I feel like I saw this a while back. I belive it was for sale at the time? Either way its a cool setup. Definitely some subconscious inspiration for me I'm sure.
Cutting the sheetmetal for this transformation is a given. Before I’d add the additional work of cutting a frame, moving motor and transmission mounts. Adding to the steering column and throttle ***embly and probably the transmission mechanism too. Driveshaft, transmission fluid to radiator lines, brake lines, gas lines and on and on. Measure the Chevrolet hood width. Measure the Buick hood width. How close are they? How about the hood hinges width and hood mounting points? Remove both cowls. Are they somewhat interchangeable ? If any of this looks doable, then remove the Chevrolet doghouse paying special attention to radiator support position and how far away from the firewall is. Once the Chevy is clear and open, I would remove both front doors. I would then start with the Buick fenders by lining up the center of the wheel well having drawn the Buick tire centerline on the opening prior to removing it from the donor car. You should then be able to see if the rear fender edge is indeed two inches towards the rear. I’m guessing it is not. I would then re-install a front door and mount the Buick fender against the Chevy door and see how far out the wheel opening is. It is at this point I would want to know if the Chevrolet radiator mount can interface with the Buick fenders. It is all these components I would be modifying and not the frame. If you modify the frame and all the items you and I have mentioned, you will still need to address this sheetmetal. I would also suggest you provide good side photos of the car during all these mock up sessions. That way you can get ***istance from the “Photoshop Boys” who are members of this board. Then you can see what the finished version may look like before expending time and $$ into this conversion.
Your timing with this comment is impeccable, as I actually am planning to so a side by side comparison and take measurements off the donor car tomorrow. Given that GM used the same gl*** for both cars, the front section of the p***enger compartment on each vehicle should, I believe, be identical in measurement. The biggest hangup I forsee right now is the core support section, being that the cars have wildly different mounts due to the steering orientation. We shall see how the fenders might line out, as the hub center to front door edge on the Chevrolet and Buick is exactly 2" different, which leads me to my conclusion of having to alter the wheel base. Tomorrow's measurements should certainly tell a good bit though!
As far as the hood, might it be possible to remove both hoods inner structure then reattach the Buick outer hood to the Chevy inner structure? This is the kinds of modifications I’d be making. Use the hidden structural components from the donor Buick like the firewall sides and tops making the transition to Buick fenders simpler. Same with the radiator support. Slice off the Buick sides and Chevrolet sides, then weld the Buick sides to the Chevrolet radiator support, not changing any of the Chevrolet radiator supporting and position. If the side view of the Chevrolet with the Buick wheel openings over the stock Chevrolet wheel location looks OK, then cut a rectangular shape around the Buick wheel openings, center them over the Chevrolet wheels. Then align the Buick fender rear edge to the Chevrolet front doors. The small strips around the wheel arches, in my opinion, is a much simpler modification to accommodate the two inch difference in the firewall to wheel opening centerline. Seems much easier to me than all the stuff involved with the frame stretch. cutting off as much of the Buick frame as it supports the Buick bumper, then raising it up and seeing where the Chevy and Buick frame overlaps should simplify getting the Buick bumper and whatever grill supports need to be there, rather than creating all that geometry into place. Good luck!
Put the frame/wheelbase stretch on hold for a minute and consider another route of moving the front wheel opening sheet metal to match the stock Chevy wheelbase. I agree with @Gahrajmahal that it is far easier and miles less work to move the Buick front fender wheel openings forward 2" than it is to go through all the work required to lengthen the Chevy ch***is 2". I also agree on pulling the Chevy front sheet metal and leaving the Chevy core support and radiator in place. And then: Fit (clamp) the Buick fenders in place. Determine what work needs to be done to attach them to the cowl and core support. Set the Buick hood in place. Determine what's required to bolt up the Buick hinges to the Chevy cowl. Position the Buick bumper in place. Build out required bumper brackets and frame extensions to meet up with Chevy frame horns. As Gahrajmahal stated, your Buick hood and fenders are either going to match up with your Chevy cowl and doors or they are not. It's a separate issue from the wheelbase/front fender issue. Any sheet metal work required will be identical whether you extend the frame or move the wheel openings. You've swapped wheel well openings on your pickup so you know what's involved. This is a very similar process. This link illustrates moving F100 front fender openings forward 3.5" to center the wheels on a custom frame built with a 4" longer frame. Moving a Ford F-100 Wheel Arch to Match the Stretched Wheelbase Ch***is
While moving the wheel openings back 2 in might be easier, IMO it will mess up the proportions of the car completely.
cutting a couple of welds, sliding the slip together frame apart 2 inches and re welding would be leaps and bounds easier than doing body work. @***us already did it and said it was really easy
Alright, spent the morning with some 59s and a tape measure learning a few things. Here we go! On both the Chevrolet and the Buick the cowl is spaced the same at 5 3/8" from windshield trim to outside edge. The hood hinges are both mounted with a 56 3/8" spacing between them, and the upper mounting bolt for the fenders is spaced 17 1/2" from the rear of the fender. That's about where things stop being the same. The Buick fenders and hood have an inward taper as you go to the front of the car, so the core support is actually much narrower at 51 1/2" vs the Chevy at 58 1/2". The Buick core support is also much closer to the firewall, which may allow me some wiggle/fabrication room for a radiator mount setup that refuses the factory fan shroud. The Buick core support is actually 9 1/8" closer to the firewall (measured from center on both cars). Also, as guessed, the Buick fenders are a solid 3 3/4" longer than the Chevy, with the wheel center sitting 2" forward from the back of the fender. (33" and 35" respectively). I also discovered/verified what has been a hangup for many, myself included, that the Buick doors, are in fact NOT the same as the Chevy doors. Despite looking almost identical, the front doors on a 4 door Buick are 41 1/2" long (measured directly beneath the door handle for the straightest section) and the Chevy doors are only 38 1/4" in length. Outside of determining how to make the core support work (I'm sure I can fabricate some mounts) I did notice the lower fender mount on the firewall is different, with the Buick utilizing two bolts at the mount vs a single on the Chevy. Not sure if this is something I can work around, or if it will be a structural issue. To lay sone prior debate to rest, with a more direct comparison of the two vehicles, it looks like a frame stretch is going to be the ideal way to go if I keep plunging onward with this project. Here are some pictures of both vehicles. As always, any insight is appreciated because lord knows I'm just making this up as I go along....
Good photos! They show how the under-hood areas differ. I guess the best way to find out if the Buick rear fender line meets the Chevy's front door is to try fitting up the Buick sheet metal. After seeing these photos, I would pull the Chevy front sheet metal, the radiator and core support. Given the fact that the hood hinge firewall bolt spacing is the same on both cars (!), I'd remove the Chevy hood hinges from the firewall. I'd set the Buick hood aside and with a couple of helpers, walk the Buick front sheet metal as a single ('doghouse') unit onto the Chevy. I would leave the fenders bolted together via the core support and hood striker bar. You could probably leave the grille and splash pan in place. I think removing the inner wheel wells for this first fitting to keep them from hanging up on the tires, A arms, etc. might be the way to go. If things work out, you can then slide them in to see where interference lies (such as the Chevy heater box). Keep the Buick hood hinges bolted to the Buick fenders. Threading some 3" bolts with the heads cut off into the hood hinge firewall holes will provide locating studs to aim for. Once those are secured with nuts, you can position a floor jack under each front fender corner to dial in height. Don't worry about the second Buick fender bolt. You can always weld in a bracket that has a nutsert to pick up that bolt. They'll be plenty of other things to address such as radiator/shroud fitment. I'd suggest using the Buick cowl vent panel as it will match the Buick hood's rear edge and corner wings-hopefully the wiper spacing is a match with the Chevy. Then bolt the hood to the hinges.
I like this idea! Not at all a bad method of test fitting. I will have to use the Buick cowl panel(s) because the hood has a portion that splits the center, and thus wont work with the Chevy panel. I realized when I was about half way home that I forgot to measure the wiper arm spacing, as well as the frame width for the front frame horns Hopefully I got everything else I'll need though.
They're both meet in center wiper design, but you just never know what BOP parts will fit a same year Chevy. If your buddy with the Buick can't relay a measurement, someone with an interchange manual may be able to see if both cars share the same part #'s for L&R wiper linkages. If the arm spacing is different, you could swap over the entire Buick motor, linkage and towers ***embly into the Chevy cowl which would be easier than splicing and dicing the Buick cowl panel to fit the Chevy towers.
I know for certain that yhe windshield gl*** is the same through the 59 lines, so it would stand to reason the wiper ***emblies would be the same, or at very least, extremely similar. Im not going to sweat it too much until I know the fenders and other panels will work.
I'm gonna be honest here. This seems like a tremendous amount of work for very littile gain. The Idea for doing this kind of conversion is to make people say WOW...not WHY...and when finished, you will still just have a lowly 4 door sedan. In my opinion you'd be lightyears ahead by spending your time, energy and money doing a 2 door conversion as '59 Chevys are a hot ticket these days. Just my worthless, but rational opinion.
I work with what I have. Who's to say i dont make it a 2 door later down the road? If its my own labor, I dont consider it time wasted. I can sell the Chevy front clip for about what I'm snagging the Buick parts for, so honestly its a financial wash. Would I much rather do this on say an el camino? You bet! However for what I could sell the car for as it sits, I'm looking at infinitely more work bringing a comparably priced 2 door or el camino to the same shape as the current ride, plus the swap itself. Im willing to bet once its done, a lot of people still double take when they see it, and not as a "but why?" reaction. Just my thoughts.
Customizing **** is fun, that's why we do it. It doesn't need any more reason than that. Also, I'm still steadfast in my belief that this can be done without any major sheetmetal work. A set of Buick parts car frame horns might be nice for the front bumper mounting, but the rest should be pretty straightforward once the wheelbase is adjusted. And I agree with the others who said modifying the wheel openings to fit the Chevy wheelbase is going to throw the proportions off. I've seen that done on cars that got oddball ch***is swaps and I feel like it very rarely works well.
I tried to look up the wiper transmission in my Hollander and that is not one of the parts they covered back then. I did look up the front door hinge just for grins, and those fit from chev, buick and a few others...
Sorry, Didn't mean to piss on your Wheaties...just an observation. Good luck with the project though. I hope it turns out to be everything you hope for.
Im with you, I think once everything is lined out it should all fall together nicely. No harm no foul, I'm used to people questioning why I do what I do. I work with what I've got and do it for the love of the game!
And trust me, I'm no purist...and not adverse to putting "different" sheet metal on something myself...and neither one was especially easy to do. '40 Ford pickup with '37 p*** nose. '39 Ford pickup with '36 pickup nose.
Well after a successful trip to greaserama, the car started having issues. She was hot and puking coolant all over the driveway when we got home, and today when I went to flip her around in the garage she decided to start spewing fuel as well. Much as Id love to get a few more miles of cruising this season, I think shes ready for some well deserved r&r. That being said, the teardown has officially begun! I pick up the Buick clip next month, so time to do some prepping for it!
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