Customs Need some advice on my 51 merc chassis swap.

Does anyone out there know what is the best car to do a chassis swap to a 51 merc is,i was going to clip it but the floor needs a ton of work so i thought it might be better to drop the body on another floor and frame i seen the lords of kustoms do it on there web site but i am wondering about the wheel clearence,i want my car to be low and still be able to do u turns.any help would be appreciated.

 

I vaguely remember reading in either Rod & Custom, Street Rodder, or Hot Rod that the best fit was a mid 80s Olds 98.
Used to build dirt track Chevy IIs and Chevelles using floor pan and frame from 55-57 Chev., shortened the frame for Chevy II. Lined up fore and aft at the firewall, and side to side was just careful measurement and trimming to fit before welding.
Contact Ether on this board. He's building a Merc now and we had a brief discussion on this @ Dixie Fried.
Dave

 

My '51 Merc has a newer GM frame under there, supposed to be a big Pontiac car frame but I'm not 100% sure. Also is using the floorpans from that donor car. Only problem I see is that you then have to custom mount the bumpers, ie. make custom brackets. When I get a chance I'll try to get the car up on a rack and take pictures, but the car is getting repainted right now.

 

the olds is a good choice

 

A similar project, but on a Lincoln chassis. Mercman's excellent website, check it out, it's alot of work, that kind of swap.

http://landyachts.homestead.com/index.html

 

That's a great website, thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks guys-

That reminds me, I have updates I need to upload to the site...


DONE!

BTW, Olds swaps are the way to go. Lefturn on here has done a ton of them. I just like making more work for myself.

 

i done a 50 merc on a 79 olds chassis, also used the floor from it. I have a 49 merc with a 79 camaro sub frame, both work well