BUDGET CRUISER CHASSIS, PART I
Follow Along as We Put Together a Comet Chassis
Follow Along as We Put Together a Comet Chassis
As we all know, the F-100 market has heated up tremendously over the last few years. It is evident by more offerings than ever from major aftermarket companies as well as the fact that we are seeing many more high-profile F-100 builds at big events like SEMA and Goodguys, to name a few.
One segment of the industry that has really stepped up with the F-100 crowd is the manufacturing of full chassis. There are quite a few chassis available for F-100s, from companies like Art Morrison, The Roadster Shop, Fat Man, Scott’s and No Limit, to name a few.
All these companies build top notch products, but there can be one roadblock: cost. This is what brought us to Comet Fab and Speed LLC in Haltom City, Texas.
There have been some grumblings in the F-100 community for the past few months that Comet was offering a “budget cruiser” chassis, so we wanted to see what this was about. Let’s face it: Not everyone wants or needs a four-bar rear
suspension, or 14-inch rotors with 6 piston calipers, or tubular upper and lower control arms. They just want to be low, look good and be safe doing it.
Looking at the different segments of consumers, you have the dropped I-beam and CV swap crowd, the aftermarket weldon or bolt-on front and rear suspension crowd, and then it jumps to the full chassis crowd. Getting some insight from Comet, the company was looking to help out the guys and gals with F-100s who fell into the middle: the category of wanting to do a little more than bolt-on expensive suspension components to a flimsy original frame, but not wanting to break the $10-12K threshold for a full chassis.
When Comet set out to design a budget-worthy chassis, it looked at many options for front suspension components. The one that made the most sense was the Crown Victoria. Not only is it favorable for a truck, but the parts are readily available at local parts stores, there’s several online choices that will not break the bank, and you can often find what you need at the junkyard! The challenge was in narrowing the track width to get the truck low and avoid rubbing issues. This is where Comet designed its own crossmember, which changed everything.
Comet offers two styles of chassis for ’57-’72 F-100s. Each style has many options including bare with no rear suspension (starts at $4,400), all the way up to full rollers with coilovers on all four corners and brakes front and rear. Each chassis is available with either leaf springs or Outcast Autoworks four bar. In addition,
Comet designed the engine perches on its chassis to accept any of the engine mounts Outcast makes, including mounts for
SBF, FE, Coyote, Mod motor, LS and BBF. The engine perches are slotted as well to allow the end user up to 4 inches of fore and aft adjustability to get their engine in the perfect spot.
To begin, there is the “no cut” chassis, which the end user basically swaps their cab, bed, fenders, etc., from the old chassis to the new chassis, and there is no cutting or fabrication to the bed floor, bed wheel tubs, cab floor or transmission tunnel required. This “no cut” chassis will basically get you 2-3 inches lower than the typical CV swap yet gives you much better choices in wheel selection and less worries on tire rub. The one feature important to this first style of chassis is the in-house fabricated rear axle notch. This notch is made from quarter-inch plate steel to ensure there are no structural issues with the thin profile of the chassis in this area, as the cross section in this area is just under 3 inches.
Moving on, the second style of chassis from Comet is the Slammer chassis. This chassis features an extra 2 inches in frontend drop, as well as a rear mandrel bent notch to clear any axle travel regardless of truck height and tire combo. As with many of the other chassis available at this ride height, there will be firewall, cab floor, bed floor, and bed wheelwell fabrication required.
Comet’s goal was to provide a low-cost, heavy-duty chassis with options that didn’t force the consumer with things they did not want or need. With Comet’s options, you could essentially use your current F-100 leaf springs and current 9-inch rearend.
Or, substitute the 9-inch with the common Explorer 8.8 swap. Speaking of the Explorer 8.8 swap: Comet and Outcast are currently working on a full bolt on 4-bar setup that utilizes the Explorer 8.8. That’s right—zero welding required. This will give the consumer the opportunity to order up a Comet chassis with the 4-bar option, and when they take delivery, they simply bolt in their Explorer 8.8!
All chassis include factory bed, cab and core support mounting perches. Upper control arm alignment cams, lower control arm mounting bolts and bushings, and adjustable transmission crossmember are included as well. Follow along as Comet’s crew shows us how they do things.