Titus , you won't need to use the stock jag lower joint as you have solid mounted your IFS . The stock Jag joint has a "slip" in it , this is to allow for the movement in the rubber mounts . Part number for the Gabriel shocks is 69689. Lower arms are generally just off level at ride height - running down slightly towards the wheel . .
Haha , it's in already man , just working on Mounting your engine/trans What are you doing on the computor huh ?
Great install and thanks for all the info and the pictures. Could you tell me at what degree did you put the jag front end before you welded it in? I want to do one but don't know if it matters at what degree to place the front end before you weld it in. Thanks.....
Been busy working on a customers 32 roadster and also had to go thru a mess to get a rack and pinion for it, the junkyards computer says 86 and 87 are the same but i think its 82-86 and 86 being a change over year, so i told him to find one for a 82-85 but he didnt like that idea, so i went and found one myself and got my grandpa to go look at it and it was the correct one so i had the junkyard get it for me, so all is good, i got it and its correct and i put it on. So i had the motor positioned perfectly, the rack has about 3/4 of an inch of clearance, and if you look closely youll notice thats its an early 283 pan that has the extra bump in it, so if you have a say 68 and later small block youll have another 2 inches or clearance or so, so if you prefer you motor a little lower you could, i dont like lower motors, to me it makes more trouble with hoses and fans etc etc. So heres some pics of the clearance between the rack and motor and what i did for motor mounts, they worked out very nicely and simple, i will box the front when i yank the motor back out. dont mind the sloted motor side motor mount, that will be extened later too. jeff
Any updates on your build?? I did a jag front, little different from yours like to see how it ends up. With the framed notched how did the torsion bar work out. With my f1 1 I did a little notch on the frame and the torsion bar was right at the bottom frame and no where else to go. I mean would have notched the u clamp to make it work,if I notched like you did. Thanks George
Looks good Titus! Kinda what I figured with the engine mounting posistions and such. I like e'm up a bit higher too for the same reasons and ground clearance as well. Thank you very much for those photos.
Ok, some updates and info.... Got the trans mount done, started working on the steering also, got that pretty much buttoned up too, gonna work on the sway bar (torsion bar) today or tomorrow so ill get pics of that. Trans mount, couldnt be simpler, some l brackets hang down from the frame with a peice of strait tubing with a tab for the trans mount, easy easy. Steering, i oblonged the upper mounting hole on the "k member" so i could tilt down the rack just a little, and i got away with using a strait couple and one 3/4 weld on u-joint, it actually worked out really well, its close to the exhuast but not that close. Another tid bit of info, everyone says that the power steering pump is special to the jag rack, thats incorrect, i ordered a power steering pump from the parts store and never paid attention to the part number, well it got here and i recognized the part number (i was a parts man for 10 years) so i looked up in the buyers guide what it fit, one of the apps was 75-80 chevys, like all of em, and i know the pressures of the gm pump fit from like 60 all the way thru the 90s, so basically any gm pump will work its just the fittings from the middle years work the best (3/8 flair). now thats just the pump itself, if you bought a pump with resivior it will be a different part nubmer, and thats becuase of the return line and type of resivior. the sway bar, ive held the sway bar up and itll fit prefectly, i got some sway bar links and shortend them up some so the sway bar didnt mount at such an angle but itlle work great, ill get some pics when i do that. And i had an S-10 booster and pedal assembly so i drilled the holes in the firewall and trimmed all the fat off the pedal assembly and mounted that, i still need to make a backet from the pedal assembly to the dash to strengthen it but over all it worked good. jeff
Hey Titus. Hope you don't mind a suggestion. Your thans crossmember is slick and it'll do a great job of doing it's deal, locating the trans. But, these trucks really need a central cross member that mimics the stock one you took out. Ya gotta tie the rails from the upper lips to the lower lips and across on these. The easiest way to see what I mean is to have just a medium sized person bounce up and down on the running boards while you watch the frame rails from the front. Every bounce they lean out at the top. Now combine that with the weight of the cab on the outrigger mounts as it moves up and down as it goes over bumps and you have recepie for cracked/bent frame rails very quickly. I learned this from working/hanging out at ElPolacko's shop where these trucks are as common as house flys... First thing you do is frame repairs if they have been running around without center crossmembers for very long. Now would be the time to prevent this. You could probably take care a lot of this by making a plate that would bolt to the underside of the top lips and triangulate down to your trans crossmember for each side, yet still be romovable. Don't mean to criticize your fab skills, I've just seen that happen a bunch. just a suggestion...
Suggestions are always good. I actually had planned to add something else cause i did notice a major loss in frame strength when i took the member out but hadnt gotten to doing anything, i was working under the car and had was pulling on the running board bracket to get out from under the car and noticed the frame flex, im super low on steel and need to make a trip there and stck up, i will probably weld in something permanantly above the crossmember so the crossmember will tie it all together if that makes sense. itll probably be something like a piece of 1-1/2 square tubing 3/16 wall. JEFF
titus, Man...Exhaust looks way too close to the rack. Maybe its just the picture, but it looks like you may have to go the shorty header route with the rear outlet? I have ram horns also and it looks like a change might happen even though I dont care too much for headers. Maybe Sanderson cast units... I just picked up my donor car (83 XJ6) on Sunday and all your info is great! Cant wait to get started on my swap. I think I'll use the Jag slip joint for my steering connection just to take up any flex in the cab/frame. I'm also interested how the ps pump works. All the other threads say that the pressure is different. I'll take the pump out of the jag and check the number... I'm really interested in how you mount the sway bar. Waiting for pics when you post them. Good to see the progress!
Its deffinately the pic, he exhaust is close but very doable, i may add a heat sheild when done but im not to worried about it, ill probably make the head pipe and then have the exhaust guy connect to that. the pipe will have to jog outwards towards the frame rail. ill get pics of that also when i get that far.the manifold outlet is about 6 inches above the rack so there will be plenty of room for the jog. Yeah, the power steering pump thing is funny, that everyone says that pressure is different, i held a job as a parts counterman for 10 years so i know the ins and out of finding stuff and part numbers and compatibility etc etc, so ive done alot of research on the pump, if you go to oriellys website and look up the app for a 85 jag ps pump with out resivior you come up with part # 20-840, then click on compatibility and it will come up with many many different vehicles it fits, the key is with out res, the res they changes for different return outlets for many many different models, thats where the differenct would lie in parts numbers, the 20-840 fits 73-87 jag almost all models, along with lots of GM cars too, im not sure what year gm switch over the metric but somewhere around 80 81, so that is a change in the pump but the difference there is the nut on the back where the hose goes into it, they changed to an o-ring end. If your gonna look for numbers on the pump make sure its on the pump and not the resivior. Ill try and get on the sway bar tomorrow for ya! JEFF
Man, it looks to me like you could throw a good sized house cat between the steering and exhaust in either of those pictures! I usually shoot for a finger width or so between steering and exhaust stuff though...
Softer ride versus better road feel. It's a matter of taste (and age!) I had Jag IFS & IRS in my old '41/'46 Chevy truck. I didn't install it but it handled fine
Ok, i got an hour away from watching the baby so i went out and mounted the sway bar, or at least got 90% of it mounted, there is a rivit on the bottom of the frame that i have to grind smooth so the mount will mount flat to the bottm of the frame and i have to drill some holes in my boxing plates so i can get to the rearward bolts, also there were some notches in the front crossmember and i had to remove those, not to big of hurdles, again ,i want it low and if its a little more works im fine with it, ill probably make a couple of pieces to weld back into the front crossmember so it looks nicer. so there you have it the sway bar is mounted, the shock links are k5252 moogs with the center spacer taken out, i didnt have the correct length bolts so i just put the spacer on top of the bolt for the meantime. Also note that the core suport has to be in the 6 cylinder mounting position, if you put it in the rear bolts it lines right up with the sway bar. JEFF
got the holes filled in, also a quick pic of the motor, its gonna get a pinstriped cadi air cleaner i think. JEFF
Jeff I have been keeping an eye on your front end install for a while. I have one question about the power steering pump. I have a complete SBF that I am putting in my 60. Do you (or anyone else) know which Ford power steering pump will work with the Jag Rack? Thanks and keep up the good work. Jeff
Thanks. Im not really familiar with what pressures the ford pumps put out, if it were mine id just adapt the gm pump to the ford, i know ford brackets can be a pain to get all the right stuff to work together in the first place. JEFF
Lil more progress, got the shifter mechanism all dont, it was super easy and kinda what i had worked out in my head. Basically i put a 66 ish chevy column in it and it had column shift, i wanted to make that work, so i got the cross shaft and column to crosshaft rod out of an 86 4x4 suburbon. all i had to do was make a bracket on the frame to recieve the crosshaft and then cut about 8" off the end of the column to crosshaft rod and adjust it and done! heres some pics I also managed to mount the steering pretty close to the exhaust manifold so it was gonna be tight to put a bolt in so i cut the rear boss down and used a header bolt, it worked perfect. jeff
Progress has slowed a little, been putsing on my wifes 59 old 98 2 door hardtop, we need to have a family car since we have a family now, the only running cars i have have only 2 seats! So anyways, heres a little more progress, i had to get new calipers as mine were toast, i still need rotors but dont have the money for em at the moment, so i stuck the calipers on and started working on the brake hoses, i didnt have original ones and didnt really want to use them as they are metric and i just tend to stop the metric stuff at the first possible spot i can so lines are easier, so i got a metric bubble brake line, i think a 20" one and cut it in half, that fits the caliper, on the other end i put a normal 3/16 nut on it and regular flair, then drilled the original jag hose bracket to fit the new hose i bought, which is a part number bh36752, that number should be interchangable at most part stores, so i then attatched that to the bracket with a normal brake line clip part number h1457-2 and then finished bending the brake line and screwed that into the hose, then i made a brake hose mounting tab, i aligned it with the original brake hose tabs that were on the f1 as there are slots on the fender walls for the hoses to go thru, when i was done i turned the steering lock to lock and it all clears nicely. i also fabbed up a bracket to enable the use of a long water pump alternator bracket with the early heads that dont have the accessory holes, it bolts from one of the water pump mounting holes to the exhaust manifold, i also flopped the alternator down the bottom of the bracket, it give it a much cleaner look up on top of the motor. i also ran the brake lines up to the master, i went with a cardone 10-1521 (cant remember exact app, but mid 70s gm disc brakes). JEFF
The real test is when you get the front-end and running boards on, I like 'em low too! I have a volari with dropped spindles, thankfully I have an adjustable front-end. I had to raise it a little so I could clear my driveway approach. I still keep it low, and it will go lower if I want. Be sure to post an up-date when you get it back together. Best of luck
Do you have a measurement of how how far the frontend is, in regards to the crossmember? I'd really appreciate it as I'm soon tackling the same project. Thanks, Kevin
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