I just aquired a 53 hudson wasp and the front frame horns are rusted off . I was wondering if anybody has ever done a full frame conversion to a stepdown hudson. Any advice would be great PHP:
If the rest of the floor/frame is in pretty good shape, I would think it would be easier to reconstruct the damaged/missing frame sections from the appropriate sized sheet metal than to attempt a frame swap on a semi-unitized car. As I recall the Hudson frame rails are at the outboard edges of the body which allowed for the "stepdown" floor and the suitable interior room in such a low car. All that would be lost with a ladder frame of an S-10 (and many other frames), not to mention the fabrication of complete floorboards. But, again, it would destroy the interior space. Perhaps there is a frame 'clip' or 'stub' that could successfully be mated to the Hudson structure, but I can't imagine a satisfactory outcome to what you have proposed. Ray
Well the floor is preaty rotted out and I have also considered the interior room problem in the step down car. My only issue is that a camaro sub is. Like 56 inches wide. Were a s10 is 52 this makeing more room for wheels my ending plan is to have full bags. Lay frame and I'm going to make it into a 2 door so there is going to be masive fabrication allready. I would end up. Haveing to + notch the existing frame in the rear. Also there is 0 front end no a arms no frame its all gone. The car is actuly welded to a late gm 12 bolt rear for drive train... thanks again aaron
If its rusted out real bad, why not look at the ch***is with floor pan swap like some of the merc guys have done. Truck frames are for just that, trucks
Ok, given the situation, 296 V8's suggestion is something to consider. Basically what it means is......to take ch***is and the floor pan fom a donor car.....for example, say a A or G body gm sedan with the perimeter style frame and use the entire floorpan, maybe even part ofthe firewall and attach your body around it's perimeter (rocker panels). Eliminates having to construct a floor to fit the frame of choice. The biggest problem with that approach, is finding a car with the right 'spacing'...i.e. wheelbase, track width, firewall location in relation to engine/interior, etc, etc. You might get lucky and find something that will work within the Hudson's dimensions. There were a lot of GM and Ford cars with perimeter style frames between 1964 (GM mid size) and the late 80's. Full size Fords/Mercs/Lincolns from '79 thru '91 were frame/body and perimeter in style. Width and wheelbase would have to be checked out. A frame is fairly easy to lengthen/shorten but in attempting to use the floor too, that might complicate changing length. Ray
Thanks a lot that's very informative. I just did recearch into it and that's an execelent idea. The only problem is the price. I can get a full rolling s10 ch***is from my junck yard for 150. But he's pobly guna want some cash for. A full car to chop up. Also I'm a sheet metal guy and building custom floors is the route I'm going. And a frame with floor swap is thesame thing as channeling. A car over a custom frame. And building a custom floor and fire wall... that's what I do and for a more professional look id reather see nice flat pans then a gm stamped floor. Also I'm using. Theorigonal steering column and S10 breaks... also for "truk frames r for truks" first I'm a gm guy and not a fan of gms stock 4 link andwould reather go with leafs. Thanks every body for the imput. I'm a young hot rodder and love great ideas.. ~AARON~
So buy one before he gets it. S**** came down, a dead rolling fullsize sedan should be relatively cheap on CL or in the local trader paper. Although actually an S10 may be a good choice for this car because the Hudson is very narrow in the back. One of the more common rearend swaps for a stocker is a Ford Ranger. The stock leaf springs are actually not parallell to one another - they're wider towards the front of the car than they are at the back. So you may need a 2WD S10 rear to fit under the fenders in the back. And .. Truck frames may be for trucks, but the S10 is basically adapted from light duty car stuff and has a similar design where it gets a bunch wider at the cowl, it's not really a traditional truck frame in that sense, it just doesn't kick down as low at the rear as it would were there a trunk in the back.
The Jalopy Journal
