"Pinché Caliché" '57 StepSide/LSx/CrownVic

[yossarian19]

I'm not much of a fabricator but, yeah, I bailed on any sort of brake switch mounted to the pedals.
When all else fails, use a pressure switch plumbed into a line and a DPDT relay. On the "normally closed" contact, send power to the computer. On the "normally open, closes w/ power to coil" contact, send power to the lights.

[Kim57]

Nice progress.
Looking good.
Kim

[Spblack]

Originally Posted by yossarian19

I'm not much of a fabricator but, yeah, I bailed on any sort of brake switch mounted to the pedals.
When all else fails, use a pressure switch plumbed into a line and a DPDT relay. On the "normally closed" contact, send power to the computer. On the "normally open, closes w/ power to coil" contact, send power to the lights.

This is what I did. the only problem I had was when I hooked into the brake wire on the IDIDIT column was, it supplied power to turn signals when I hit the brakes. I just isolated that wire and everything was good to go.

[yossarian19]

No updates? One of my favorite builds and it's gone silent. Shame!

[t-tung]

Originally Posted by yossarian19

No updates? One of my favorite builds and it's gone silent. Shame!

Well sometimes life gets in the way of projects and toys. Oilfield tanked and I got laid off back in January so I've been keeping my head above water since then, getting what little work I could get done. Actually have got a lot done...too much to type so I'll let the pictures do the talking. In the home stretch now. Got the 1-piece window kits installed so I can start finishing up the interior. I'm going to go with a lower profile tire on the front for clearance and appearance. Going to cut one full coil out of the front springs to drop it down about 2". If I had to do it again, I'd move the whole Crown Vic front end back 1-2". The tires I have on it now don't rub, but I don't like how close they are. Anyways, hope these pics all upload. Shoot me any questions you may have about the progress. That's my brother in the pic. He does sheet metal for the Air Force so. I hauled it out to Tucson to get the lower fender corners replace. I like how it came out. May get more of this type of body work done by him in the future
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[t-tung]

Originally Posted by t-tung

Well sometimes life gets in the way of projects and toys. Oilfield tanked and I got laid off back in January so I've been keeping my head above water since then, getting what little work I could get done. Actually have got a lot done...too much to type so I'll let the pictures do the talking. In the home stretch now. Got the 1-piece window kits installed so I can start finishing up the interior. I'm going to go with a lower profile tire on the front for clearance and appearance. Going to cut one full coil out of the front springs to drop it down about 2". If I had to do it again, I'd move the whole Crown Vic front end back 1-2". The tires I have on it now don't rub, but I don't like how close they are. Anyways, hope these pics all upload. Shoot me any questions you may have about the progress. That's my brother in the pic. He does sheet metal for the Air Force so. I hauled it out to Tucson to get the lower fender corners replace. I like how it came out. May get more of this type of body work done by him in the future
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[t-tung]

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[t-tung]

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[t-tung]

Fender repairs

[mongocanfly]

Nice...

[t-tung]

More fender pics, 1-piece windows installed and my trucks evil twin sister

[t-tung]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Nice...

That's what I'm going for. Got a Weathergard push button latch/lock mechanism going on my lock box with a gas piston to open it automatically when you press the red button. It's not big enough for a full length AR but my 8.5" SBR or FNX45 Tactical/Silencerco Osprey combo fits nicely in it.

[Kim57]

Looks like you made some nice progress.
Hope the job market picks up for you.
Kim

[RockinKees]

Nice work!!
I dig the '55 Evil Twin Sister also, very much indeed!!

[t-tung]

It's been quite a while. Figured I'd post up some 90% finished glamour shots of this project. I've got it running and driving (fairly well). Still trying to get the rearend situated the way I want so I can put some goodies in the engine. I was debating on a 4 link and coils or ladder bars and coilovers but, instead, I'm keeping it simple and cheap. I'm leaving the leaves under it and going with an off-road style traction bar shackled to a crossmember to keep the pinion from pointing skyward when I get on it and a panhard bar to keep the axle from moving side to side. Right now I've got my shocks at too much of an inward angle rendering them useless. I'm going to straighten them up welding all new upper and lower mounts. Also, the stock crossmember behind the cab is coming out in favor of a tubular crossmember that is bent up and out of the way of the driveshaft so they won't make contact anymore. Gawd is thought an awful sound/feeling �� Other than those few details in the back, the plan is cam/heads/converter and piecing together the stock A/C system out of the Tahoe and getting it going, though I'm not sure in what order I'm going to do those two. It's getting HOT down here in Texas! Oh yeah, and I need to clear coat it. I was using Yamashield on it to protect the patina but it's just no match for this humid air living on the island.

Overall, it was a fun build. There were definitely plenty of weeks straight I was pulling my hair out and wanting to light it on fire (not really but I think we've all been there). I'll list a few here...
1: GM PS pump/ Ford Rack & Pinion... they don't play well together until you buy the $16 shim kit to bring the GM pump down from ( THINK ) 1600psi to around 900 where the Ford R&P is happy.
2: Another fairly simple problem (or so you would think) is plugging the big sensor port on the R&P next to the input shaft. I STILL don't know what the sensor is called, but it takes a big ace hydraulic ORB plug to fill it.....and I STILL couldn't get it to seal correctly.... that is until I JBwelded that d*mn thing in. Believe me l, I tried plugging it the "correct" way. I've tried several different plugs. Just couldn't take it anymore. JB Weld it is
3: Wheels. Running the wide Marauder member up front and narrow Exploder 8.8 in the rear proved to be tough to find wheels I liked with the correct positive and negative offset I needed. If you've got the money, this isn't a problem. I just couldn't/didn't want to shell out $3000 for a set of wheels.... though some Welds would look absolutely killer on it �� Ended up running some spacers in the rear. Also, Fatman is making narrow control arms for crown Vic swaps but they can keep them right now for $900 a set.
4: LED tail lights and my ECM didn't get along well. It went into limp mode. Figured it out after some reading and installed some resistors. Worked for a while until one of the resistors burned up or got disconnected. Started giving me a dead pedal. Didn't realize it because my taillight was still working so I was swapping pedals and TAC modules and throttle bodies out. Long story short, put traditional bulbs tail lights in it an (knock on wood) it's been running well ever since.

I'll try to dig through and find some more build pics. If you've got any questions at all on the Crown Vic/Mercury Maruader swap, ask away and I'll try to help any way I can. It CAN be done and it's actually a lot easier than I expected. All the guys on the internet saying it CAN'T be done were actually motivation for me doing it. Thanks fellas �� It's drives like a dream.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Nice truck.

I don't understand the fender patches. Are those exposed rivet heads? Will they stay exposed for effect, or what?

Are you aware your fender spears are on backwards?

[t-tung]

Hey Dan,
Yes they are buttonhead and flush rivets. My brother does sheetmetal in the Air Force so instead of paying some shop to weld the panels in and/or smear 10lbs of bond o in it I hauled it to Arizona and riveted them in. I like the way it looks. Cab corners are next.
I did NOT know they were backwards. They were on it that way when I got it. I always thought they looked goofy but never thought about them being on backwards. Thanks, I'm going to swap them around. Eventually I'm going to get some custom ones made

[G&R's57GMC]

I just read through your build.
You had asked about rad and fan set up.

Well better late then never and for anyone else wanting to know ,
I saw this at a car show and asked a what it was and how well it cooled in 110* weather with a/c .

The Rad and fan package is from a '01 Camero and with just a slight mod to the lower core support of the Task Force bracket .
just slice the inner angle flange on the left and right mount brackets and the rad will slip in between them.
The fan package is plug and play to the E.C.U. wiring. Giving you high and low speeds and temp , a/c control .

How you fab any upper hose is easy and the lower hose is a no brainer . If you order an automatic rad it has the trans cooler in it.

This is the set up I'll be using if I ever get back to my project .

Here's a few pictures to give you a visual of this set up.