I know for sure that I want to zip up the 49. I need to consider cost, time and degree of difficultly. Here are my ideas, replace the original chassis with a complete substitute or use a mustang 2 front end and something of the sorts for the rear etc. I welcome ideas on which complete chassis would work best and any other ideas on this project that would help. Thanks truck brothers and sisters.
A lot of guys swap the body onto a S10 chassis. Its cheap but you have to make body mounts and cut the frame horns down. I personally think that keeping the original frame is essential to keeping the original soul of the truck. If I wanted to drive an S10 I would. With my opinion out of the way on S10 swaps, I like the Mustang II. I put a mustang II in my truck and then used a TCI leaf kit in the rear. Total was about $2600 for the whole suspension with all new parts and disk brakes. That doesn't account for the free rear end I used. You can factor another $200 for a used rear end.
If you are on facebook, purple monkey customs likes using an 89-94 chevy 1500 chassis. He gets the right offset wheels to make it look right. This is good if you want to use it to haul, but not if you want to lower it much. I'm a fan of the stock chassis/ M2 ( i like fatman) and rear end swap. I run a 95 T bird IRS and air ride. look at team 321 for a mount kit for the independant rear if you are not up to fab work.
Don't Forget ! That there are many old AD Trucks running around with original frames , it's a goof sturdy frame and if you take the time and effort to properly rebuild all the suspension bits , it'll handle well and ride nicely . You can add in a IFS front suspension easily enough but it's far easier and cheaper to simply rebuild what you've got , upgrading as you go along ~ better shocks . sway bars , lower profile tires , fancy wheels etc. , etc. Boxing the frame will make it so stiff you'll think it's a Sports Car , no kidding .
And there are many old Chevy/GMC trucks sitting in the back yards and garages of people who started a clip job or frame swap and never finished.
Options are many... Well, first of all, you have to answer questions for yourself. 1. Most important, what is my budget? Allow for a lot of unknowns. 2. What is the intended purpose of this truck? 3. Do I have the fabrication skills and TIME to build what I want? 4. Is my old frame really useable? Straight? no rust behind spring mounts or X-members? After you answer these questions, then there are many options. Original frame and susp. would be the least expensive and can be made to run with modern traffic. See Chiro's threads here. S-10,? More expensive and much more fab. skills needed. Cab mounts, bed mounts, front radiator and doghouse, EVERYTHING will need fabricated. There are people selling parts to ease this part, but, it costs money and time. See Threads by 52Wasp. Original frame with M2 front, is what many have done. Modern car ride and handling, and can go from stock springs, to coilovers, to air susp. You will need fab skills. See threads by Root2812, or ol'chebby, among others. I am also going this route. Then, for the full-out, big-budget, hotrod builders, there are many. I like Art Morrison myself, but, $15,000-$18,000 stopped me. Other top notch factory built frames include, Nolimit, Total cost involved, Heidts, Fatman, Scotts, Flat Out Eng., Schwartz Perf., among others. I would figure $5,000-$6,000 on an original frame, M2 with modern new rear.
Sadly, this is true. However, it is not just true about "clip jobs" and frame swaps. Many have been abandoned in the process of original restoration. Also, I can't count the number of old cars and trucks left OUTSIDE to rot away. Then, when someone stops to inquire about if they would be for sale, some old guy says "I'm gonna restore that some day". or, "Do you see a for sale sign on it?". That is usually followed by, "get off my property".
Yes, I forgot Speedway, thanks, Russ. I also forgot Roadster Shop. I agree with Charles, WELCOME, and we need pictures.
Roadster shop is awesome, but NOT CHEAP. I have a full frame from them under the 41 F**d I'm building. Super nice, but $20K....
We make our own frames now but back when we bought them I favored Alston ($$$) and Progressive Automotive who are the ones that came up with the triangulated 4 link set up that eliminated the need for a Panhard bar. If you have the tools I can give you tips on how to make frame rails with rounded corners that look absolutely seamless.
Steve, We first cut the frame profile onto a piece of 1/8" masonite to act as a plasma torch guide. The front and rear kick-up sections are cut out of either 11g or 10g cold rolled steel plate. The center section, if straight, has a 2x6 section of rectangular tubing the same thickness as the end sections. All joints have an inner plates that can be plug welded after the outside of the rails have been butt welded. The joints are then the strongest part of the frame. If the rails curve then all are plasma cut from flat plate cause it's darned hard to bend 6" rectangular tubing while flat plate before boxing is easy. The inner and outer rail plates are aligned and clamped together so a series of 5/16 holes drilled through them are exactly in line. Now 3" long all thread is run through these holes with two nuts on the inside and two nuts on the outside. The inner and outer nuts are adjusted till the top and bottom of the side plates are exactly 2" apart. A two inch strip of strap is used to box the top and bottom. Also use 2" blocks and C-clamps to cut down on warping. After the all thread spacers are removed everything inside can be shook out of the end. For the rounded "factory" look we cut 1/8" rod into 2 1/2 inch lengths and put it between the two inch boxing strip and the side rails. Two passes are made with the mig with one being a 100% penetration pass and the second being a "bondo" pass. This last pass is just a build up that can be ground to the desired radius. I made a mig torch guide so very long beads can be run that are where they should be and are so smooth grinding is much easier. Between my fading eye sight and shaky hands the latter was a necessity.
And that , Gentlemen , is how the Pros do it . Even , is that red thing there a Brand 'F' Product ? . .
interesting... Very interesting hand crafted frame. I think I understand the process. I'm guessing this would take several man-hours to complete. I wonder what kind of investment it would take for a machine like Art Morrison has, capable of "hard way" bending rectangle tubing. I would sure like to tour your shop some day.
Nate, you have eyes like a hawk, it is a 1934 Ford pickup. Steve, I talked to Chris Alston about their bender that bends rectangular tubing the "hard way" and they have one that doesn't stretch the metal thinner on the outside of the radius but rather bunches it up thicker on the inside with no wrinkles. We can make a frame in two days for about six hundred in material and seven hundred in labor. Of course the suspension and running gear can vary by thousands but this is for the platform it all mounts to. My nephew is running the shop now and seems to prefer buying ready made stuff over fabrication even though he is capable of doing it. I keep my nose out but if he doesn't start keeping the shop cleaner---a HUGE point of irritation to my wife, things may change again. Visitors always welcome.
