Hey guys,

I've got a '53 f-100 and put a Chrysler front clip under it. I'm having some clearance problems with the big ole honkin steering box and headers on the left and the control armand headers on the right... plus with the tilt up hood the clip just don't look 'pretty'.

I'm seriously considering cuting out the volare clip and starting over with a mustang II ifs unit... fixes my clearance problem..keeps my disc brakes and p.s. and it looks prettier..

now the question... installing the clip caused us to notch the frame significantly.. when I cut it out I need to repair it and restore the structural integrity of the frame. I'm considering fabbing up a "inner frame rail" that will fit inside the frame rail that spans the butchered piece...weld it all in and then cosmetically repair the sliced up original frame.
Then rebox everything to make it 'pretty' again.

does that sound reasonable ?? you gurus have any suggestions, cautions, comments, horror stories ?

I'd like to keep what I have already since the tilt front end is mounted and working nicely and the rear suspension is completed with ladder bars and coil overs... I don't want to start over with a new frame...

wadcha think ???

tia

john

The not so pretty graft of a clip is always a downside of doing one whereas some of the MII kits are pretty sanitary. There have been a lot of Volare clips put into your truck style, so guys have worked this out. You just need to find them and see how they solved the clearance issues. I don't know about trying to reassemble the original, maybe you would be better off trying to find another complete frame and either use all of it or cut it back amidship and replace the whole front half or something like that and then put your Mustang in there.

hey there I'm sorta having the same problem at the moment.put the chrysler sub on my 55 chevy truck.no regrets.clearance around the stearing box for headers is ok.oil pan clears the center link.the only stumper I have is where to locate the motor mounts.older chevy style front mounts looks like the most practical at this point.I was also tossing the idea around of COVERTING the stearing to a rack and pinion style.wich in itself should give more clearance for everything.now heres my ?. does anybody know what rack and pinion I could use that would be the right width stearing arm to stearing arm?

Go for the new frame.It will be easer in the end. Dont mount the motor from the front unless you will mount the trans from the bell housing.(the tranny will crack if you mount it from the back mount) Volar clips are a thing of the past.They are messy and very few every look good when finished.(plus ball joints and other components were really sloppy on them as new) I have how ever cut a 55 1st GMC off at the firewall that hade the chysler clip and put 2 straight 2x3 .120 wal tubing in place of the frame and installed a stangII on that. It looked great when done but probale would have been cheaper for the customer to install a new frame. The chyrler clips just seemed to be a cheap way out a long time ago but really dont work all that well. I think the only plus was torsion bars ..just for the ride.cause you really should not be turning the bolts up and down after its aligned.