true have to do a lil more thinking on that might be same amount or less of work as stubbing the front and adapting the rear to what ever i decide to do
I don't know why you'd swap the frame when it's easier to upgrade the stuff on the car. A second-gen Camaro 10-bolt will drop right on the stock springs, same as 49-54 Chevrolet. Those 10-bolts also came in Chevy Suburbans with a 5x5 bolt pattern, so there are bolt-on pieces to convert it over if you want. The Jag front end is a good swap, although it has to be 85 or older to be narrow enough to work, lots of info on those swaps if you search. The 71-76 cars are much wider in track, everything is from '59 up. And they're prime demo cars, so you have to fight those guys to find a donor. It can be good to find one of those guys, though, I picked up a '77 400 and trans cheap from one because he was running a small block Chevy in the Gran Prix he was demoing - I could have got more, too, but the others he had were all 301s. Those are junk.
some of the starchief are real rare 3 to 5 k made if you have one and it looks like you got all the pieces a full resto could be profitable not sure pm me the numbers off the firewall tag and will decode for you
i was wanting to get a lil bit stronger rear end than the 10 bolt (dont get me wrong ive seen them hold up to 572's but not for long or without upgrade$$$$) was thinking more along the lines of a 12 bolt (will cost you$$) or 9"(hard to find a lincoln versailles monarch or granada anymore) or 8.8(factory disc brakes and parking brake 31 spline) have about 25 of these on hand in junk yard with 3.73 or 4.10 gears sway bar off the explorers with small amount of mods to the rear end itself it fits great(i do think 4x4 is offset ill check at work) the full frame swap was thought on for a few weeks till i got one in and saw the width of the frame (an extended cab s-10 would be easier imo) but i dont think a full frame swap is needed but the factory ifs has got to go for some reason it is hard for me to find a good rebuildable pontiac v8 that someone dosent want a fortune for other than a 301(they are light engines but mainly good for a papper weight unless you get a turbo block bla bla bla but they are hard to find a really you still have a 301)
the 8.5 10 bolt is about as strong as a 12 bolt , so don't go wasting money there, and real easy to get parts for . S10 suspension had issues in light S10s, it gets worse when you ad a large V8 , not a good plan. Look at G body if you want a narrower frame clip .
Got your body number 1954 pontiac star chief catalina hardtop custom coupe 124 wb thats the official name rare this is a car for full resto!!!!!!!!!, value is gonna rise, gonna be a good car for scottsdale auction if high quality restoration. Your typical fancy 50's car. Hot rodding this body would not bring out its full value. Production was low as it was the high priced ponitac show car for the dealer show rooms this car good go to 50k to 70k in a few years you found a diamond in the rough, if you dont want to do the resto its gonna cost some. Put it all back together in barn find condition and sell it that way
Maybe not but it's more fun to build a driver that works, IMO....I'd go 389/455 turbo 400 and a 10 bolt, You'd have plenty of power, reliability and nice cruising speed and fast enough to keep up with traffic on the Power Tours, should you choose to go there! Ditch the trunk and hood chrome and go with whatever grille and tailights float your boat!
Update: Got a 66 catalina 4 door in the junk yard so i got the yc 389 2bbl 290hp(10.5 to 1) and the 400 turbo trans was looking to get some specs on pontiac slims tunnel ram if possible(not sure what year engine ur running) also have the 77 trans-am big 10 bolt with the bolt in axles still dont know what would be better option mustang 2 or chevy clip for front i want be using the stock ifs now the fun starts chop and strip
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