Frame swap or not? on 50 chevy

So over some of fathacks fav black lable beer last night we got to talking about me getting my parts car for my 50. And jumped into what route to take with the swap.The parts car is a 1986 cutless, with a 84 sbc and a th350 and a stock rear end. My idea from the get go was just a simple drivetrain swap, but fathack got the gears turning last night...

He suggested to swap the frame over and channel the body onto it. Now i know the way most guys go with this is using the cutless floor and grafting in part of the firewall. But this is Michigan and a 20 year old car around here ther floor is long gone.

So heres my delima (sp) the stock frame on the 50 has good tight front end/brakes and is sporting a healthy c-notch for the rear axle. But the parts car has disc brakes,even tighter front end, and the rear axle is allready attached, as well as the rest of the drive train.

So im torn on this at the momment. so i guess im looking for a "what would u do"

1.) install the drivetrain out of the cutless and deal with the older suspension and ****?

2.) take the ch***is of the cutless and slide onto the 50 body. and just be done with it.

Now allso a few things to consider here, th body is in mid chop stage so its a little flimsy and i dont want it to implode on me (i know bracing will be in order but im still worried). I all so would like to have this car on the road by the spring and fullfill my other obligations at the same time. so i wonder what would take more fab time?

well i guess if u guys could help me out with some pros, and cons that would be great im just on the fence right now and dont know what side to jump into. im hopefully getting the parts car next weekend maybe.

Thanks
Bryan

 

I can't seem to follow MY own advice -but I would not do any frame swap on your car.
also that rear is almost too narrow for your chevy.
do the relatively siple and install Motor and trans from the cutl*** and then you are that much ahead of the game..
I would bet if the floor in the cutl*** was close to bad the frame is worse.....also that is a major job and not to be underestimated in the time involved[Cutl*** is 7" too short by the way]
Just my opinion.

 

Isn't it possible to add R&P, and disk brakes to the original suspension? The rear end should be a fast and easy swap. Just a idea........good luck.....Fred

sweet lookin Chev

 

yea i have not seen the condition of the frame yet. so it could very well be shot. and they do make disk brake kits for the front of the chevy and they use all g-body gm parts.

And on a normal 50 chevy a rear end swap would be a breeze but mine is going to need a 4 link (or ladder bars) and coil springs added. (the leafs are long gone and i just opted out of the bags i had.

But i was leaning more torwards the drive train swap my self. ive never channeld a car i cant imagine it being a "quick" job

 

I would take the motor,trans and maybe the rear end (depending on the size and width) and just swap it into the '50. I got my kit from Watson Fabrication for the motor mounts trans-mount and leaf spring kit and it was easy. Im sure way easier than swaping the entire ch***is.I dont think the '50 chevy would be any harder than my '54.

 

The gutl*** is 3" narrower than your chevy in the back and about 4.5" in the front. If you have any chevy floor and inner rockers/body mounts left, this isn't a good idea.
I used my 50 chevy original front suspension and brakes, made engine mount brackets for my sbc and used rams horn exhaust manifolds to clear the steering box. Hadda use the 67-72 pickup left manifold and grind on it a bit to clear the pitman arm, which I also needed to grind on a little. Use a 53-54 steering box to replace that ancient, bushing-type '50 box while you're at it.
All this work is still easier than cutting up your floor to fit a frame [gutl***] that is famous for rusting out in the rear section....they were really bad for this.
BTW, I used an 83 gutl*** rear end in my 50 chev. Had to use positive offset wheels to get the tires away from the inner wheelwells but those offset wheels are common as dirt. Mine were 15X8.5 Americans with 1.5" offset. A pair of wheel spacers will work too.
Just my thoughts on the subject.....

 

I have installed many of the aftermarket frontends on to that body era of car with much success. They ride well and stop good and they come with air ride for about 1500 -1600. It takes longer to diss***meble the old then install the new. I have never seen a complete frame swap that did not turn into a huge ordeal. steering box to radiator problems, steering column problems, now you have to run power steering on the engine, It goes on and on. If your goal is to have a car that sits really low with like say airbags then either way you have to do major fabrication to the frame. The short arm four link will not work that great if you are baggin the car because you have tremendous pinion angle change over the travel of the car. That suspension was designed for a spring style suspension with just 2 inches of travel. If it was my car I would install the engine and trans and swap out the engine and trans, and install an aftermarket frontend. Cut the old steering column off at the steering box and column saver to keep the old steering column and wheel. By going this way all raditor and front sheet metal could be stock unmodified stuff. Then worry about the rear suspension later. After market bolt in rear 4 links ****. But that is another topic. Rodger

 

A good cure for the Orig 50 front end in your chevy is to remove the bellcrank-tierods and stock steering box completely and replace with a [[[[67 Nova/Camaro]]]] Manual steering box[make bracket] and all the tie rods and Idler arm off the Nova/Camaro as well clear across...it works perfect,and if your uprights are tight the old front ends ride and handle, well enough.

 

Stop over my place in Royal Oak and see what an in-progress frame swap looks like. It'll give you a visual idea of what you'll have to deal with... PM me.

 

Your parts car Cutl*** is an 81 or 82...the motor is an 85 305 4v from a Firebird, and the trans is a TH350 with the universal bellhousing for GM V8s.

The rear is a 10 bolt with 2.73 gears and no posi.

I think your 50 needs a four wheel drive ch***is...too bad you offed the Ramcharger already!

 

Gary Mundy of Independence, Ks does a lot of body swaps.
He uses the 82- 88 Olds 88 chasis/floor pans.(other GM cars of the same frame configuration will work)
The 82-88 wheel base closely matches a lot of the older cars. However, I do not recall if he has done a 49 to 52 Chevy or not.

I think you would bve better off using your car as chevy bult it with the ch***is mods Choprods talked about.
That is the way I would go if it was my car.
Looks like you got a start.
The body swap to another ch***is does involve its own unique challenges with the advantage of modern parts availability.
That said, as the swap candidates age, the parts availability will become less and less.

The first thing you got to do is stay away from the Hackster, he will have you going with some funky 4.3 or so.

 

JimC, Hacks engine of choice is the ever popular mega horsepowere 2.8, the swappers 1st choice for excessive torque/horsepower. You have to detune these babys or you can kiss your ch***is goodby (use a pretzel to envision the carnage)

Frank