who ride in it are amazed how nicely it rides. I'd suggest a stock rebuild, or maybe stock with a dropped axle. You can't get much more traditional than what Henry put in it to begin with.

 

This is exactly what I did with my '40. I couldn't be happier. You can find a grenada rear end for less than 100 bucks somewhere and you'll have maybe 1500 to 2000 in the frame when you're done. Chassis engineering is your place to go!

 

Wheel base correction. All fords 42-8 are 114".Merc's are 118".Hope this helps, but the stock stuff rebuilt works great.Your into a can of worms in a chassis swap.

 

Why is it always the frame swap question? Didn't the car come with a frame - that fits? Of course the frame swap question is always followed by the words 'cheap', 'low budget' etc. Honestly, it's the long way round the short cut.

 

Making new body mounts from scratch, cutting, altering other frames to fit usually ends up being much more money than you think it's going to be, it's not like 1/25th scale plastic model kits where you can cut and splice and glue it together for the price of a tube of cement. It's a Ford, not a Duesenberg, the parts for it can be had and aren't usually that bad to buy.


That said, some claim the S10 frame fits these cars well.

 

Ok , guys , there is a reason I want to do this , I want to ride this car , and if somthing goes south on a wheel bearing or a wheel cylinder , or some little stuff that happens while on the road , I want to be able to find parts at any of the local auto parts stores , and not get the "are you serious?" look , plus , the car sets entirely too high on the factory stuff , that being said , I have never worked with the old ford straight axle stuff as far as lowering , and I have worked with conventional modern suspension , all I was asking is if anyone knew of a frame that had close to the same demensions that could be placed under my car with somewhat minimal work that could sorta make the car a little more easier to ride and not be a bear to find maintenence parts in a emergency ,the '51 Chevy I did is all original , 216 cu. in. , and thecar does fine , 65 mph is all you can do , aand you dont want to do that long , or you WILL be on the side of the highway , with rods lying all about your ride from underneath , thats why Iwant to modern up the Ford , so I can do road trips , interstate criusing , and the like

 

S-10! S-10! S-10!



No, I don't know really.

 

A buddy of mine put his '46 tudor on an S10 chassis - worked out great, with a 351 Ford Windsor installed in it to boot. He did the same with a '40 Ford ute. It's the easy way to go if you dont mind making a couple of floor mods.

 

I am building a 47 more door beater with a shit frame, using an S10, gonna shorten it a bit and use a 4x4 rear end, just about got the body solid enough to start the frame swap, I will start a build thread when I get to that point.

 

the HAMB would be a much better place if it was set up so when you typed in the words "frame swap" you were banned from posting ever again.

 

Or maybe if some people were able to look at a thread title and resist the urge to click on it just so they can whine about it

 

Why do novices ALWAYS want to change the frame?

 

That's exactly what I did (minus f-100 brakes) and my car rides fine

 

and cheap?
and minimal work?
and no fab skills?
and always needs to be much lower


To the OP, read through the frame swap threads here and ask yourself if you have the skills or the money to have this done.

 

It's not the frame that is the problem as far as going highway speeds it's the drive train. Want to stop better swap in some disk brakes. There are probably kits for this too.
Or slow down...

 

Because it's my F@#$kin car and I want to , and I aint no damn novice , I'm just a novice to this board , I spent alot of time in my garage buildin cars , and not typin' screwed up comments about other people's opinion , go build somthin , and not just a new hard drive

 

Dont frame swap,just change out the front and rear suspension

 

geee.....no need to get worked up ,you did ask for ideas

 

36-3 window , your right , I did ask for ideas , and if I offended you with my little rant , I do opologise , but , why should guys who have a different approach about building a car be"banned for posting on the board" , I did ask for ideas , not smartass comments , to the ones reading this , if you are the ones with the ideas , please keep them coming , if you just here to bust my balls and just be a regular pain in my ass cuz of the way I go about building cars , please refrain from this post , as a matter of fact , moderator , pull this post , I'll just stick to buying and selling parts on the other parts of this site , thanks , Dallas

 

The Chevy just needs a T5 and open drive rear with like a 3.42 gear in it to be happy on the highway. Easy, easy swap with the right parts.

I don't think I have ever had a wheel bearing fail on the road, my old '60 Pontiac I did have to cob some together when I pulled drums and found some of the balls in the outer in bad shape, but I kept a spare set handy to swap out if I needed. I also got so I carried a tool set, generator brushes, wire, and some other odds and ends of spare parts most of which I never used. It went through a lot of generator brushes, but that was the only real "fix it on the side of the road" issue I ever had.

Again you're talking a Ford here, the spare stuff is not made of unobtanium, if you're that worried about a breakdown just carry some spare stuff, because odds are if it's going to break down it will do it at 6:00 PM Sunday night when all the parts stores are closed for the day, anyways. And lowering... there are so many options for lowering one of these you'd need a book to list them all. In fact people have written books on the early Ford stuff. Why be afraid of learning something new? I just cobbed an early Ford front and rear end together without even using a manual, it's not that hard.

 

you didn't offend me , no one's asking for you to be banned

i still say do what i said in my first post on this thread. if you want disc brakes up front instead of f-100's kits are available for that a reasonable cost. your stock steering box should be fine , but you can adapt a later GM saginaw box and still use your stock steering column and wheel. sway bars can be added front and rear....CE has the kits

you will end up with a car that will drive down the highway just fine and still will have resale value when you want to get rid of it. let's be honest...a lot of guys , including me , think that swapping a frame under your `47 Ford would be a mistake. actually. i think you would be ruining it. if i was looking to a buy a fat fendered ford and i found out it had a S-10 frame under it i wouldn't even bother to look at it

no offense to you guys that like the s-10/ranger frame swap..if it works for you and your happy with it that's great


just my very bias opinion....do with it as you wish

 

36-3 window , I reallly like the ford body , but I'm a GM man when it comes to the running gears , and I was hopingto run all GM under the car , as far as resale value , I am not building the car to sale , I 'm just bulding a cool looking car to ride , and I like the idea of 12 volts , tilt wheel , disk brakes , cruise control , availability of modern parts , and I do keep a tool set in my car , I just dont want to carry extra stuff like brushes and the like , love the look of old iron , but I also like the dependability of modern mechanics , thanks for being a stand-up kinda guy , I appreciate it , thanks , Dallas

 

????????? you can have all that.....12 volts, all GM driveline , tilt wheel , disc brakes, etc with the original `47 Ford frame


if you want IFS , mustang II kits are available for reasonable money and are easy to install ..that will give you disc brakes and rack and pinion steering