Independent Suspension For An L-Series

One of the upgrades I have in mind for my truck is to swap in an independent front suspension clip. I have one from an AMC Pacer, which gives me front disc brakes and rack-and-pinion steering, as well as an A-frame suspension with no strut rods requires. And the Pacer clip uses the same front springs as '78-'88 General Motors G-body cars [Malibu, Grand Prix, Regal, Cutlass], as well as '82-'92 GM F-bodies [Camaro and Firebird].





This is NOT my frame...but this is what an original L-series frame looks like with a Pacer suspension clip installed. [If you click on the photo, you can get a larger view with a little more detail. Bit since the frame and the suspension are both black, some of the detail will be hard to detect.] There are also kits out there for installing the near-universal Mustang II front clip, and some folks have even done torsion bar setups from the Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare. I went with the Pacer for several reasons, not the least of which was cost; I got the entire clip, already removed from the car, for $50. As I begin the process of my installation, I'll try to take lots of photos and post them.

Chopping The Top on An L-Series...Part I: Getting the Idea

There are several ways to go about chopping the top on an L-series International. My idea is that, since the width of the windshield doesn't vary from top to bottom, the smart way to do it would be to make a left-to-right [or right-to-left; it doesn't really matter] cut across the middle of the roof, and then take a section out of the windshield posts to get the front down to the height you want.

The following photos from another website will better illustrate what I'm talking about: [DISCLAIMER: THESE ARE NOT PHOTOS OF MY TRUCK]

Notice, if you will, the reinforcing used to make sure the cab dimensions stay true. My plan is to set up an adjustable reinforcement to be placed vertically in the cab doorway, with two "stop" positions: the stock height, and the desired height after the chop is completed. Additionally, I would recommend bracing laterally in the roof areas both in front of and behind the area to be cut, as well as above and below the cuts in the rear of the cab, in order to minimize shifting and twisting of the metal when everything is apart. Now, for a much better sense of before and after [and notice the lateral bracing inside the cab]:

But I'm of the opinion that the rear cab windows on the L-series are already short enough. Since I'm not a lizard, I choose NOT to see the world through two tiny slits. Here's an example of an "inscrutable" effect I'd hope to avoid:

And here's that R-series, which uses essentially the same cab as an L-series, but with a single, larger rear window: While the effect isn't as bad on the R-series, I still would rather keep my rear cab windows intact. That would mean, then, taking the 3-1/2" or 4" out of the area between the rear cab windows and the cab styling "break" line. As the summer progresses, I hope I'll be able to post some in-progress pictures of the process involved as I chop the top on my '52 L-110 longbed.

And So It Begins...

So just why am I starting a new blog about my International trucks? At this point, I've accumulated a lot of information in my files. Some of it's on my laptop; some of it's on the desktop. And invariably, whenever I try to access it, I never have it all at my disposal. And of course, some of the stuff I'd like to be able to link to is invisible to others unless I manually upload and send it to them. So I've decided to combine this blog with Dropbox to make my truck stuff accessible to myself and others from wherever I am. I also plan to use this blog to track the build of my '52 International rod project. It's been in the works a long time, but I'm ready to break out the Sawzall and the welder and the wrenches and let 'er rip...as money and time allow, of course.