well i have really hit a crossroads with my 41 chevy 2 door coupe proj. at this point i am way overinvested in the car and every successive dollar will put it that much further beyond what I had intended. long long story short the car was not as it appeared and i had to spend 3k on floors (1k in parts, 2k for a guy to help me weld them in) and every time we turned around there was something else wrong - to the point where this is almost nothing to weld the floors and rockers and supports to. so i have a few options: eat my losses and punt it, learn to do it myself over the next 450 years with 2 kids and 4 bike projects in front of it, pay an astronomical amount to get it done, wait for another 41-48 coupe to show up in better shape and do a swap, or see if some sort of donor vehicle can be had and pillaged to make my car more solid. i found a 41 chevy 2 door sedan that looks pretty solid and it's cheap. i dont need the whole thing but for what it is it may be worth it for the extra parts etc. Now here's the really dumb question: is it possible to pillage the entire lower section )or sections?) of the donor 41 to graft onto my 41? Just yping that out I feel foolish but at this point I have nothing to lose by asking. even tho i think i know the answer i appreciate any insight! - jason
Wow....Well, I guess to a point it would be no different than sectioning the car, just with a different top half. That is going to require a LOT MORE welding than the floors, so if you need to hire help, it will be a lot cheaper to find a solid driver. Good luck. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Is the donor vehicle in better shape than your project car? If it is, you could buy it and swap all your goodies over to it and sell the original car off as a shell/roller. Pictures of the situation would be a great help for us to advise you.
Wow, 3 K in floors! I would think the thing to do is to buy a welder and just learn how to weld, It is not that hard and floors are the place to learn/
That is about right. When you need inner rocker to inner rocker, front to back with all the bracing. Then what usually happens is the car is rusted 1 inch past where the new panels end. That is why the labor price gets so high. Been there done that. More than once!
I have personally seen two projects that were done pretty much as you propose. That is....the entire lower section of the car was replaced with the corresponding section of another car. In both cases, the cars being saved were convertibles ( '49 Plymouth & '56 Buick) and sedan/coupe/hardtop bodies were the donors. Lots of work, but doable if you are 'committed'. On the other hand......"when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging" is worth considering. Only YOU can decide how much effort and resources you are willing to put into the car.
So, your 3 grand into the floors and you haven't replaced everything yet? I replace the entire bottom 6" of my 48 Plymouth coupe and never had a grand in parts. A new 4' x 8' sheet of 18 gauge sheet metal runs around $120 a sheet. A couple sheets will scratch build a very large portion of a cars bottom. Sounds to me like its time you learn to do basic metal work. The idea of hacking everything you have installed out and starting over doesn't make much sense to me. What you will spend to buy the project your thinking will be the needed parts will buy a lot of sheet metal, and probably a decent used welder. I'd also be real surprised if the other car has any better floors then what you have now. I suggest you take a cl*** on learning to weld, then buy a welder, then buy a few DVDs on basic metal forming. That investment will pay for itself many times over in the future. After that, get into your 41 Chevy and get some real life experience. Gene
To answer your question, Yes the sedan floor can be grafted into your Coupe body. Other pieces may be used for patches when needed. I would suggest that You open this link and study the contents. http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/fisher/1941_42/index.htm You need to understand how the bodies are put together. I have saved a rare 38 Chevy Convertible buy grafting in a floor from a 38 Chevy 4-dr sedan. The first thing I did was purchase a 37-38 Chevy Fisher Body Manual. I was able to locate the original factory welds and go from there. I used the entire donor floor and cowl from the sedan. I had to also change the upper part of the cowl (different windshield posts) which meant extra work. Since you are not doing a convertible you will not have to change your cowl. Make sure that the donor 41 sedan is in Great Shape..... I also saved a 40 Olds Coupe by using the donor floor from a 40 Olds 4-dr. This worked good and the entire floor was used. The financial end is your decision. Paying someone to do the work = $$$'s. Fortunately I was able to do all of my own welding. Good Luck with Your Coupe.......... Jeff
Simple answer to your simple 1 line question - yes. All that other stuff up there - set your priorities, stick to your hot rod budget, know your limitations.
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