Are there any engineers here?

[motzingg]

Yeah I'm an ME and I'm more than happy to give advice on the internet, the cost of the advice is the same as its value: $0.

ha ha. I don't know who gives out the engineering 'licenses' but i don't have one and I'm not afraid of loosing it... SuperDodge you'll have to let me know where you get them from, i could use one! DMV? Here I've been doing it for years quite illegally!

Fact is, most engineers aren't going to be able to help much with something like this, you're better off just asking someone who builds race car suspension stuff, even up until recently most stock cars were built by dudes in barns with no formal education. If you count the thousands of small town dirt track cars... the 'guys in barns' beat 'fancypants engineers' 10 to 1.



The stock units are forgings, they look like they were cast near-net and then smashed and bent into shape. I wasn't working at the factory back then so i can't tell ya how or what they were made of but they are no joke. It wouldn't surprise me that an aftermarket unit made out of tube and welded (probably HREW mild steel, not relieved or heat treated) isn't going to be up to the same level of awesome that the OE units were built for.

The crown vic front end is obviously the most sane option if you want to make your truck into a car. Most people on this forum drive their trucks as cars anyway, so if you want it to handle worth a damn, turn nicely, etc. that is the most direct route. Since you are getting it from a junkyard, you are essentially getting what would be a 5000 dollar high end aftermarket setup for a hundred bucks scrap value. Nobody in the aftermarket can even come close to the R&D and engineering sophistication Ford had invested in that front end setup.



I was just under my truck on sunday and every time i'm down there looking up, i just can't help think how much it looks like one of these


If you really wanted to get radical, you'd have to cut all the rivets off the frame for the cross member and suspension bolt points, fabricate your own cradle and brackets, fabricate those gnarly arms out of sheet (4340 cut with a waterjet?) Tig weld it, stress relieve and heat treat it, build some upper coilover mounting brackets, upper control arms, probably a total steering re-do.


it would be awesome but one hell of a lot of work.

I'm pretty happy with my truck the way it was originally designed.

[tac]

To become a Professional Engineer (PE) you need a license.
http://www.nspe.org/resources/licensure ... t-licensed

[motzingg]

Ehh yeah that came out dickey, meant to be a joke. Most of us ME's don't get our PE, either way I don't think they'd yank your license for BS'ing on a forum.

Maybe if you told someone to weld a propane tank or something.

[pneumanic]

I am also an ME and have fabricated many race car suspension parts. For the most part, I exclusively use 4130 CM tubing. It is available in round and rectangular shapes. Most sanctioning bodies require the use of 4130 for cages. I would have to agree that you are opening pandora's box by trying to make these yourself. I believe you stated that you have access to CAD and if so, you can model some parts up and run a few simulations with your geometry. One of the many challenges you will be faced with is dialing in your bump steer. This is something that I spend hours on when setting the front end geometry on our race cars. I have seen some home made Mustang 2 suspensions with as much as an inch of bump over 3 inches of travel. That will almost take the wheel out of your hands. Another thing to keep in mind is the alignment methods used for the twin I-Beams. It was simple brute force. A lot of times guys would heat those beams up and bent the hell out of them with a port a power to get the geometry right. This really isn't any other way. The 4130 CM material I was talking about wouldn't like that at all. Especially if you ran into an alignment shop with an old timer that just loves his torches. Another thing about 4130 is the preferred welding method. I have seen plenty of this stuff mig welded, but it should really be ten welded.

For what its worth, I did the CV swap on my 67 and it was a hell of a lot of fun to do. Good luck!

[tac]

Ehh yeah that came out dickey, meant to be a joke. Most of us ME's don't get our PE, either way I don't think they'd yank your license for BS'ing on a forum.

Maybe if you told someone to weld a propane tank or something.

Didn't mean anything by it, just information. Very few engineers get PE's anymore because it's not required. I'm old and things have changed. When I graduated I was told I couldn't represent myself unless I had a PE. Then things like "Domestic", "Sanitation" engineers killed that.

[SuperDodge]

SuperDodge you'll have to let me know where you get them from, i could use one! DMV? Here I've been doing it for years quite illegally!

Since you're in Texas, I'd recommend you start with the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.
https://engineers.texas.gov/

A quick review of the FAQ on that site makes it seem that in your state a PE is only required for building construction projects or projects funded with "public money". That's not the norm, FYI.

For instance in my state you can't even call yourself an "engineer" on a business card or e-mail signature if you're not licensed. See this excerpt from the state law as posted on the SC LLR webpage:

(C) It is unlawful for an individual or firm to engage in the practice of engineering in this State, to use the title "engineer", or to use or display any title, verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, card, or other device or method to indicate that the individual or firm engages in or offers to engage in the practice of engineering without being registered as an engineer or firm.

And for the record, I am licensed to actually practice engineering (ME and ChE) in multiple states and I stamp/seal design documents for every project I manage. Then again, I work for a company that actually designs industrial facilities and equipment.

[SuperDodge]

Didn't mean anything by it, just information. Very few engineers get PE's anymore because it's not required. I'm old and things have changed. When I graduated I was told I couldn't represent myself unless I had a PE. Then things like "Domestic", "Sanitation" engineers killed that.

Outside of TX it is still very much required in most states if you want to build much of anything worth building.

[tac]

Outside of TX it is still very much required in most states if you want to build much of anything worth building.[/quote]

"Only about 20% of those who graduate with a B.S. in engineering in the U.S. go on to become licensed professional engineers."

Must be a lot of Engineers in Texas
More likely the 80% are probably EE's, which is why I don't see any PE's anymore. When's the last time a computer killed anyone? I'm working on LIon battery charger right now

[eggman918]

I'm not an engineer nor do I play one on television
But As a machinist for over 35 years i have been responsible for the design and construction of many items that should they fail would end up maiming or killing people and that responsibility has weighed VERY heavily on me so far nothing i have ever designed/made has failed I chalk that fact up to ALWAYS expecting the worse and over building items that fall into that category but the final safeguard is knowing when you are in over your head and having enough heart/honor to bow out of a project that is either beyond your skills or flawed from the beginning due to a client wanting something that is unrealistic. There is no reason to make it easy on Murphy as he will bite you on the @$$ every time the he can and it most likely won't be you that pays the price..............plan for the worst, over build and know your limitations there is know shame in telling someone that what they want is either 'over your pay grade", ill thought out or flat out stupid.

[SuperDodge]

"Only about 20% of those who graduate with a B.S. in engineering in the U.S. go on to become licensed professional engineers."

Must be a lot of Engineers in Texas
More likely the 80% are probably EE's, which is why I don't see any PE's anymore. When's the last time a computer killed anyone? I'm working on LIon battery charger right now

Lots of engineers go on to work in industrial facilities as asset managers, etc. Those guys never get licensed because they're not building/designing things.