I have had a '91 F150 for about 6 or 7 years now and have used it as a daily driver for that entire time. It is nothing special (to anyone but me) and so in deciding which way I want to go with it I have been thinking more and more about picking up a wrecked '09-'13 4x4 and gutting it to redo the '91.

Here are my thoughts on the matter:
All the interior swapped
Every wire moved over (computer, sensors, nav, seats all of it)
Engine/tranny/T-case swapped
The only thing I wouldn't move over would be the front suspension as I am thinking of grabbing a solid axle out of a 250 or 350.
Fabbing new mounts for just about everything, routing wires etc. I have access to an industrial machine shop.

My questions are these: I know this would be monumental, but just how monumental are we talking?
What is the best way to get the dimensions/diagrams without buying the donor vehicle?

I am figuring this thing will run in the tens of thousands of dollars and a few years in the works, just wanted to get some thoughts on the feasibility of the idea. Thanks in advance.

 

I'll look for the thread over on Fullsizebronco where a guy did just that. Came out great.

Adrianspeeder

 

oooo...I'll start looking for that thread too! I have to admit, I am relieved to hear that its been done before.

 

It may be simpler to take the body off the 91 and swap it onto the 09 frame. You would have to make new body mounts, but it would run and drive like a new truck.

Not sure how much work it would be to swap the interior over though, that could take awhile.

 

With time and money I bet it could be done fairly simple but if it is a regular cab I think it might get a bit complicated. Super cab easy probably.
Trav
I would think with the newer frames being more unibody like I think that would be quite complex to do. I would say more of the way the original poster would do it. I think hardest part doing it his way is making mounts for the engine, trans and such but then again there was a show that took cars of the older gen and put them on newer gen chassis.
Trav

 

wot?

2009 Frame



1985 Frame

 

Hmm sorry didn't notice they were so close to being the same my bad to the Original poster. I figured the age difference they would be much different.
Trav

 

Thanks for the replies! I can see swapping the body to the newer frame being theoretically easier, but I think the reality makes that cost prohibitive. If I were to go that route I would more or less need a perfect donor...if I had a new truck why bother with the swap?

It seems to me that the fabrication of motor/radiator mounts is kind of the easy part. Swapping the electronics/firewall and dash is the tougher fab work. This of course isn't avoided by the cab swap.

My plan is to find a roll over donor and swap it to the '91 frame. Huge thanks to adrianspeeder for the heads up about Quint's bronco project...that was a huge help and answered the original question/sanity check.

For those interested in my project I have also decided to lose the TTB for a Dana 60 SAS...but my personality being what it is I have decided to go the F550 Super 60 route for the (completely overkill) beefiness and 4 wheel ABS. This too will have me doing some shade tree fabricating, but that's what makes the project worth doing.

So I am just starting the process now, I have drawn up some rough plans and started parts gathering. I would love to dive right in but alas I am moving across country in a few months so I will content myself with the small stuff until I get into the new digs and locate the donor.

More to come!

 

I'm definitely keeping track of this thread! This is a way cool idea. Crazy, just a little, but cooler'n hell. I'm gonna look for that fullsizbronco thread. Post a link to that if ya could!

I was also thinking of swapping the cab, mostly because I would NOT want to mess with swapping wires and computer crap over, along with all the interior bits. But swapping the cab, like a show that used to be on West Coast Customs did to a Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger or two, it's a LOT of work hollowing out the body enough to fit over the new dimensions. I think the truck would be easier to do though. It would take a lot of dimensions, and obviously a donor truck in awesome shape.

 

That's the name of the show thanks KM.
subscribing to this build to it is almost as crazy as my dream truck (a crew cab F350 87-91 with a V10 Zf6 D60 front jacked up with 44s.)
Trav

 

Thanks for the subscriptions fellas, be patient as I am a long way off from gutting the first truck. There will still be months of parts gathering, moving, planning, and searching for the perfect donor.

As a small update I have located the new axles and I will be picking them up next weekend. 2008 Dana "super" 60 front and a Dana 80 in 4.88. They are going to set me back a pretty penny too...$4800. Project hasn't even started and I am half through my goal budget. After they are rebuilt I suspect I'll be in them for about $6k. But I have convinced myself its the only way to go as I will only get one chance to build my dream truck the right way the first time right? Right, now do me a favor and explain that to my wife!

As several have pointed out, my name and the word crazy tend to bump into each other in sentences every now and then. In keeping with that, I was thinking about how to "do it right the first time" and since I am already in for more than I anticipated, and I will have several months before I can even hope to start tearing into the '91....why not hold out for a Raptor donor?!?!?! That 6.2 would be gobs of fun, the interior is sweeter (especially the cup holder up fitter switches, oh the things I could use those on), plus owners with the cabbage to drop on a Raptor get all the bells and whistles...after all this project is all about getting bells and whistles into the '91. I have seen several at auctions but they are closing at about 3x what I intended to pay for my donor. Thoughts?

 

Get a wrecked super duty for the 6.2 motor and trans, they're are TONS of service trucks with them and they're cheap. The interior would be cooler, but you can find interiors seperate from the rest of a truck all the time. Anything "Raptor," just like anything Harley Davidson, is going to demand an unjustified premium

 

KMAC- You're absolutely right. Raptors appear to be commanding 3-4x the final bid than normal F-150s despite the fact that the dudes who crack up their SVT-Rs tend to do much more damage than the average F-150 owner.

I have given a lot of thought to the Superduty route, but have concerns about some of the interior being significantly larger. The F-150 measurements I have taken from a friend's 2012 are pretty darn close (just like Quint I will have to shave the dash...I am trying to visualize a fix for the defrost vent in the event I have to shave past the factory vent). But nearly everything else is a sure thing.

One of the interesting things about the interior is going to be the door panels, I am planning on mocking up the window ledge from the late models (not sure what else to call it) to see if it looks cool or stupid. if its cool then I will do the necessary sheet metal work to incorporate it and leave the interior door panels as they are...if its stupid then I will be cutting the ledge out of the door panels and replacing flat material/blending/recovering a portion of the panel. I am hoping that the drop window looks good on the older body style as the SM work seems much more manageable.

I am currently searching for an auto glass business that can work me some custom rear window panes. I will need the stationary glass to be significantly larger to make up the difference for the power-rear window pane and then will modify the '91's frame to accept the donor's power glass and custom cut panes.

As for actual physical progress, there has been little. The wife and I are making the drive out to Idaho to pick up the Dana super 60 front axle tomorrow...I managed to get the seller down in price but only $150. Not nearly what I was hoping but hey, the man is in business to turn a profit. As for the rear I have decided it will be easier to go with a sterling 10.5 than to try and convert the D80 to SRW...and am keeping the S60's 4.88 and swapping the 10.5's R/P to match. Yukon offers the 4.88's for the Sterling, but to change the S60 I would be stuck with standard 60 rings (negating the original purpose of the S60 purchase).

Once I get the front axle back to the house I was going to do a step by step guide for the rebuild/customizing/mounting but I am thinking I will stick with a "I done this this and this...its finished moving on..." in this thread. I will look through the related posts and see if there is anything like it if not I will make a new thread for that.

 

sorry about the late response here KMAC, URL:
http://home.comcast.net/~qcrispin/bronco/

 

Thanks for the link!

As for te super duty being a full donor, it wouldn't be. It would have to be just for the drivetrain if you had to have that 6.2. I think you'll be fine with whatever you end up though and all of it will be an improvement over what's in there now. Just thinking about all the custom work that's gonna have to go into this and it's insane . . . Getting those axles is a great start though and one of the biggest pieces.

Those Raptors do get ragged on, but everyone that drives a truck wants one . . .