started a build on a 65 town wagon , picked it up a few months ago . when i bought it i was told it would take a few hours and the wagon would be back up and running just needed a starter and alt , well after i got it home that was not the case . i had to go thru all the hack wiring just to get it to where i could even try and start it , finally got that done and the engine would not turn over ( i tried by hand first but only moved it 1/4 turn ) took the new starter out and tested and was good . pulled the valve cover off (slant 6 ) and found cover was not sealed and water was all over the rocker and springs , so i pulled the head and checked the block and found the engine would turn over now but the first piston had bad rings so i decided to just pull the engine and do a v8 swap .

while i had the front end apart and engine out i decided to modify the frame to accept a crown vic front suspension that uses the aluminum cross member will all the suspension tied onto it , Im almost done with the install just need to tie in the trailing arms that come off the lower control arm . Yesterday i went to the Jy and pulled a 5.9 magnum and got it mocked up then one of the motor mount brackets just about done , hoping to finish it off get the 2nd one done , pull motor back out , box in the lower portion of the brackets then finish off the trailing arms

day we picked it up

out with the old

old motor mounts out and frame pressure washed

boxing started

frame cleaned up

suspension installed



and how it currently sits


went to the junkyard and pulled a 46rh /a518 out of a 1990 d150 , got it all cleaned up and bolted to the engine . put both back in the wagon and found i had to cut out the old trans cross member so the new trans could sit in down, once i had that cut out the other cross member was right under the very tail end of the trans so i decided to make a new removable cross member .






started on the 4 link in the rear , so far i got a section of the frame plated and upper link mounts done on both frame and axle . also went to the junk yard and found a rear sway bar off a crown vic that fits very well , just had to make the axle mounts

went to the junkyard and pulled a dodge 1500 pedal assembly and brake booster , benefits will be cable gas pedal vs rod linkage and power brakes . also pulled backing plates and e-brake line from a grand cherokee do a disc brake conversion
made adapter plates which also covered the old holes then made an adapter for the steering column i picked up last week

got the new gas tank mounted up


pulled a floor shifter from the junkyard to see if i could adapt it to work in the dodge

what it looks like after i modified it

pulled grand cherokee disc brake assembly for the conversion on the 8.75 . i went a little different route than most for the caliper bracket but i didn't want to have a spacer so i just cut the caliper bracket out and welded it to the tube end

Looks good so far but you deleted the important part as to what it is and what you r plan is.

That's strange, I agree this really looked interesting.

Sheldon

Wow....I agree.....it looks like it's all Mopar too. I'm using those Grand Cherokee rear disk breaks also on my Valiant.

I believe he said 65 town wagon.

Cool project. Missed the first post. Thanks for sharing this.

looks like a pretty cool build. what's up with your first post?

3 posts and poof.?????

huh , i didn't realize the thread was still visible , most forums will delete the thread when ou delete the 1st post
i was having issues with photobucket and was going to re-post once i got the issues fixed but forgot to update since ive been busy with the project

1st post fixed and more pics of the progress
made a bracket for the steering column and got it mounted into place , then got the steering figured out to the steering rack



then i got the frame out and cleaned up , cut the rivets out for the body mounts so the brackets could be cleaned up. frame along with body mounts , links and a few cross members are at powder coat and should have everything by Friday

tore down the 742 case and cleaned everything up then put all new bearings in and checked the pattern . then cleaned up the inside of the housing as well as outside and got it painted



while the rear axle was drying pulled the crown vic suspension apart and painted the x member . once that was dry started putting back together

so the purpose of the build is to have something different all the other vehicles we have are 4x4 (1) dedicated crawler (1) dd/ camping rig and (1) tow rig plus i wanted to try my hand at putting a spin on something classic. being a cruiser we wanted to be comfortable and bring the pups with us so took the wife to the jy and picked out seats , scored some decent seats out of an 98 durango


decided to add sheet metal for the bench seat instead of just bolting it to the plywood wood platform in the back .

dogs testing the truck out

thats it for pics tonight but i should have more tomorrow of the axle put back together as well as the crown vic front end

Dog tested and approved.

I like it better than a Subaru.

That's funny. I just saw that comercial for the first time about a minute ago.
Can't wait to get home tommorow night so I can take a look at the photos.
Glad this thread was updated. Seems to be a fun build.