87 F-150 core support

[mcne]

I have an 87 F-150 and plan on putting on fiberglass front fenders. I am limited to what I can fabricate myself and am wondering what to use for the core support. What do you guys think about using a piece of angle iron or "L" shaped steel from a hardware store. Then I would bolt up the iron to the two bolts holding the hood hinge. For the front I would drill a hole where it connects to the core support. I know it is not fancy but will it do the job? I might be overthinking but is this a dangerous idea if I were to have a collision? I am worried about the rod pushing through the firewall and impaling me or the passenger. Would a 45 degree angle towards the front where it would connect to the firewall prevent that and force the iron to bend out of the way? Thanks for any input. Brian

[In_the_works]

I think it's very wise of you to take into consideration what the effects of a collision would be. I did something similar to what you suggested, but used 1" tube bolted to the rear mount, and welded a piece of flat stock to the front for the forward bolts on the radiator support.

[motoxscott]

I just finished building some temporary core supports for my '94 F150. I'll try and post some pics tonight for you to get some ideas.

-Scott

[mcne]

Thanks I would appreciate any pics. My set up will be temporary also. Brian.

[tedmales]

you would be better off to do it once the correct way then make something for now and say you will fix it later. we have all done it, and its cheaper to do it once usually also. somebody will post a pic if they have it and that would help you.

[motoxscott]

It depends on what your plans are. I'm only building temp core supports because around the first of the year the truck will be torn down to the bare frame and built completely up. Their will be no more core as everything will be caged and tubes.

Even my temp set up is stouter then a lot of core supports I've seen made out there. The most time consuming part is getting the airbox, fuse/relay box, etc mounted to them. I moved the battery to the bed so I didint have to mount that to the support and also ditched the OEM coolant/wiper fluid tanks and replaced it with a smaller coolant tank and mounted it to the core instead of the core support.

I'll try and get pics up tonight.

-Scott

[In_the_works]

"The most time consuming part is getting the airbox, fuse/relay box, etc mounted to them." Amen to that. What did you use for your aftermarket washer fluid/coolant res? That is one thing that has always bugged me. I don't think I'll ever have a need for the half gallon of washer fluid that the stock reservoir holds.

[motoxscott]

I told you I would post some pics but I've been so busy I dropped the ball. This isnt very close but it give you an idea of what I did. I'll try and take some close-ups tomorrow. Remember ... this is just temp. for me. If you want something more perm. I would tie the lower part of the front core and also the lower part of the firewall into the core support for added strength and rigidity.

http://www.dezertrangers.com/~scott/beams_3.jpg
http://www.dezertrangers.com/~scott/beams_2.jpg

[mcne]

Looks good. Does the front break off at an angle? It looks like the tube comes from the firewall straight and then stops. Then you used some metal at an angle to the core support? Pretty much exactly what I planned on doing. How much are the coil buckets? How many inches of lift does your setup have? Travel? Brian.

[motoxscott]

I didnt want to put in too much time in these since they are only temp. The core support itself is 1" x.120 tubing. The bracket at the front that it is welded to is an existing part. For the rear I used 1/8" plate and welded that to the tube and then used three 3/8" grade 8 bolts to attach it to the rear fender support.

Call Camburg or Kartek for the specific coil bucket price. I bought eveything at once so I'm not sure how much those go for by themselves. I'm using a 6" lift coil and with the added leverage the extended beams put on them it will probably end up being around 4" of lift once they settle.

-Scott