113 inch wheelbase?

I am looking to do a frame swap on my son's 61 Ford Unibody truck. We are looking for a late 70's and up frame with a 113 inch wheelbase. Anyone have any idea what vehicles came with 113 inch wheelbase? Either a car or truck frame will work. Would prefer something with front disc brakes.

 

why do you whant to swap the frame? on mine i cliped it with a aspen front fit was good i think if i was going to do it agian i would look at the aerostar or dodge dakota truck the only reason is they are easier to find parts are alittle cheaper. if you still want to swap frames i would look at the g-body (79 -87 monte-carlo grand-prix olds cutlass)

 

On that particuler truck the cab and bed are one piece.
not the body and frame.

 

We have talked about just clipping it. I definately want front disc brakes, and I bought a small block chevy motor for it, so a GM clip or frame is what we are looking for. The reason we are thinking of swapping the entire frame is because if we go with a GM bolt pattern up front, I want to go with a GM rear end as well. It seems easier to just swap the frame, that way everything is lined up.

 

A 1980's Crown Vic or Grand Marquis is a nice fit. You'll need to cut a hole in the bed to clear the rear suspension though. Makes 'em nice and low. It also gives you the popular 5 on 4.5 lug pattern, so it's easy to find wheels.

That'll be my next project. I'm looking at a '61 shortbox uni that I intend to drop on an '87 Grand Marquis. You can find a discussion of that particular swap here: http://www.fordtruk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=966

The Aerostar clip is supposed to be a nice fit, but I've heard bad reviews of the Volare (disc brakes and power steering but poor handling). Another option is a '04-up Crown Vic bolt-on K-member, but I'm not too familiar with that one.

The Dakota clip is good because it is the same track width as the 61-64 F-100's. HAMB'er ElPolacko makes a kit based on the Dakota.

 

FWIW,my dim memory of my stock car racing days in the 70s tells me the early-mid 70s G M (full size) Impalas and such were 112 in. w/b. But I agree with Roorda about clipping it. Think about using a Camero stub as there are TONS of aftermarket a-frames,swaybars,brake kits etc. available for future updates. Is there a reason a G M rear can't just be hung in the back?

 

It does have a frame and it is a unibody in that the cab and bed are one unit.
Unibody is all I've ever heard 'em called.
Are we havin' a bad day Kev?

 

i used a 79 camaro front clip in my truck. has engine and tranny mounts bolt up to it, its easy to find, and you can get them for about 200 bucks. i also pulled the brake booster and rear out of a car i paid 100 dollars for.

 

I thank everyone for their input, it is very useful. We were originally going to clip it with a late 70's or early 80's Camero and throw a GM rear end under it. This is my 15 year old son's truck and he wants to do a lot of the build himself, I just figured if I could find a car with the same wheelbase, it would be less work for him on his first build. Either way is fine by me, just trying to make his first one a little easier.

 

The '68 -'72 GM 2-door A-body cars (Pontiac GTO/Lemans/Tempest, Buick Skylark/GS, Olds 442/Cutlass, Chevy Chevelle/Malibu/El Camino) rode on a 112" wheelbase.

The Monte Carlo and 4-door A-bodies had 116" wheelbases, you could shorten one of these to 113" if it's worth the trouble to you.

Disc brakes came on quite a few of them, optional equipment. Full-size GM B-body cars (Impala, Bonneville, Ninety-Eight) had considerably longer wheelbases.

 

Brain Fart! Your right, it was the midsize with 112 and the Cameros etc. with the more desierable (for oval racing) 108 w/b Thanks.

 

There is a simpler solution. There are bolt-on disc brake kits available for these trucks that use the original 5 on 5.5 lug pattern. That way you can keep the original 9-inch rear end, have a front end that was actually designed for a truck, and not end up with mismatched front and rear lug patterns.

http://www.classicperform.com/Store/1948_64_Ford_Truck/4852CBK45.htm

There are SBC mounts available for these trucks as well.

http://www.carolina-classics.com/Results.cfm?category=41

 

I know this was an old post, but I have seen some similar post lately asking about Ford Unibody trucks so I thought I would bring it back up.

We are using a 1985 Crown Vic for the frame, power train and pretty much everything else except for the body. We have a rolling chassis now for mock up, and once we get all the floor done in the truck cab, we are gonna get a running Crown Vic and pull the body and drop the truck body on that frame. We are going to try to use as much as we can from the car, including all the wiring. Should be a fairly easy swap.

 

See Industrial Chassis Inc website, he (Steve) is a Hambster and does great things with pickups in the suspension department. He does a front cross member that accepts Dodge Dakota front suspension stuff which has a ford car stud pattern or just replace the rotors with drilled stud to your needs.

Dakota will give you a choice of 6 cylinder or V8 coil springs, disc brakes and power steering, otherwise Jaguar or Crown Victoria aluminum front suspension looks trick and you dont need all the work that may come with a full clip if you are not up to it.

 

[smirk] Yeah I could hook you up [/smirk]

 

super thread BUMP! so what ever happened to this? I have the same issue. 85 crown vic roller that ran and drove 3 days ago, need another body on top! looking into ford trucks right now.

 

1940 chevy master deluxe coup has 113" WB ..JUST an FYI