I will do that swap on my car, and have not much material to study . If some of you have done that kind of stuff and took pics of the process, i would like to see it !! share your fotki, photobucket, or send me your pics at renolegardez@hotmail.fr if it's too long to post them here . If you have link , or scan to share, that would be very useful Thanks a lot for your help
You talking about the mid-80's GM ch***is under a merc? I think he used a 4 door buick or olds and welded the bottom of the firewall to the mercury top half. I remember an old print magazine article that was pretty detailed. might check Flea Bay? Indy
Greetings! The first article I have is from "Street Rodder", December 1984, donor car used is 1972 Pontiac Lemans four-door. It was noted in a later article that the wheelbase of the Pontiac was two inches too short so the trailing arms on the rear end were extended to compensate. The next article I have is from "Custom Rodder", Summer 1991, donor car used was a 1976 Olds four-door, wheelbase not noted. Last artcle came from "Custom Rodder", Fall 1992, donor car listed was a "big '77 Olds", wheelbase listed was 117-1/2", which is a half-inch short of the Merc's 118". Unfortunately, the real problem with all these swaps isn't wheelbase, it's track width. All of the donor vehicles listed have front and rear track widths that are wider than the stock Merc which means you might have to purchase special offset wheels to clear front and rear fenders. My advice is to measure carefully before you decide to proceed, Best of Luck, Mike.
thanks a lot ! i have the two custom rodder, but didn't remember there was that kind of article in it ! now i have to find the street rodder , or may be you can scan it for me ? thanks a lot for your help
Certain 1977-1986 Buick and Olds models have the exact right wheelbase - Buick Electra and Olds 98 I believe, but GM played a lot of games with models and wheelbases in that era (one year a Bonneville is full size, the next it's a midsize, then it's front wheel drive.. ?!?) - there's a Tex Smith How To Build Custom Cars book that has photos, too. You basically cut the GM down to the floorpans and put the Merc body on like a plastic model car kit goes together, except instead of Testors glue you whip out the welder. The track width is an issue if you're doing the small GM body this era, but the rearend fits fine and the Merc body is more or less the same width front to back so the front track isn't too bad for them. It more or less depends how far you want to lower it.
My car has some sort of 77-86 big GM frame under it, but with Chevy motor mounts FWIW. Seller who did not build it said it was a Pontiac frame. We think 70's frame based on some aspects, and the type of AC refrigerant etc. If at some point you'd like to try to take specific pictures let me know. I'm running the floorpans from the donor car too I believe. There is a transmission tunnel raise built into my car too. My rear frame was extended a bit too:
thanks for the offer John what i would like to see are junctions between body and floor . I've already have some pictures of the process, not a lot, but the more the better I'm not searching for the swap on merc only, as i will swap my unibody old french car floors and engine, for an unibody contemporary floors and engine , but it's the same manipulation .
In Tex Smith's book How to Build Custom Cars the frame swap is covered( done by **** Dean) on a '50 Merc. A late 60's -early 70's mid sized Olds ch***is was used. These cars have a 118" wheelbase. Most of the floor and firewall of the donor frame is also used. The body was channeled 4" also during this swap. The book comes up on e-bay frequently. Hope this helps. Couvy
PM 3Deuces here on the HAMB. He did one a on 51 Mercury a number of years ago. He can tell you exactly which frame to use.
Wonder what the value would be today, of a car with stock frame and suspension vs one that had a 70s GM frame installed in the 80s?
Not GM, but this guy swapped an '88 Lincoln complete ch***is under his '51 Merc. It's a pretty cool read and might have some tidbits for ya! http://landyachts.homestead.com/merchistory.html
One of the first step by step i've found years ago, but not updated from a long time ... thanks anyway
I put a 75 Monte Carlo Frame under the 51 Merc coupe I had using the stock Merc floorboard with most of the hump over the rear axle cut out. To stretch the wheelbase I blocked the frame up level and cut the welds that held the rear subframe section to the side rails. There is a spot where they go together where the rear section is slipped inside the frame rail section at the factory and you can cut it loose and slip it back and reweld it quite easily. The bad part of using one of those frames and the original floor is that you don't have the reinforcement in the floor that the later model cars do to compensate for the lack of and X member in the frame.
yes, the 403 is an unibody ! I've spent a lot of time finding the good candidate, because my wagon is quite long for a french car. Recent car that are the same size are way too large. The donor is in my yard since sunday : a '94 renault wagon, unibody too, just 9 cm shorter, no big deal! low mileage, power brakes, power steering, disc brakes, a/c, all that for 200 euros ! ****in cheap because fugly !lol! but i don't care, i will junk the body
A word of free advice... For example if your trimmed 50 Mercury body to floor measurement was say in the 54" range..... you will then trim the donor to fit this body shell. But instead of a perfect matching 54"WIDE ON THE DONOR allow a full additional= 1"LESS OR NARROWER BY 1" ON THE DONOR FLOOR SIZING. This will make the actual placing of the old Merc shell down over the Donor a lot less of a headach and then some strips of bridge metal will connect the two easily. no need to woory about a **** joint here a slight lap will be fine when welded up as it is done by most all major auto makers that way anyhow.....
The Jalopy Journal
