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F-SERIES TIME MACHINE
The Ford Motor Company launched the
original F-100 on March 13, 1953, in the thick of the firm's
golden anniversary festivities. Sporting a stylish curved
windshield, rigid axles, and a 6.5-foot bed, the F-100 was
one of the most modern pickups the world had ever seen.
Customers were offered a choice of a 106-horsepower, 239
cubic-inch Flathead V-8 or a 101-horsepower, 215 cubic-inch
OHV inline-six. This was the first year a Ford-O-Matic automatic
transmission was offered, though such creature comforts
as air conditioning, power windows, and power steering were
still far in the F-100's future. Prices started at $1,330
for a standard F-100 pickup, and more than 100,000 were
sold in the inaugural year.
The 1953 Ford F-100–known affectionately
as Effie by its most ardent admirers–radiates a confident
beauty all its own. In retrospect, it's not surprising that
it posted a 43-percent sales increase over the previous
model year-owners saw this as a truck capable of simultaneously
serving their needs and looking smart in their driveways.
But not just any '53 Ford deserved to be touched by the
metal masters for this project. Ford Racing Technology wanted
a solid survivor to serve as the starting point for the
FR100–a truck that was coddled and cared for during
the past 50 years so that it could successfully make the
leap into this century.
Tom Berkery, one of FRT's parts marketing
managers and an FR500/FR200 team member, shouldered the
task of finding not one but two '53 trucks suitable for
the cause. "Experience gained from past projects convinced
us that we'd need at least two and possibly three F-100s
for this program," he says. "Right after last
year's SEMA show, I started searching the Internet for solid
'53 F-100 pickups. The criteria were pristine vehicles with
little or no body modifications. The engines and drivelines
didn't matter much because those parts would be updated,
but we were looking for straight frames and rust-free bodywork."
Berkery continues, "I located
the first one, which we call the brown truck, north of San
Antonio, Texas, at a used-car emporium. It wore several
layers of paint with brown on top. Modifications included
a 460 cubic-inch Ford big-block V-8, a 9-inch rear axle,
and aftermarket power steering. This truck was very sound,
so we bought it.
"The second donor vehicle, which
we call the white truck, was (at least initially) more pristine.
I located it on the Hemmings.com web site. The owner lived
in Knoxville, Tennessee, and his truck was equipped with
an original 6-cylinder engine mated to a 3-speed manual
transmission with overdrive. The only modifications were
an ivory paint job and an updated front seat.
Both trucks were at the FR100 project
headquarters -- McLaren Performance Technologies in Livonia,
Michigan -- by Christmas. By New Year's, the brown truck
had been disassembled, and the body parts were already back
from the paint stripper. The fabrication effort began in
early January.
One FR100 will be unveiled at this
year's Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show,
and the other will initially serve as a rolling-chassis
display at SEMA. Both project vehicles will eventually be
shared with the media so that journalists can experience
the latest performance parts from Ford Racing in a suitable
driving context -- which is to say, flat out around a racetrack.
"It's our philosophy that anyone
should be able to fill the gas tank in one of our show cars
and run it on the track or on the street all day with excellent
results," Tom Berkery states. "We build show cars
that are go cars."
OVERVIEW
Anticipating needing a custom frame from the beginning,
Ford Racing personnel nonetheless wanted to see how much
of the original chassis could be used to accommodate the
intended modifications. As it turns out, the front framerail
spacing was similar to the current Mustang's. So the team
contemplated grafting on an independent, unequal-length-control-arm
front suspension system engineered for the FR500 Mustang
project. However, it quickly became evident that fabricating
upper mounting points for the front coil-over shocks and
mounting points for a production Cobra independent rear
suspension would require a completely new frame.
Enter Don Buzynski, McLaren's fabrication supervisor. Crafting
frames from steel tubing, reshaping fender sheet metal,
and creating whole cars from a conversation and sketches
is old hat to this fabrication wizard. He's been building
exotic custom cars for 29 years and, though not as well
known as several West Coast builders, is unquestionably
one of the grand masters of his art. But with two trucks
to build and develop in less than a year's time, Buzynski
needed a crew of able assistants, steadfast dedication,
and a little luck to stick to the ambitious schedule.
The to-do list ran off the page:
* Design, engineer, and fabricate a custom frame.
* Move the front wheels forward five inches to alleviate
the original front-heavy, long-overhang look.
* Stretch the back of the cab six inches to clear room for
lanky occupants and a discrete roll cage.
* Shorten the bed a like amount to maintain overall length.
* Fatten up the fenders to accommodate the modern wide-tread
rubber needed to deliver sparkling acceleration, braking,
and cornering performance.
* Reposition the original instrument panel three inches
rearward to suit the longer cabin.
* Clean up the vintage sheet metal by filling unwanted holes,
vents, and seams where appropriate to improve appearance.
After the trucks were disassembled
and stripped to bare metal, the pile of what ultimately
got used was roughly the same height as that of the parts
eligible for recycling. But don't think anything went into
the scrap bin. McLaren was careful to recycle the vintage
driveline and chassis parts to owners interested in restoring
their classic Ford pickups. In the pile of to-be-used sheet
metal, only the hood, doors, and tailgate would make the
trip to the project trucks without major modifications.
The schedule called for a rolling chassis
by the end of April, an up-and-running mule by June, testing
and development in July, and a final shakedown evaluation
by mid-August. Keeping on that track would allow the painters
and polishers to work their magic in time for the curtain
to rise on the finished FR100 at November's SEMA extravaganza.
CHASSIS
Buzynski started the frame fabrication project logically
at the front. An elaborate crossmember created for the FR500
Mustang supports the engine, unequal-length control-arm
front suspension, anti-roll bar, and power rack-and-pinion
steering gear. Designed with up-to-the-minute suspension
geometry by Ford engineer Jay O'Connell (who once contributed
his ingenuity to solving Indy car chassis problems), this
key component fits snugly in a minimum amount of space,
supports ultra-wide wheels and tires, and delivers excellent
performance on road or track.
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The FR500 front suspension bolts directly
to a pair of 3x3-inch rectangular-section mild-steel tubes
that serve as the front framerails. A wall thickness of
0.120-inch for these tubes as well as the 2x2-inch and 3x4-inch
tubes that make up the rest of the frame members assure
adequate strength and stiffness without adding undesirable
weight. Chrome-molybdenum-alloy steel tubing-coded 4130
-- commonly known as "chromoly" -- provides a
much higher tensile strength (maximum load before breaking
occurs) and is used for most of the 1.625-inch-diameter
roll cage reinforcement tubes. Buzynski prefers this more
expensive and harder-to-work-with alloy because its thinner
wall thickness (0.083-inch) provides the desired strength
and stiffness at a reasonable weight.
Above the rails, a web of tubes wraps
forward of the engine to provide substantial support for
the radiator and coil-over towers. These tubes also tie
into the firewall to attach to lateral, longitudinal, and
vertical tubes inside the cab that stiffen the truck and
provide a safety cage for occupants. Those tubes mate to
a third phase of tubes that pass through the bed area to
stiffen the truck's rear structure.
Rectangular framerails pass under the
stretched and smoothed cab floor. A tubular truss structure
positioned between the main rails and the floor give the
assembly beam stiffness while providing a solid foundation
to anchor the seats. Roughly 400 pounds of steel go into
the frame, which looks more than capable of passing the
safety inspection at any NASCAR Craftsman truck event.
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Dan Davis threw Don Buzynski a curveball
after work began. Instead of building a frame to accept
a bolt-in rear crossmember from the Mustang Cobra, Davis
concluded that a new integral set of suspension and differential
mounting points would look better and yield superior performance.
But that meant Buzynski had to fabricate elaborate jigs
on his surface plate to locate the mounting points in space,
and then craft all of those points into his frame design.
Davis also suggested replicating the mass-produced rear
control arms in custom-made hardware to polish off the package.
Also enhancing the classic appearance of the FR100 are fat
Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires, 18-inch BBS modular wheels,
and capably sized Brembo brakes.
As soon as the core components of the
first truck were completed, the effort split into two directions.
Buzynski concentrated on constructing a second space frame
from scratch while other craftsmen focused on creating systems
for the first truck. Crafting the 52.75-inch-long by 3.5-inch-diameter
aluminum-metal-matrix driveshaft, fitting the interior controls,
and adapting reproduction body panels consumed hundreds
of man-hours. Custom stainless-steel headers were made to
route exhaust from the four-cam engine, through a pair of
catalysts, around various chassis and driveline components,
to a pair of mufflers hung vertically next to the fuel cell
at the rear of the truck. Continue
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