Jaguar IFS swap onto 1953 Chevy Coupe w/ pics

The timing of when the rear came on, to when the fronts locked was not ideal with a divorced system. I'm hoping the combination valve gives it a more balanced feel at all speeds.

 

I did find pics of someone else's Jag into Chevy install and they welded up some plate to connect the two - they looked to be right triangle shaped with the sides meeting at the 90' corner something like 6 inches and 2 inches, but that's a guesstimate. If I remember right, holes in that plate then allowed it to bolt to the frame the same as the stock crossmember did.


Not sure what year Suburban combo valve that is, but my '89 was a bitch to try to bleed, damn near impossible to pedal bleed, both times I needed to do it I ended up taking it to the muffler shop and paying them $20 to do it with a pressure bleeder.

 

Mine is as low as can be without getting into the lower control arm (which runs about 1" under the crossmember's top portion, right under the factory motor mount.
I also put in 3/4" spacers and longer bolts in the lower arms to drop the spring down. I welded up some bolt on upper shock mounts. They bolt in between the upper arm and crossmember mount, same thickness as the spacers that were in there.

 

I'm liking this more and more.

 

One more thing, an 88-up pickup manifold will dump at the very rear about like the passenger match to the left you have on it now, but they bow out a tad wider at the back (maybe an inch each side). You need the pair for a prefab pipe to fit, unless you make your own exhaust.

 

I've been wondering about going that route with my '53 also..... What year Jag IFS did ya'll use, since they are quite a bit different!

Klaus

 

mid 70s to 1986 for certain are the same, I think the vanden plas to 88 works, but after that they are wider and don't un bolt like these.

I have a ram horn on the pass side, early rear dump without air ports on the driver side. true duals all the way. (leftover from the previous engine swap.)

 

H.A.M.B.er Aldixie did a Jag swap in his '50, said it was super easy.

 

I'm probably taking longer than I should, but I keep getting ideas. I made a bolt in center section for the trans x-member so it cleared the pan. Should be easier to replace, in the future.

 

I was referring to the third pic in this post, it looks like the 81-87 truck (Suburban to '91, some vans to '94) left manifold. The 88-up pickup trucks have one that dumps at the very rear, behind the last port, but it also sticks out about an inch wider - it may help, it may not, basically the rear half of the bottom tube slowly widens out as it goes back. (long story short, I had to swap those off my current beater to get a Y-pipe that would work so I could drive the thing, so I spent a lot of time studying manifolds)

Some guys also like the mid-90s LT1 manifolds from the Caprice, Roadmaster and clones, but I think they also dump between the middle and rear ports and point straight down, been too long since I looked at a picture of one (Poorboyross on here I think used one on his swap, might be photos in an old post).

 

I just put on in my project, super easy, I used one from a 90s XJS. The XJS uses the bolt in crossmember and is the same from the early 80's till 92.

Also, I put in the IRS, a little tougher then the front but very do-able.

 

Not much to report, just putting the body back on. I might even make the doors close easier and adjust the fenders to fit. Probably could have saved a headache and used an early short water pump, but I made it work before.

 

I like your upper shock mount idea. It is simpler that what I did which is to fab a mount coming off the top of the frame rail. In my case it is under a 49 Ford F-1 truck. I have not run truck yet so the jury is still out on how my upper mount fairs. I have read that others have had tear out problems with their upper mounts. See pix of my setup @ http://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displayalbum.php?userid=268206&albumid=21703
One cautionary note that I would offer is to avoid the tempting very short high pressure hose from the power steering pump to the rack. Apparently Jaguar experienced a pulsing problem. If I remember correctly it was with the original Jag right hand drive cars where I think that the power steering pump was mounted on the right. Running the sbc with the pump on the left and the pinion on the left could cause a similar problem. I have not fabricated my hoses yet however I plan to do a back and forth loop in my boxed frame rail to provide some length in the hose. I sure would be interested if anyone has had this kind of a problem in the configuration like both you and I have and can confirm or refute what I had heard. (my SBC is a stroked 383 with Vortec heads)

 

I used the jag hoses, they loop under the motor and come back to the pump. No leaks.

 

That should do it!

 

Nice job David!

 

Am enjoying this thread. I like the upper shock mount idea.
Just put the cab on and am now working on inner front fender panels.
http://1948fordpickup.blogspot.com/
Thomas

 

I cant wait to see it all buttoned up I have thought about this setup for my fleetline!

 

Still waiting to see the front body clip installed

 

the shop is open and the bolts are in a baggy. I've been at this for 4 months already.

 

Spent last night making sure everything was tight, level. Adjusted my lower a arm spacer, got it within 1/8" side to side, front to back. Better than it was with the original!

once I adjust the door gaps, get new shocks, I can button up the rest of the body. After all the trading, I'm at about $200 cash laid out.

 

Good news, the turning radius is tighter than before, bad news, trans cooler line popped off on the return trip down the driveway and made quite a mess. Once the roads are clear I can do a real world test.

 

Yep, that was me. I bolted up 1/4" plates to the original location and then made up some plates to weld from there onto the Jag crossmember. I used the SBC power steering pump as the Jag steering hoses bolted straight up to it, although they are a couple of feet too long.

 

The roads were dry enough to give it a thorough shakedown. Turns in better and quicker than stock. brakes are almost too much, they lockup real easy on the wet/salt/sand roads. I found a nice clean patch and man, it is like throwing out a parachute. The old 350 is chugging along and with the short tires and deep first gear, it lights em up at will up to about 40. Now i hear we are getting up to 10" more snow. that's quite a bit more than the frame clears.

I ended up making them taller, I couldn't find short shocks so I went with oem style. same idea though.

 

So now that it drives nice and owes you a whopping $200, are you gonna rip it out and replace it with a Corvair front end? You know you want to.

 

Oh, that old thing?
Maybe I can jump on the bumper to test bump steer.

 

I like it! If you need a hand after the great blizzard, let me know.

 

all that work and now your selling it?

 

I have a terrible desire to build something new, from scratch. I also got a late 30s plymouth coupe at my uncle's pasture that I want to do up. It is mostly complete and would be gorgeous.

 

Great stuff please keep it coming I want to do this to my 1953 ZIM. Never done a front end before and have much to learn. With a 4200 Lbs car I would feel much safer driving a Jag IFS over the ones made for 30's cars.
My front rails are 29 3/4 on the outside and 32 3/4 of the outside flanges is this a problem.
One issue with the Jag IFS it is 1/2 too wide is that an issue?
I also will want to maintain original height.

The other option is to front clip a Chevy Colorado as these are the SAME length, tread width.

Thanks!
Charles in Texas