Opti
Opti HalfDork
5/3/17 8:40 a.m.

Ive been wanting an older car to tinker with in my spare time. I am attracted to their simplicity, which makes it easy to spend a few hours working on it in the evenings after work, which is hard to do with the vette, ive got a pile of parts to put on but most of them involve blowing the whole car apart.

My dad has been wanting something since i sold my 53 and 69 firebird, but hes one of those who will look forever but never buy, so im thinking of buying something and getting it running and giving it to him. He loves muscle cars but really anything old with a little rumble he can cruise in he'll love.

So Ive got a local 55 task force im currently looking at.

What i know/think from pictures and limited info (im going to inspect it sunday)

Pretty complete

Little rust, cab appears solid, bad cancer appears to be in the side of the bed.

Has title

My plans would be quick and dirty body work to get it presentable and one color, get it running in its original state so it can put aroud town and make home depot runs, then slowly updating things to eventually make it suitable for highway use and improve safety, Nd a basic sbc swap for that rumble, probably even do a simple tbi efi setup.

I have heard of people mounting an xj6 ifs on the front, but im having problems finding a good source of info for these things.

Just curious if you guys have any info on them on what to do what not to do, what to look out for, or GRM type modifications.

Im also open to other type of inexpensive old cars to check into. It has to be american, no fords, expect maybe a mustang but probably not, and older than 1970 or atleast before everything got ugly and huge bumpers around 75.

Im a good mechanic and my brother is a good fabricator but not a car guy, so i cant tell him weld this ifs in and expect him to get it set, i can tell him make these two pieces one or make this stronger.

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory UberDork
5/3/17 8:48 a.m.

I wonder how much Art Morrison's front suspension stuff is?

I've seen '73-'87 C10 fronts grafted on to them.

jfryjfry
jfryjfry Reader
5/3/17 8:52 a.m.

The more complete the car, the more driving enjoyment you'll have. But there is ALWAYS something to do so I'd get the nicest one you can afford knowing you and your dad can always find something to take apart. And if your plan works, your dad will know if he should get a project or a runner for himself

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory UberDork
5/3/17 8:53 a.m.

"When you buy the front clip it can be from any 73 – 87 C10. Buy the entire front frame section. You need the frame rails from the firewall forward to the bumper. You will be using some of the frame sections to mount hardware on the Taskforce frame. It should have then disk brakes and calipers as well as the steering box and linkage. Motor mount brackets are a plus. Try to get it as complete as you can. Clean it as soon as you get it but don’t disassemble it just yet."

Article

For me personally, I'd never go that far. I'd rebuild the systems as I go and just enjoy it for what it is.

Sure I might do a drums-to-discs conversion but I'd keep the other 95% as is, just rebuilt.

STM317
STM317 Dork
5/3/17 9:02 a.m.
ebonyandivory wrote: I wonder how much Art Morrison's front suspension stuff is?

Aftermarket suspension clips from name brand shops are big $$$. Like $3-5k for starters. Plus upgrades. They're mostly very nice, but not budget friendly.

Opti
Opti HalfDork
5/3/17 9:46 a.m.

In reply to ebonyandivory:

Ill read that article, i like the idea of using chevy parts, but most guys are using the jaguar xj6 ifs, they talk like its as easy as notching the frame for control arms and bolting the subrame on, but im having trouble finding good info on the swap. Lot of people say the did it or are doing it not many pics or build threads to follow. I havent found a good online sipport source for them, im seeing all the info scattered between classic car or hot rodders forums.

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory UberDork
5/3/17 10:12 a.m.
ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory UberDork
5/3/17 10:21 a.m.
Blaise
Blaise New Reader
5/3/17 11:31 a.m.

A task force is my gf's dream car/truck. I can't find one even marginally close to driveable for under 10k

Opti
Opti HalfDork
5/3/17 5:57 p.m.

Apparently this guy has a whole bunch of them, ive seen a handful of driveable or close to driveable under 10k, but the clean ones are well over that

Drunkonunleaded
Drunkonunleaded HalfDork
5/4/17 11:56 p.m.

P71 front suspension grafted on might be an easy (relatively speaking) but affordable route?

Opti
Opti HalfDork
5/5/17 8:55 a.m.

Most say the crown vic fr9nt subframe wont fit because its too wide, but ive found more recent info saying it fits fine, it just limits wheel choice a little

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