there are many easier alternatives than to swap a whole frame. Camaro clips work great. I got off easy swapping Mustang II into my 52 chevy pickup.
I just got done reading about different ideas on floorpan swaps. I have been building cars for many years. I have done about 40 complete floorpan swaps all together. Its like anything you do that take work. there nothing easy until you learn it. After that it gets easier and you know what to do first. Im down to about 2 weeks to cutting one off ,cleaning late model floorpan up, cutting off old body and putting on late model floorpan. but I have to work at it By the way im 69 years old. sure there is alot left to do but if you do it right you,ll be proud of what you have done and you will have a super ride. first thing to do is get a tape and do some fine measuring on both floorpans
As a former owner of a frame and floor swaped 54 Chevy i am a little down on the idea now,but i like the Chevy "X" frame swap you did on you Merc .Great idea and minimal work from what i see compared to a full floor pan swap .I know a local guy that put a 72 Chevelle 4 door frame and floor under his 50 Merc and it was a mess of work from what he told me..
I'm putting a Boss 429 in a 49 merc. Because of the size of this motor, I need to go to a front steer, preferably a power rack. Is it possible to swap the steering arms from side to side to end up with a front steer? Or does anyone make a kit for this? I plan on a disc brake setup also. My last option would be a frame clip or swap. Will appreciate any info and/or ideas.
What a waste of time! Don't know why you wouldn't just stick with a Merc frame! There's lots of upgrades available. Way too much work to swap another frame. Just my opinion! Don't get it!!!
i been reading all the in an outs out changing the mercury frames i got a 50 iam wanting 2 put on top of a 96 impala floors an frame its got a 383 stroker its fun 2 drive but the car is just beat up dnt want to mess with it the wheel base is 116 the merc i know is 118 but anyone that knows the impalas rear wheels are forward and they make arms 2 move the wheels back to center them so that would cure that problem an its all 2 gether an cant drive anywhere and when i build this car its not goin to be a trailer queen or somethen to set in the garage and drink beer with my buddies an stare at it we do that now without puting any money in it it will be driven like a new car go out of town an on power tours an i dnt want to be 4000 miles away and some of that cool upgraded sup (some of you guys talk about) for the origainal frame gos out i dnt want to be stuck some where for 2 weeks cause it has to be special ordered the impala i can go in any local parts store an walk out with my part and alot cheaper anyway anyone done this swap
Learn to spell, use proper puncuation and do a ****ing intro. Goddam psychobabble ********,, WTF were you trying to say anyway????
. <----- That little thing there lets me know when a sentence stops, and would have really helped me through everything you just said.
I am proud to say I still have my original merc frame and suspension under my merc, they drive and ride fantastic from the factory! Jim
Gee,you guys are lucky. Most mercs I find have NO floor or rockers. I have one now that needs all the floors;do they sell them aftermarket? this car doesn't even have a useable driveshaft tunnel but the rest of the body is decent. WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
^ I'de spike the ball on 3rd down,and take the 5 yard penalty. Throw LONG on 4th,and hope for a score! Really? C'mon guys
I don't get it either. Plus, I think the stock frame looks pretty cool. I'd rather upgrade a few components, add power steering or bags, than swap out the whole frame. I've been told a stock Merc suspension rides pretty well.
Depending on where you live the stock frames are often rusted out or damaged due to haphazard modifications in the past when a torch and stick welder were all a lot of guys used to make modifications to frames. In my case where I swapped the Monte Carlo frame under the 51 I had there were several issues with the original frame that I would deal with now but didn't want to deal with in 1989 when I swapped frames. I should have welded the cracks in the frame, replaced the broken springs, put a C notch in the frame and modify the trans hump and the area over the third member for clearance. The frame already had a 68 Camaro front subframe installed with disk brakes and power steering. Sometimes guys are looking at running a ch***is that they can rebuild the suspension on for a couple of hundred bucks when it needs it rather than a couple of thousand that it sometimes takes to redo some stock suspension setups on early 50's cars. A lot of guys forget that when they diss someone else for doing something that they see as wrong.
Altho this my friend[Brian's]post over is six years old and brought back up- I am gonna make a comment on frame swapin a Merc or any car that some may disagree with ... Since I have some experience in this area as I personally did my first frame swap in my ba*****t garage in 1972 with minimal equiptment......... It was a '39 Chevy 2 dr sedan which I swapped onto a '64 Chevelle convertible frame....It drove flawlessly after that swap ,unlike when it wobbled ditch to ditch with the stock independent/kingpin] front under it with hardly any brakes at all to stop ya. At that time all the magazines were preaching for us to not cut anything- blah blah blah,and to rebuild our 40 year old brakes and kingpin/axles too,[just like now] only they are now 75 year old axles.... I like tradition as much as the next guy, but seriously- why not improve the driveability and safety if it is what you want to end up with. A frame swap is appropriate in some cases where the orig body ch***is and floor is shot,it just saves so much in parts costs and you even end up with improved braking and handling whilst you are saving money. I know that if a car is solid and rustfree mostly, it makes sense to fix the orig stuff,but in this day and age we are finding fewer and fewer old cars that fit that description.
The Jalopy Journal
