subframes are inexpensive , easy to install and aftermarket makes everything you can imagine...Borgeson fast ratio manual steering box, Tubular cross member positioned just behind the stock front member got the one piece rear main 350 setback for radiator clearance....More to come
Sub frames were a way to go, less popular now and the sub frames are getting older. I had a 40 Ford with a sub frame and drove it everywhere. Had tons of fun with it!
Junkyard sub frames are getting scarce. The 1st gen Camaro and Nova stubs are just about wiped out. GM metrics are about the only ones around I have seen some very tidy Volare/Diplomat installations in '46 to '53 Mopars.
Dakota frame swaps were getting popular, but even finding a solid early (88-96) Dakota front frame clip is getting harder to come by. The Volare/Diplomat subframe was getting hard to find back in the late 1990s. Most "modern" suspensions are 5" (or more) too wide. With the apparent death of Fatman, things are going to get even tougher. "Aftermarket makes everything you need" may no longer be true. Saying frame clips are "easy to install" may be a somewhat optimistic outlook concerning a frame clip. The junk yard frame clip install it self may not be too bad, its when you have to make everything else work that becomes the challenge.
Dot your i's and cross your t's, lot's of variables to contend with, many of us I am sure have seen projects side lined or up for sale after a badly done sub didn't work out.
@gene-koning has been there, done that. I've got a frame out back that was 'clipped'. It's the reason I got the car so cheap. They narrowed it to fit the car and made it useless. There are ways to do it successfully, but you need to plan ahead. Make sure it's got parts support in the future, too.
The Nova/camaro ones are still out there. I nabbed two front steer units last fall for $100 for the pair. The seller had them for 10 years, one of them slated for a project, and decided that he wasn't going to get around to it. Works for me as I have two Buicks that can use them.
Subframe bump....did a rear steer Nova sub on a 40 Dodge coupe 30 years ago...had so much fun measuring / cutting / welding it in...
Not in these parts. Those 4 door Novas have all rusted into the ground and were s****ped in 2010 when the s**** prices were high. As have the Camaros, and most of the per 2000 model year vehicles that were great front clip donors. Doing a clip (or full frame swap) is not quick and easy. The reality is, there are probably better odds that the car will be screwed up rather then there are that it will become the dream driver the swap was intended to create. It can be done, but it requires a lot of thought, measurements, fabricating, and planning. It requires a lot of space to store a lot of parts through the entire process. It requires cutting skills and equipment, the ability to clamp, level, square, align, and fit large pieces together. Then it requires a qualified welder (person and machine) to connect everything back together. All that doesn't even count the dis***embly of the clip donor, or the dis***embly of the vehicle being clipped (including removal of the motor & trans). There there will be the challenge of fabricating the supporting of the front portion of the front sheet metal, radiator support, and the front bumper. Then there is vehicle re***embly. Don't go into this expecting to skip any steps! The current edition of front subframe choices are nearly all too wide to be useful. Some (but not all) can be narrowed successfully, but those parts to narrow them are costly, and may not be available in another 10 years, when the parts you currently have are wore out. In this day and age, you may well be farther ahead just updating the stuff that is original to your ride, if its complete, not bent, or rotted out, and parts are still available to rebuild it. Add a disc brake and a matching master cylinder conversion, upgrade the shocks (and possibly shock mounts), front springs, rear suspension (and possibly the rear end). Power steering can now be added with an electric ***ist to the steering column, so that solves most of the power steering issues. Add the drive train of your choice and you can be cruising long before the frame clip is probably done.
Is that the cast iron version of the Z/28 intake manifold?????...... Those were only sold over the counter at the chevy dealer back in the day....
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