Question for a friend!

[Tripper]

Ok... I don't have a clue here but a friend ask me what I thought...

He has a '41 Chevy coupe. He also has a '91 Chevy xtended cab 1500. He wanted to know if it he should try to plop the '41 on the '91 frame. I didn't have a clue but told him to measure the widths & recently saw an article cuttin' a long wheel based truck down to make a short bed. The '91 has a good drivetrain. I personally think he should just take the drivetrain & drop in in the '41's frame. Any thoughts?!?!

BoB

 

[donsrods]

I agree. Some frame swaps just aren't meant to be. Logic would seem to tell you it would be cool to just pull the body off of an old car and plop it on a newer chassis, but in reality few of them are compatible. Newer cars and trucks tend to have the steering and suspension stuck out further in front than the old cars, so you end up with things out there with nothing to hide them, or nowhere to put them.

I think you are right about just swapping the later drivetrain to the older chassis.

Don

 

[24dodge]

I agree , an original frame is the way to go ....

 

[joehalford01]

i'm with the other guys on this, he should put the new drive train in the old frame. either way he's up for a lot of fabrication but it should be easier to use the original frame.

 

[Bonehead]

We used to do it alot, anything to a Blazer 4x4 frame. But they were those jacked up big tired trucks so it the steering box stuck out, it didn't matter. The frame usually showed too. That would be much harder to actually make it look right with the body sitting down on the new frame.

 

[gassersgarage]

The frame rails on full size trucks are pretty huge and weight a ton. I'm with everyone else on this. There are enough kits to add IFS with rack and pinions to mess with a frame that big.

 

[Tripper]

Thanks guys!

The frame rails on full size trucks are pretty huge and weight a ton. I'm with everyone else on this. There are enough kits to add IFS with rack and pinions to mess with a frame that big.

Thanks guys,
I told him I'd put a new front end under it drop in that running gear & be done with it but he ask for all your opinions. I saw him today & that's what he's gonna do!

BoB

 

[Gastrick]

I may be late to chime in on this but I agree with everyone else. Don nailed down the reason why. I would just use the drivetrain and keep the original chassis on this project. And like gassersgarage said, there are plenty of MII IFS crosmember kits for it, and in the long run, I think it would be easier to do the crossmember/drivetrain swap than it would be to try to put the car body on that full size truck chassis.