Well...one aspect has been cleared up. The Phantom II is getting a V8, after all. 
Today was an interesting day. We've crafted custom mounts for the body to be fitted onto the frame. These will increase the rigidity of the body when it's finally bolted onto the chassis, and should eliminate any unwanted body sway (which would have been quite pronounced if we had not addressed it).
The 1UZ-FE V8 along with its ready-bolted automatic transmission is at the build site, now. The wiring is uncut and the ECU is ready-flashed...so we should just need to mount the engine, change the oils, snap on the connector brackets to the wiring, provide a fuel line, and the engine should be good to start up.
Over the next couple of days, Allah be willing, we will be looking at getting the engine, tranny and shaft correctly mounted and perfectly aligned. This should cause the springs to flex some, and 'settle' the ride height of the car. Following this, we'll drop the suspension further...as far as is feasible or practical for us to do so. This will bring us to the lowest 'logical' height for the car.
This will be followed by the most radical, and most untested step: the body drop. This is going to be like performing surgery...and is going to require a fair amount of precision. We'll be cutting out the entire floor of the body, whilst keeping it bolted onto the frame. This will allow the remainder of the tub to be shifted to the desired height. Once we get to the desired height of the body after dropping it, we'll weld the floor back in place. This procedure is what is called "channeling" a car. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Believe me...it's NOT.
