1947 Panel Truck Frame swap with ’88 k2500

[Second Series]

I like how the front tires don’t stick out of the fenders, they are just inside. I may be able to run wheels with a greater positive offset to suck the tires in. The fan and fan clutch are being greedy in the core support area. We’ll get the grill and support panel mocked up and see how a radiator will fit.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Second Series

I like how the front tires don’t stick out of the fenders, they are just inside. I may be able to run wheels with a greater positive offset to suck the tires in. The fan and fan clutch are being greedy in the core support area. We’ll get the grill and support panel mocked up and see how a radiator will fit.

Have you considered running a two speed electric fan? When I put Ethyl on the 1994 Dodge chassis, I was concerned about space up front, so I moved the engine and transmission 3" back, which was about as far back as I could go with the 1957 firewall. This of course snowballed things a bit, in that I needed to have a new front driveshaft built to add in extra length. I still went with two speed electric fan from a 1995 Ford Taurus V6, the same one the rock crawling guys use in their Jeeps. Those things move an honest 4000 cfm in high speed mode. In the end, I have more room up front which made building a lower radiator hose easier.

I'm impressed with the build. You've really done your homework as far as getting things to fit. It really is a good feeling seeing the body on the frame for the first time. I used 3/16" plate steel to make my body mounts, for what it is worth.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Second Series

I like how the front tires don’t stick out of the fenders, they are just inside. I may be able to run wheels with a greater positive offset to suck the tires in. The fan and fan clutch are being greedy in the core support area. We’ll get the grill and support panel mocked up and see how a radiator will fit.

I think you'll find you're at the limit of what you'll find for wheel offset. I ran in to the same issue with Ethyl. The 1994 Dodge 4wd front axle was wider than i had considered and with stock Dodge rims and 235/85R16 tires, they are just past the fender openings on my 1957. After checking with various vendors, the only way to get anymore offset would be custom made wheels, which would cost a small fortune and only net an additional 5/8" of inward tuck. Not worth it in my book.

I think yours fit quite well, definitely better than mine. I say go with it.

-Joe

[dsraven]

After all the other fine work you have done, adding a strip of filler to the fenders to widen them would be easy. Then your wheel options open up and no worries about steering geometry upsets with scrub angles etc.