OldIHC

Looking to Hot Rod / Modified My 48 KB-1. In the process of tear down and cleanup. Going to get the thing Blasted, ( sand,bead or soda ? ) I have a few questions and ideas and like some opinions .

What are some of the Chassis that I should be looking for ?
Should I Keep the stock Chassis and work with it.
I'm thinking Chevy 4.3 V6, not interested in any high horsepower motor
Toyota or Ranger or S-10 Donner For the motor, auto tranny and Rear end ???
Gas tank and Battery in bed ??
Keeping front axle And up grade drum brakes

Looking for info, I'm in northern Calif.

Lefty1948

If you have decided to keep the front axle, I would recommend a rear axle swap. Disk brake kits are available here- http://www.tsmmfg.com/Front%20Disc/inte ... al_tr.html
A Ferd rear axle will have the same wheel bolt pattern as your front axle. Many use an Explorer rear axle because it gives the option of rear disc brakes. It is a little narrower, though.

Dean

I'm using an Explorer rear end in my 46 K1. I'd suggest you look at what kind of wheels you want to run to ensure the rear is wide enough. I had to run wheels with 2 1/4" BS. My TTDs didn't fit (~3.5"? BS).

If I was doing it again, I'd look for a wider 8.8 rear end for more wheel options.

A local favorite is the modular Crown Vic front suspension. Add to that the wider Crown Vic 8.8 and a set of wheels that fit. The correct offset can be adjusted with wheel off-set. The later Crown Vic cars had a wider hub to hub distance. The auto wreckers are flooded with retired police Crown Vics and the prices are near scrap. Check it out.

I actually bought a CV to add the front suspension but wasn't smart enough to know how to make mounts at the attachment points. The mount points are wider than the K1 frame. If you can get it to work, this is a great option.

You mentioned you are keeping the drum brakes with the stock front axle. While I’m not anywhere close to being an expert about this topic, I can recognize an area of concern. Most combination brake set-ups are disc front/drum rear and the master cylinder is configured that way. It would seem backward to me to have drum brakes front/disc brakes rear as the rear brakes, generally speaking, require less pressure to achieve the braking response needed. Or, to put it another way, ideally, you’d want the best braking ability on the front brakes due to weight shift on sudden braking situations. Most dual braking systems are set up to send slightly higher pressure to the front brakes than to the rear brakes through the proportioning valve. So, to my way of thinking, you’d want to have the disc brakes on the front and drum brakes on the rear if you’re not going 4 wheel discs. At least when mfgs. started offering disc brakes, it was front discs, rear drums. If you’re going 4 wheel discs, then forget I said anything as long as you don’t forget that proportioning valve.