Garth Webb (www.webberchassis.com) installed one of our Mustang II kits in a customer’s 1957 Ford, and I followed along with a camera. Hopefully this will give some insight into what’s required on a “custom” install (where the frame doesn’t normally lend itself to an easy install).
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- Here is the stock ’57 frame. You can see the springs mounted ‘inside’ the frame rails. These front rails will have to be cut off and a new pair of rails fabricated.
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- Once the chassis was sitting at ride height, Garth started to make fixtures for fender mounts and the radiator support.
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- Here is the radiator support fixture.
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- After the original front section of the chassis is lopped off, Garth and the customer established the ride height for the Ford.
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- It’s important to use the same size wheel/tire combination to mock up the ride height, so you know exactly what it’s going to look like when it goes down the road.
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- You can see the fender mount fixture in this picture, as well as the beautiful new front frame rails.
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- To start laying out the crossmember location, Garth first bought shares of 3M then covered the frame rails in masking tape.
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- Another angle of the kick up/out he put in the rails. A good width for a 56″ crossmember in a custom chassis is 29-30″ outside.
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- Here’s where Garth blended the new frame rails to the original rails at the firewall.
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- “Maye I should have put tape on the inside too…” It’s ok, Garth, the outside is good enough :)
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- Garth begins laying out the lines which will position the crossmember and upper towers.
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- Follow the instructions carefully!
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- The crossmember has been tacked in place, and the upper towers are being positioned on the appropriate lines.
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- Instructions for trimming the tower and crossmember are included with the kit and also available online.
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- You can see the recreated radiator support and the finished crossmember.
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