Hi all I’m from Washington St. (Eastern WA the dry side lol) I have a 1972 Ford F-250 that I bought around 3 years ago for $800.00 I drove it almost everyday for 2 years before the ol 360 gave out. I found a guy who had a 1977 Lincoln Mark V 460 C6 trany with bad brakes and a rusted out roof but very low miles for only $300.00 It runs and drives great just doesn’t stop. Plan to put the 460 into the truck soon!

Here are a few pic's of what it looked like when I got it









And here are a few pic's of it cleaned up a bit.....








The 77 Lincoln and 460









My $500.00 parts truck I picked up a little while back, 2002 company truck with bad engine.






Ok so decided to go all in and do a chassis swap, once I got the body out of the way.













So with that done I spent a few days mocking up engine mounts for my 460 so it could mount onto the 2002 frame.



 

The 02’s frame has two trany mounting positions and the back one was a perfect fit







With that done I moved my truck into the shop and took it apart.












Always wanted a low rider....





Pushed out the old frame and moved the 02 in. Did a test fit with just the bed first, pulled it back off and then put the cab up on it.







I couldn’t believe it but the front cab mounts were an exactly perfect fit. As you can see in the pic’s the bolts dropped right in and are straight.









Some more pic's of the cab and bed up on the frame










The bed is about 3" to high so I will need to fugure out how to make it line up but It looks like I should have room to lower it by notching the bed rails.
Now the 02 was an extended cab and I have always wanted a short bed in this year (67-72)so I will have to cut down the frame and then the bed but I planed on doing that to the old frame before I got the 02 so no big deal. 23-1/2” will need to be cut out and that will bring the rear cab mounts up to the correct position. The 02 has disc brakes all the way around and a very nice ride so this should be a great upgrade for my old 72.  

I've been working away at test fitting things back onto the truck and happy to say the radiator core support and inner fenders went on without to much of a fight. I will need to drill holes for the rubber isolators that the core support sits on, but shouldn't be to hard. The fender & wheel look right as for how they sit. Also there is plenty of frame sticking out up front to work with for the bumper and ect.











I'm going to test fit a few more parts and line up the bed real good then go under it at mark all the bed rails so when I take it all back apart I can C notch all of them. Also I will have to dive right in and grind out the frame welds here in this pic.

 

After it is separated at that point I will need to cut off 23-1/2" slide it back together and reweld it. I am at the point that I really can't do to much more without cutting the frame so might as well get it out of the way........ right?  

I pulled the bed, cab, & engine back off the frame so I could cut it down to a short bed length. The bed on the 02 is a short bed but the cab was an extended so that’s where the cut will be made. I tack welded some legs to it so when its apart it will be easier to work on and also slide back together.








The factory welds were the perfect place to cut so I cleaned them up so they would be easy to follow.





I then made the cuts to each side and then slid the apart. After that I chopped off the extra 23-1/2” and ground off all the excess metal.













got out my ratchet straps and pulled it back into place nice and tight. Clamped everything and then took more measurements to make sure it was right.
















Then welded it up cut off the legs and got ready to drill out the new bolt holes for the trany mount.









The placement of the trany mount is perfect for reinforcing the welds because it overlaps and bolts through both sides of the welds
 












One shortened frame, Done!

 

I put the cab back up onto the frame and with the frame shortened I now was able to bolt it down.






I had to trim some more of the lower back part of the cab so the cab would sit down onto the body mounts.













The floor pans seem to follow the frame like they were supposed to go together and the front cab mounts still shock me on how well they lined up.

I have the typical cross support rust so I will have to fix that along with the rusted floor pans.









Next I was able to mark off the bed and cut it down. I cut it so there would be a little overlap up front to help support the cut bed floor. Cleaned up the over lap sprayed it with weldable primer and got everything close to lined up. A few more adjustments and a little trim here an there and I should be able to start tacking it back together.





















cleaned out the seam sealer along both sides and started to tack it togther also. I still need to cut out the 4" on the other end and then notch the bed rails so it will sit lower. oh and fill all the holes that are everywhere.











finally have a short bed bump! I completed the cut down and tacking it back together. Now I just need to weld the inside part of the bed and then I can flip it over and finally notch the bed rails like I've been talking about.

Here's a before and after shot.







and then a few pic's in between










I also welded up most of the holes and started on the passenger side welding up the bed seem.

 

I started the mock up of the c notch in the bed rails, marked all the frame cross members on the channel and cut them out. You can see I have a lot to work around with this X shaped cross member.





Then flipped the bed and lined up the marks I had made when it was on the frame. Checked everything and then started cutting.


















This looks like it will give me a 2-1/4" drop for the bed, but we will have to see once it's all tacked it.







Time for a test fit...







maybe a shim or 2 here or there to make it perfect but good enough for mock up. I put the front end back together to check the body lines, so far so good.









Looks good enough for now. Time for the next phase front end/radiator core support mounts and bumper brackets.  

this is a cool project man!! Keep it up and keep posting  
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Well I got a little more done today, I figured now was as good a time as any to fix the nice dent the truck had when I bought it.







Also going to use panels from a 67 to fix it so the bed will have a more smooth look to it. I picked these corner post up from a junk yard for $10 ea.






Cut out my patch panel and then cut out the damaged panel on the truck.











Clamped in the new patch and then started tacking it in.










So after a ton of spot welds it is done.











Now I get to start the drivers side