Need some IFS advice

[JONS59]

Hey guys, I'm new here. My name is Jon, I have a 59 Chevy 1/2 ton step side. It's all stock but the engine and trany. I have a SBC 350 with 700R4. My question to you guys is, I'm looking into swapping front ends. I have 3 ideas, Camaro, Jaguar, or the '03-'07 Crown Vic. I've been following a guy on here called "Oldjimmy57" and he's doing the CV. Now I don't have a lot of fab experiance so the camaro looks a little intimidating because I have to cut the front of my frame off, and fab new brackets for my radiator support, and other things. I have seen a few thread on here, and the guys have done great work, it would be hard to believe that it didn't come from factory.

Now I can get a whole Jaguar pretty easy here in CA and take that front and rear suspension and bolt that into my frame. I know it's not a direct bolt it, but the fab work doesn't look that bad. The problem I have is it's rear steer and some people have clearance problems. Also if parts break or need replacing (being that old i should just rebuild the whole thing), it might be hard to find parts. And if you do find them how expensive...

The last option is the Crown Vic. Not as easy to find cause they are still reasonibly new but I'm trying to figure out what my county does with it's fleet vehicles. The swap looks like it might be the easiest, but what do I know. It looks like I can bolt it up weld some bracket up, and some support tubs and box the frame. The problem I have with this is it's so wide (hub to hub), I would have to use late model wheels with lots of backspacing, that doesn't seem to bad but not sure if goes with the old school look of the 59. oldjimmy57 has mustang rims for mock up and they look good. I have always wanted to run AR Hopster wheels on it, but looking at there website not sure if i can get a wheel with enough backspacing.

My intension with this truck is to make it a daily driver/cruiser. It will live in SoCal so deffenitly needs good brakes. Gotta love the 405. Anyways I lost my boat a few years back but I will get another one some day. So it will need to be able to tow like an old 70's jet boat. Also the truck is currently in NorCal and I live in Socal. So the swap would be done over a few weekends/ months, but I'm on like a 6 months dead line to get it drive able. Sorry about the long post. Any advice you guys could give would be great. Thanks

[tmoble]

skip the Jag, it's nothing but a PITA in every way.

the CV is too wide and requires fab work that isn't going to be any fun if your not already comfortable with the Camaro deal.

IMO the Camaro deal is best overall, but it does require some fab work.

Really, if you're not into custom fab work you'd be best off with one of the Mustang II based solutions. I'm definitely not suggesting anything about using parts off an actual Mustang II, but some of the kits based on that deal are very nice. Crossmember is near bolt-on. retaining the stock front frame with the core support mounts is worth a lot in terms of time and frustration if a guy is not in the fab business. That was actually the worst part of my Camaro install.

I used to bash the MII stuff but so many are using it successfully it's now proven.

try http://www.totalcostinvolved.com/pro...fm?prodID=1041

there's many others out there from cheap and simple to expensive. power rack is going to be a must though.

[spousta]

From my experience stay away from camaro fronts. They feel sloppy. The jaguar front I've always wanted to do but will run you more cash in the end. As far as daily driver, I would go with none of the above and run a hiedts or home made mustang II. You'll find how easy the hiedts is to install and you can have a quick turn around with little downtime. Plus you do not have to worry bout Ackerman angle or any other alignment issues as it's a prebuilt kit
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[tmoble]

or this:
http://www.classicperform.com/Store/...cks/5559M2.htm

[spousta]

Tmoble, Believe a friend used that kit/ I recommend, I'm using the control arms off that on my 55 there a little bit Chinese made but price was right I cut both open to extend and the metals from left and right were different thicknesses. Other than that everything else was fine.
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[JONS59]

thanks guys for your ideas, the problem with the Mustang 2 is that i don't have 1,500 + to spend, that's not even including wheels, tires, brake lines, possibly new engine mounts, etc... Yeah I understand this hobby isn't cheap, but i'm trying to do the best I can with that I have. I've heard horror stories of bad clip jobs and I don't want to ruin a perfectly good truck. Also I have a Lincoln 250 Mig and have some welding classes under my belt. The jag would kill me beacuse of the rebuild, the rack looks like $500 by itself. I have also heard of the dakota kits, they look really nice but the guy that build them is no longer making them.

[spousta]

No matter what front you run expect to spend 1k by the time your done brakes and bushings and misc you'll spend almost the same as the mustang II look on eBay if money is issue you can buy a basic Ii kit for about 800
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[pugs]

i wouldnt rule out the jag setup. fairly easy to install by either fabbing up some brackets like i did or like others i had seen by welding the crosmember to the frame which will lower about 3" more. jag has the same 4 3/4" bolt patternas a chevy, but will need to have the hub machined down a tad to run a stock or ralley style wheel. worst part is the rack as they are abit more then the MII, but bushings and such are cheaper the the camaro and also the front shocks, you will ned to fab a bracket of somesorts as the originally went in to the inner fender on the car. as far as space for a 350 no problem, my off topic truck(60 dodge) im going to be using a mopar 360 which is alot bigger then the chevy and i have no problem with steering clearence.

[tmoble]

Sorry, I've worked on Jags and you couldn't run fast enough to give me Jag stuff. That stuff is a PITA in places that US stuff doesn't even have.

OTOH, the nicest riding cars I've ever been in were Jags.

[kgmunro]

I think camaro is the way to go. Parts are cheap, the few I have rode in handle pretty well, and it is fairly simple to install. The biggest thing is to take your time and measure lots before welding. I installed one in my 57 and am pretty happy.