As for using the rocker to fix the fender...
All of the mounting reinforcement on the bottom 8" or so has been removed thanks to mother nature.
I did manage to steal a small amount out of the bottom of the 63 330 fender that if nothing else will give me a pattern to duplicate...
As for the rocker skin...see for yourself...I think I can make something work...

Amend all earlier posts in this referring to the straight axle as an A-100.
I found out today it's from an econoline van and not an A-100.
I still can't figure out why everyone was narrowing the I beam axles to make them work.
The two are very similar and there is no reason to narrow them...
Outside of drum flange on the Ford axle is 62" wide with a center line spring perch dimension of 35 5/8".
The same dimension on the A100 axle is 63 1/4" with a center line spring dimension of 35 3/4".
I managed to get all of the layout for the drivers side fender done last evening also. I'm not going to cut anything there yet until I see if I can find another inner fender support local as the bottom of it is much worse than the passenger side was.

I made some progress with the floors and the tunnel.
The original tunnel in this car was hacked to pieces along with the original torsion bar cross member due to an A body transmission install in a B Body.
Moving the rear floors forward the 19" dimension makes them much higher at the front of the rear section than they were from the factory.
I added metal at the sides of the new tunnel then added square nuts welded under the floors to make the tunnel removable.
Passenger side is finished including the transition to the tunnel.
Drivers side will be next along with some firewall repairs from previous A body pedal installation.
I need to tie in the firewall and floor repairs at the same time to integrate the new bracket from the frame for the clutch equalizer bar with provisions from it to install a support for the universal on the steering column base for the relocated steering box.

I managed to complete one monster pita portion last night. Top picture is of the original 65 opening for the steering column at the base of the firewall. Note the butchered area above the original clutch rod opening. The opening is large from the factory for the steering column to allow the cable shift column to fit thru the firewall.
I replaced everything with a section of firewall from the 63 330. This repairs the damage and allows me to use the base plate and tube from the 63 manual column. Although that column was a 3 on the tree column I will remove all the extra hardware so its just a floor shift manual column in the end.
Clutch rod hole is all fixed along with an area of rust that showed up once I removed the bracing for the inner fender well. One more little hurdle cleared... Only a thousand more to go...

I had ordered a new drivers side floor pan from Kramer's a few weeks back. It showed up and I was kind of putting it off till the firewall was all tied in. I managed to get it all mocked up and trimmed to fit enough that the floors and firewall are all tied together where they are going to be staying.
I mocked up the pedal assembly and added a piece of metal to the clutch pivot to tie it into the frame.

It won't matter now but I do need to know if the length of the big block Z bar is the same as the small block one I'm currently using.
I sat an old blow-proof bell housing in and used the pivot that was on the 318 poly bell housing.
Everything is level and the clutch rod when going thru its travel doesn't touch or rub anywhere. It seems centered in the hole vertically.
Ultimately this is what I'll use to locate the engine and transmission mounts since I have to fab everything anyway.
Just one more small piece that's 1/2 done...
I added an extra brace back to the firewall to make sure there is no movement left to right at the pivot.
I really wanted to get started tying in the 2 support bars on the front frame but I haven't been able to locate a set of fender well headers for a big block.

If you remember the rust repairs to the RH side of the firewall from the earlier posts than you'll recognize these.
You know how things change and always seem to evolve?
Case and point was this area which I thought was finished and then something else required it to be modified.
Below are the modifications made. The reason for these will surface in the near future...

The reconstruction...

Tease for what's upcoming...

Really enjoying your updates and continue to marvel at your skills. Keep them coming please!

As an aside, I agree with your comments on not needing to narrow an A100 or Econoline axle. I've an Econoline front axle under my 61 A body. The conversion was done in the late 60's and has proven very workable at stock width. B body width would fit it even better.

Very cool build!!
Pat

Thx...
I got my Ansen Blowproof Bellhousing back. I sent it out and had it jigged and re-drilled to accept an A833. (Pic is from before I sent it out)
I picked up a correct 65 bell housing pivot and now need to begin to mock-up the engine and transmission.
I'm using the Z-bar placement as the one spot that everything else will need to revolve around. It's going to be a little while before I have anything concrete as now I have to incorporate the engine-trans with the headers and front cage bar placement while integrating the steering shaft and box placement...
I still need to find a set of used RB fenderwell headers. A,B,E Early B I don't really care...
If something doesn't turn up soon I guess I'll have to order new...

I bit the bullit and ordered a new set of Hooker fenderwell headers today...
Borrowed a 4 speed trans last night...so if everything goes right I will be mocking a few things up...

I managed to do a few more things that I haven't documented.
I added two small bars (about 28") to extend the rockers forward with a 60 degree angle and tying back into the front frame rails right where the rear leaf spring slider is located. That was really the last two bars needed before removing the car from the jig.
Managed to get the drivers side fender cut...relocated and tied back together.
Once the fender and bars were completed I installed all the suspension.

I managed to scrounge up a set of 15x8 rear slots and a set of 31x9" slicks.
Had the front runners and slicks mounted up with tubes to be able to roll it around again.
Front wheels are 3 1/2" Anson slots.
The rears are about 5/8" from the leaf spring on the inside. Maybe a 1/2" from the inside of the 1/4 panel lip.

With the front and rear axle's and leaf springs all installed it was ready to be removed from the jig.
Outside it went rolling for the first time in about 3 years...
I'm going to add some weight to let any spring settling occur and revisit what all the ride heights should be.
Depending on the amount of spring sag I may need to modify a few things but for a first attempt at this I'm happy with where it ended up just using math to set everything up.

There's a good deal of satisfaction in having this rolling again. I put in it the box trailer for now and get to put the 70 back in the garage to do a few things to it before summer comes.
It's been a bit of a journey from the first picture of when I got it till now...Took a little longer than I'd have liked too...

Wow!!

updates are coming before too long...

So after starting back to work on this about a month or so ago I have finally gotten around to downloading some pictures...

I started with trying to get motor and transmission mounts in the car so I could start mapping out locations for steering and everything else it was lacking...

I am using a 63 Ansen Bell housing modified to accept an A-833 4 speed transmission and all of the clutch linkage parts from a 63 330 I had parted out....

I really needed to make everything hook up and work around placing the existing equalizer bar in the correct location as I wanted to use all the clutch pedals and hardware I had without modifications...

Is it correct??? I don't know but everything works around it and turned out pretty good in the end...

I did have the shorten the equalizer bar 3/4" to locate the drivers side header away from the new...lower than stock frame rails. In the end it centered the motor up a little more and made both headers fit better...

I started out using one of the plastic blocks in the beginning and ended up switching to factory stuff to dummy everything up...