Best replacement frame for 1950 mercury

Going to build me a new 50 merc ! Can't seem to find my old one so it's time ! What frame would you use or have ? Rather than start from scratch building one and spending big bucks & really don't want to go high tech frame! Somebody said one bolts up to it only changing body mounts?

 

What's wrong with the stock frame? Leaf spring rear lets you use most any rearend you like, if you don't like the stock IFS a Mustang-II kit or stub is only a 1-800 phone call away - lots easier than fitting some ugly weak 80s GM car frame under there -

 

I know of a frame with IFS and it bolts right on. The stock Merc frame. What's most inportant to you? Cost, quality, ride height, suspension type, easiest construction, engine options? What are you after?

 

A number of years ago, Dick Dean was featured building a Merc in Street Rodder that was built on a '72 Olds Cutlass 4-door frame. They said it fit so well it was eerie - even some of the body mounts lined up. I don't have the article anymore, but I bet some searching on the Web will find it.

 

Use the stock frame that's under my 49 2 door..oh,yeah,use the rest of the car,too...$1800 and just over the hill in Tennessee

 

Yes , I talked to him back at Paso in 88 he was doing it at the time said he just had to cut off two mounts! but could remember what it was, I know it was a Gm !At the time i was done with mine and he just finished a shoe box that was sectioned !

 

Waiting for pics Willie!!

 

I have the Dean info here somewhere but WHY? 30 year old GM stuff will need as much work as the stock Merc. Then add the redo on core support and all the other tin etc..........I vote stock frame with upgraded stock suspension. Or stock frame with a more modern suspension install.

 

im partial to the stock ones also. either buy the bolt on upgrades or clip it and 4 link it...

 

I know of a '49 4 door frame 3 hours South of Chicago if that works for you.

 

If you can find Tex Smith's book, "How to build a custom car", the Dick Dean swap onto a 1977 Olds Chassis is the one described above.

 

I have that book. Hey Taz - if you need it, let me know and I'll scan and e-mail it to you.

 

Personally, stick with a stock frame and modify it if your frame and floors are good, unless you come across some killer deal on another rolling chassis. Clips would be option #2. Full swaps are a lot of work no matter how you cut it. Lots of unexpected stuff pops up...
http://landyachts.homestead.com/index.html

 

i done that olds swap before, its a lot of work but i had a rusty body to start with and the car was a 4dr. i used the floor pan also. it works but i wouldn't cut up a good floor to swap it.

 

I could be wrong, but I kind of remember that the Mercury/GM intermediate frame swap involved using the GM floorpan and channeling the Merc body onto the GM pan.
Take it for what it's worth (not much).
Larry T

 

The 72 frame may be able to be fitted, but what a lot of guys were doing was using a '77-'86 Buick or Olds full size car (Electra 225, 98) frame with the pans as they have a 119" wheelbase which is either the same as or only an inch off the Merc. If you have a rusty car it's not a bad swap, it lets you channel the car some and retain full suspension travel, but GM made those cars out of crap metal - now that they're all over 20 years old it's near impossible to find one that hasn't started to rot around the rear jack locator hole - which is just inside the mount for the suspension trailing arm. Unless you live in a dry climate, and then your Merc is liable to be just as solid as any 80s car you find.

Work wise it's not too terrible provided you have a hoist and brace the crap out of the merc shell, and can weld with ease. The only other bright side is the welds don't have to be finished too pretty since you never see 90% of them. It also gives you coils all around, so if you want to go to airbags it should be easier to convert, and of course the disc brakes, power steering, and if you get a high end car you can pirate the tilt column, power windows and locks and so on all out of it.

The stock Merc frame has a big X in the middle and is made of thicker metal. Just yesterday I passed a garage that had a mid-80s GM wagon that had been hit in the rear - dead center in the tailgate. The car looked like it had been in pretty nice shape and the gate was bowed in in a curve, didn't look like the hit was very hard - but the whole car bent right down at the rear door openings - right over where that locator hole is, it was like someone bent the car on purpose there like they were trying to fold a sheet of paper.

Even the one I scrapped, the body wasn't bad on, but the frame was junk, it had rotted away from a number of the body mounts. I suppose if you could get a nice one and powder coat it or something, or you live in Arizona, it would be fine, but again if you live someplace these didn't rot, chances are your Merc wouldn't need any rot repair either.

 

I know a guy that put one on a S-10 Chevy pick up frame, he said it was an easy fit.

 

If you want a really sweet set up check out the latest chassis from Roseville Rod & Custom. There is a great write up in February issue of Street Rodder. Probably not cheep but it sure is trick.

 

s-10 frame under a 50 merc is a pile of crap ,jacked up in the rear.you would have to cut the back off and refab.


i took an old lincoln,88 to be exact,one of the mark cars. cut the body off the floor,used the floor,engine,dash .grafted it on the merc.had air ride and all the niceties.

 

I'd just use a stock frame with upgrades. Mercury Charlie has a frame he makes out of 4'' square tubing. PM him,he's a HAMBer.

 

My Merc has a GM fullsize car frame, and the GM floor pans. So the upside is that I have modern brakes, coils on all four corners, it rides like a 80's Caprice, and it's easy to source parts for the driveline. Downside is that it looks like it was a ton of work, and also during my current exterior redo it was noticed that my front end needed more bracing, one of those hidden surprises.

 

Ok, been out of the merc since I built it in 1977 for suspension stuff nothing was out there then,I made my drop spindles for it! that why i was asking about the frame swap but that now sounds like a bad idea ! So my question doing the mustang II front end are the spindles heavy enough for the weight of the merc and can you put the 11" rotors on the front! Who the one making the best front end for it & using the mustang II ? Sounds like Fat Man stuff ,the quality hasn't been to good lately after reading a lot of the threads ?

 

Make sure you get forged spindles. I would say the best stuff out there is Art Morrison. There are a ton of brake options only limitedd by your budget.

 

Not withstanding some of the "cons" that have been pointed out here, I'd like to add that there are a few "pros" to using said "1972 Olds Cutlass" frame...

#1. '72 Cutlass is a GM A-body, which means any 66-72 Chevelle, LeMans, Tempest, Skylark would use the same [or very similar] frame. The 4 door is a couple inches longer than the 2 door.

#2. Despite what has been said, I believe those frames to be made of very good metal... Tho admitidly, not quite as thick as a stock Merc frame.

#3. The A-body was fitted [at one time or another] with EVERY engine GM ever made, from iron duke 4 cyl's up to big block caddy's, so bolting in a better engine would be very simple... Tranny's too.

#4. Since you would [most likely] be getting a whole donor car, there's an excellent chance you could score a desirable engine/tranny/rear in the deal, and since you actually WANT a 4 door, the prices should be very reasonable.

#5. I believe they stock chassis parts for A-bodies at Wal-Mart, and they are available a whole lot cheaper than Merc parts.

#6. The chassis would already be set up for P/S, P/B, and maybe even have discs from the factory.... If not, Global West stocks parts to swap Z-28/Trans-Am rotors [@ 11 and 12 inches], as well as the parts to make it handle as well as any sports car on the road.

 

How many of you guys are useing the mustang II front end on the merc 49-50-51 any issues??

 

I wouldn't say the 68-72 A-body frames are nearly as bad as the later ones. The metal changed in the late 70s as they tried to lighten the cars up to make them lighter to meet CAFE standards. They too are prone to rot in a number of places, although they don't tend to be as bad as the later cars. You have to look over the kickup for the rear axle and the wide spot under the cowl, mainly.

The one other good thing about the A-body cars is you can part out the body shell fairly easily if the front clip and so forth is good on it. Unlike say an '84 Buick Electra no one cares about, guys will line up for the right parts off a Chevelle or Cutlass or whichever.

 

But an 77-84 big car is cheaper than a 70-72 A-Body to start with.

 

If anyone has a scan of the Dean article it would be killer. I know some of his stuff frameswapped had the wheels stickin way out, similar with the GM frame I wonder?

 

Here are some pics, my favorite but I may be bias

These are while everything was tacked into place, its almost fully welded now with the drive shaft loop in, slow build because its a side project of the shops.

Ride height is adjustable using torsion bars hooked to a cam that is moved by a linear actuator