Ford Chassis

This is my favorite section on this forum. We Ford guys that don't want a race only car have been hindered with stamp sheet metal, unibody and shock towers when installing anything big in the front. I built a frame table years ago with suggestions from Dilligas about how to make it. Car is sitting on it now and I have spent months thinking about what is the best way to attack these issues we face with the older fords. I have installed a Rod and Custom front end on a older mustang. In my opinion, the stock sheet metal in the front is not designed for this load at that point. It works but I am not sold on it.
I came across another car builder that designs chassis and builds cars. https://bsiperformance.net/product/1965-70-bsi-mustang-chassis/ I like the idea of the tube brace in the front that does not interfere with the interior of the car. I am not sure about the rear half or why he chose that H type design.

Fatman Fab. has a bolt on front end for mustangs that uses struts and lightens the front end. Not sure if that would work for you but check their website and see if its an option for you. Pricey but maybe cheaper that a full chassis. Good luck.

If I was going to build a modern low-slung multi purpose "Hot Rod" ride these days I think I would probably go..........

(A) Heavily triangulated all round tube chassis with a full roll cage hidden (as much as possible) up in/under the headliner.

(B) Bolt-in removable driver & passenger door bars for a rigid fit (none of that "Pull-pin/swing-out" door bar crap).

(C) The frame/cage tubing would be filled with expanding foam to help deaden road noise transfer.

(D) The floor/firewall would be double layered sheetmetal filled with expanding foam between the two layers to help deaden road noise transfer.

(E) Some form of a modified Fox/SN95 strut front end for decent/usable front suspension travel. The struts would either be coil over conversion, or air bag conversion.

(F) Rear suspension would either be some form of a 4-bar/4-link setup with a decent OD sway bar, or a 3-bar/3-link setup with a super large OD sway bar. Rear end centering device would either be the longest length possible panhard bar, or a Watts linkage. No ladder bars.

(G) Rear spring/shock package would either be separate coil springs & shocks, or coil over shocks, or air bags/air bag coil overs.

(H) I hate the modern big OD rim/small "rubber band" looking sidewall tire look. I would probably try to stay with a smaller 15" or 16" diameter rim. And I would probably go with a true retro/classic American Racing Aluminum slot rim, (might be hard to find these days). Or a modern Aluminum slot "copy" if they look close enough to the old stuff.    


If it was a "truck" that was also expected to actually sometimes pull a trailer I would probably substitute box/rectangular tubing (vs all round tube) for the frame rails.