Thread: Frame swap

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Looks great! That part on Dick Dean is in Tex Smith's How to Customize Cars. That is where I saw it, and decided from it to chassis and floorpan swap my 52 Dodge. I am envious though, of you guys with a lot of space, and an excavator or crane. I had to do it in a driveway, with an engine hoist, floor jack, and couple of jackstands. Lot of work, but drfinately worth it!

Resto Rod,...your 51 chevy will fit on a 80 or 85 chevy caprice chassis with floor pan left in place,..the wheel base is 116 ,...old chevy is 115,...put one half of inch at each wheel well, i am building a 49 chevy coupe and using a 85 caprice as the donor car,...working out good,...Al,.....

TL It's lookin good. Good pictures too. The Buick must be wider than my Ford. The rear tires were rubbing on mine. I had to radius the wheel openings. your's fits better.

hobbiest and streetrod936 how about posting some pictures of your projects here. You too resto Rod when you get to it.

Resto Rod :streetrod936 "is one of the guys " I was going to and asking questions about this switch. "so I'm pretty sure he's got ya right on the money "

hobbiest : "Thanks" !!! I'll order that book..........& I'd love to see pixs of your 52 Dodge.

Thanks AL, did most of it with a sawzall to.......
was slower and I wanted to see what I was cutting
just like I said " a worry wart " and "dad had it when I started."

the only real problem I run in to was in the back, it was either "level" like it is...... or dropped ,..........and to drop it I would have either had to cut the back of the frame or the back trunk lip and splash apron around the back and I didn't want to do either, ,,...and with the roads being like they are around here, what I did may have been the best choice........

Next 2 things are patching the trunk and inside rear fender wells so it doesn't look like it's been switched when you pull the carpet back, and making a good transition between the new fire wall and the old, .......so it looks good .

The floor will weld right up and then with some nice wide step plates you won't be able to tell, when you open the door , looks normal........ just twice as wide , didn't need to drop it over to much "where I had a step there", .... I think with the Olds floor recessed already from the factory , over the trans and frame I ended up with a 3" drop all around ! " I'll have to find my little scratch paper, to be sure " but that's what I remember.........

and I don't know how these bumper "shocks ?? " sticking out of the frame work so ?
" Can they be adjusted ????????" (shorter?)
with out cutting them and welding them back

And the wiring will be a bear! ........ but it'll just take time, I will need to buy some nice gauges , and just unplug all the stuff I'm not going to use yet.
have to do the fire wall before the wiring

and the trunk before the back outside quarters,

and I'd like to get the front sheet metal set before the fire wall gets welded " now that the fenders are set " and ........

Before I do that I want to make my hinges for the front........
so that's where I'm at now. along with sitting a motor in my '78 nova and making the blazer front end look "OK " .
Then the one barrel carb went out on my '67 work truck yesterday ..... ..........

anyway I'm still moving ...........

T L

Thanx for the heads up on the Caprice, streetrod936

How is the later Chevy for width. I had looked at a 1990-2000 Mercury Grand Marquis which has a wheel base of 114.7 (almost perfect) but it has a 63 inch track - much too wide. Is the Caprice that much narrower?

resto rod : streetrod936 has been having some computer problems, so he ask me to post this 2'ya ..........

"tell resto rod that the width is close to stock width on the chevy,...you can use inverted wheels to set them back under the fenders a little,...probably about 1 inch per wheel,..use p 205 x15 tires,...those tires and wheels on my chevy are too wide ....i will get wheels that are different and fit better,...i already have a set of coker wide whitewall tires p 205 x15......that is what i have on my streetrod a 40 ford coupe....fits nice"

Thanx Treekiller (and Streetrod936) - I appreciate the info.

Quote "Does anyone know of a site that lists the dimensions of the different models so that I can match the dimensions to those of the Chevy?"

You can try www.supercar.com/stylech.asp

If you change the "ch" at the end of the word style to the first two letters of the car you are looking for then it will bring up only those models. IE "bu" for buick... Give it a try.

Actually, Streets, it is quite a good resource for information on the wheelbases of Chevys from 1928 to 1975 (info on anything later seems to be limited to Corvettes,) Buicks from 1928 to 1975, and Oldsmobiles from 1932 to 1978. I haven't been able to access any cars other than these three as it kicks you to the carpet advertisement. Too bad it hasn't been updated to include later models tho.

Thanks Valkman.

thats a nice car you have there. i admire your work, and its alot of work too. maybe you could help me if possible..?! i have a 49 buick and i want to modernize it with swapping the body onto a newer frame with the power brakes, power steering, engine and trans already on there. possibly take the body off a "rolled" car or one with body damage that i could trash the body and just use the frame and drivetrain.. any ideas of how i go about finding what im looking for?

I did that back in the 50's, put a 31 chrysler roadster on a chevy chassis and ran oldsdrive train withe the olds inst panel cut down and all the wiring. It is the low cost way to go. the only thing was we channeled it down and you sat on a 4 inch sofa cushion with very little leg room but it ran fast. I 've got a 37 pontiac with a rusted out floor that i might do that too. was thinking about channeling it and cutting off 3 inches of the cancered out door bottoms .
a buddy put his 49 merc on a monte carlo frame and it worked out great

When I was In high school all the equipment on the ranch was breaking so my step dad bought a new arc welder and my brother and I took welding in shop. We had a tractor mounted hay stacker , a lot like the big construction reach forklifts. the easy way to pull engines change bodies etc. Step dad's family were blacksmiths and we had the old shop on the ranch, we had more tools than most of the neighbors. after we started welding 90 percent of the work was on our rods, not ranch equipment, 36 chevy, olds powered, t bucket olds, caddy t bucket, 40 chevy carson top, 31 chrysler roadster, stock model t pickup.

Originally posted by 49 sedanette
thats a nice car you have there. i admire your work, and its alot of work too. maybe you could help me if possible..?! i have a 49 buick and i want to modernize it with swapping the body onto a newer frame with the power brakes, power steering, engine and trans already on there. possibly take the body off a "rolled" car or one with body damage that i could trash the body and just use the frame and drivetrain.. any ideas of how i go about finding what im looking for?

well if your talk'N to me " Thank you "
and if you read this thread I tryed to explain what I was doing.
But if ya got a question I'll try and help as much as i can .
I've moved 2 times & had 1 surgery on my back since the start of this but, it IS still moving along.

And Tech is a smart guy and i value his input http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/sho...914#post117914
so i'd really check out what he is telling you .

T L

yeah i was refering to your buick T L and thats too bad about your back surgury. this has nothing to do with cars, but im 19 and i fractured 8 vertibre and broke 3 vertibre and those 3 broken vertibre in my back got fused, all from a motorcycle accident when i was 15. i can relate to pain.. i was in traction for 2 weeks and im a lucky kid to be walking for what ive been through. i wore a "halo" (thats what they call the neck and head brace that stablized my spine) for over 6 months. crazy huh? makes for a good conversation piece when people ask about my scars.

just from reading all of your guys posts, im getting a better idea slowly. i know what i want in the end result with my buick, but im just having a hard time deciding how i should go about doing it when i take into concideration cost/difficulty /space and equipment thats availible to me. but im not rushing into anything until i make an educated decision. thanks for all the info youve been giving everyone. its much appriciated.

Best news I've got to announce : We've got twins on the way , around Oct.

Moving again, so I'll be out'a pocket for a while .
But I'll be back ...
The Buick is still moving along slowly.
49'A.D. moving slower but ,IS moving ...
64' Galaxie is out and about ,not as much as the 64' NovA but we're still driving 'em.
Went and bought the wife an 06' HHR "It's pretty cool "
67' ford is turning into a pRojecT ? ! -> "I blame Dave!"
52' hasn't been touched ,other then getting it running .
the 83' Blazer "TOY" gets taken out every once in a while.
78' is in the barn or I'd be messing with that to .
and still got the 75'.
got a new boat so I'm going fishing this summer...

I'll try and get some pixs of the buick .

TL