1947 Ford 2 door sedan frame swap ideas?

I'm with 36-3window on this one...

My 47 Tudor has an all original frame but with a dropped front axle and a 1st gen. Bronco rear in it.

No need to change the entire frame if you want a GM driveline

 

Mine was just the body when I got my 46 business coupe. Me and dad used a mid 80's caprice frame and floor. It was a ton of fab work to make it work and look right. But now 15 years later I wish we would have found an original frame I think the finished product would have been much cooler.

 

Hell you can get a good drop on a 41-8 with just a spring and front X member, all less than $200, CE rear suspesion kit using a Nova 10 bolt or s-10, less than $500, Disc brake kit for front under $250 with GM pattern and parts, 350/350 and you have EXACTLY waht you are wanting, looks and rides great, and you will have a car worth something. Personally I would never even look at purchasing a car with a frame swap, and they are usulayy the cars real builders get a kick out of seeing how bad the builder screwed up the car doing it. I know there are some cars with good chassis swaps, but they are usually odd ball cars that you cannot get parts for. Dude this is an old ford you are building, do it right, you wont regret it. If you were that much of a GM guy you wouldn't be building a ford!

 

Let me see if I read your posts correctly: you have a freshened up stock Chevy that you confess would puke its guts onto the highway after a few miles at the death-defying speed of 65 MPH, and you insist on adding Chevy parts to a different brand so that you will have a roadworthy ride.

I'm confused.

 

I have to agree with the rest of the guys here who say use the stock frame with Chassis Engineering kits. With a disk brake kit for the front, and your choice of rear end, all the "breakdown parts store" items are there.

If you want to do a frame swap for the ride, you won't want to use a pickup. And there aren't any modern cars that aren't themselves 30 years old that would have a frame to swap from. Finding parts for those cars ain't any easier than what you could bolt on as advised by everyone else.

If nothing else, stop to think "why are 99% of thes guys telling me to do it this way?"

 

My 39 Mercury coupe had a very rusty chassis with 116" wheelbase and finding a replacement in Europe is not easy.
So i bought a cheap and running Chrysler Imperial 1954 sedan with 133,5" wheelbase and shortened it 17,5" to 116".
Now i have a 331 Hemi, PS and PB and it still is HAMB friendly

 

Just an observation here for those of you dead against a frame swap. My buddy had the front suspension rip out of his '46 Ford frame on the Fwy and was damned lucky to be able to stop without wrecking the car. When it came to cutting up the old frame, the sawzall went through it like a knife through butter. The fact is that at the end of WW II there was almost no decent steel left - what they had was crap - hence the suspension ripping out. This particular '46 model was built in December 1945 and it took a while before quality steel was available again.

So to all of you who think adding components to an existing 1946 frame is a good idea, maybe an S10 frame swap is actually a better option. My buddy bought his 1986 S10 truck running and driving for $600 and then proceeded to sell the parts off it for $400. So for $200 he had a complete rolling chassis with disc brakes, modern suspension and steering. It took an afternoon to shorten it and weld it up. His alternative was to spend upward of $7500 on an aftermarket frame or try and find an original which he would then have to rework - a lot more effort than the S10 swap.

Once the sheetmetal was aligned and on the frame nobody ever thought to ask if it had a frame swap and it certainly did not show unless you got down on your hands and knees to check out the underside.

Here are a couple of in progress photos of another S10 frame swap he did on a 1940 Ford Ute - both cars are Ford powered too.

 

I just don't see why an 8" ford rearend and GM disk brakes in front with a dropped axle won't work- all of the parts are readily available and it's a tried and true combo.

 

ok , Weasel,you have convinced me...i can see how nice that car sits and how well the wheel/tires are centered in the wheel opening

from now on, a S-10 chassis is the only way for me..........

 

"I tried to spread the gospel of the HAMB Father Cochran, I really did! But they wouldn't listen! They just wouldn't listen!"

 

This is the thread that I thought would give me the answer for what to do with my '48 Ford Tudor. But now I think I'm really confused??????????

 

I got modern brakes and rearend on my 37 chevy p/u without changing the frame,I dont think people realize the work involved in putting a frame that was not designed for that vehicle under it. It may be cheaper initially but way more work then its worth since there are alot of parts available to improve what is there now.

 

Your Gonna try & blame that on BAD POST WWII steel ?

Or maybe it could have been a Really Rusted out Frame or POSSIBLY the guy who bolted it together last didnt know what he was doing.

I hardly doubt that Fords built at the end of the war had Bad Steel in the frames so that 50-60 years later the front end rips out.

My parents own an S-10 and i'll say this ..... IF i was ever to consider a frame swap it sure as Hell wouldnt be from an S-10... Whata Piece of Shit !

 

I've seen 42-48 fords with s-10, malibu, cutlass frame swaps. There is even one out there on a 4x4 amc frame. The 4x4 one wasn't even taller than a stock 46 ford. I'll try to find the pics of the 4x4 one.

 

S-10 frame swaps are the 2000’s equivalent of the 1970’s craze with Corvair front ends. Yet another idea that will go down in the Hot Rod history books in the “What the hell were they thinking?” chapter.

 

Hey Ratroddude I am a newby here but dont understand if you ask for help all you get is s%#t. Your car do what you like and good luck with whatever you decide

 

no one gave him any crap on this year old post , we were just giving him advice on how it should be done properly

 

I did a frame swap on my car. The original frame was FUCKED, and in 3 months searching, I couldn't find another one.

Never again!

I would have been easier to look for another 6 months than to fab up all the odds and ends to make it work.

Use your original frame, and swap in later suspension if you must.

 

Im happy I found this ancient thread. It has helped me decide to try to use my frame regardless of the repairs it needs. Im going to try to use a 94 lincoln rear end w/ air susp & disc brakes. The clip will be determined later I guess. Mustang? I dont know. Ive got nothing but time & welding wire.

 

S 10 frame swaps work great for early 49/54 chevy trucks but use what Henry Ford designed for Ford products and hot rodders for the last 60 years have dropped the axles and juiced the brakes with no problems, as years progressed, disc brakes have been designed for early Ford cars/ trucks and they use G.M. parts, G.M. drive trains, Ford rears, Vega steering boxes mated to Ford coloumns, use whats tried and true. Build it safe.

 

I have a '41 Ford, basically like a '47. I'm running a 302/C-4, stock front end with 4 of the 11 spring leaves removed, stock shocks, stock sway bar, mid 70's Saginaw(Jeep)steering box, C.E. rear springs with 1 leaf removed(to soften the ride) with '51 Ford hyd. shocks(gas shocks were too stiff). Rides great, goes straight as an arrow and can cruise all day at 75 MPH and can get 23MPG if I keep it under 70.

 

I am building 1946 Ford 2 door. I am using the dual leaf spring rear suspension from a 1999 S10 brackets and all onto the 46 frame. Suprising how well this swap fits. By reversing the shock plates on the bottom or the axle U bolts, I am able to angle the shocks forward instead of backward. Now i am able to use the orginal gas tank.
I am "clipping" the front of the '46 frame with the S10 IFS, disc brakes and power steering. By grafting both ends of the 46 frame with the S10 I have maintained the body bolt holes, so the body will fit right back onto the frame once I get it painted. As you probably know, the S10 differential is too narrow for the 46 frame so I am using a 1995 Impala diffential with 2:73 gears. I have a 350 SBC and a 2004R tranny. The tall gears and the overdrive tranny my be too tall, have to see.
After considering all approaches, this seemed the most logical for me (not for everyone). The rolling frame was $200 and the Impala differential (tires and all) was $50.

 

I probably should add that we are very fortunate here in Grayson County, TX. The Grayson College has a "Street Rod Class" going on its 15th year. We have two instructors who are very knowledgable and have done almost everything in Rods. What they haven't done some of the classmates (some have taken the class for 10 years or more) have. We have a building (The old Perrin Air Force Base' s motor pool building) that will hold about 40 cars and all of the equipment necessary to build and paint one's project. The tuition is reasonable and everyone motivates one another to where it is an enjoyable two to four nights a week.

 

Of course, an S10 4x4 differential would have been wide enough and bolted right on, but...

I love when a guy revives a year or more old thread to repeat the same thing that's already been posted 13 times, though.

 

to: ratroddude
i don't recommend an s10 chassis cause it's to high in the back its a pickup frame check my project page i used a g-body monte carlo and i planned for a year before starting i get what you want to the t i like being able to get what ever i need for one make anywhere i want to go

 

i am in the same boat about what to do to upgrade to disc brakes in the front and modern diff in the rear.....all options of rebuilding the front and converting to disc still comes back to i can buy a all new M2 for the same or not much more $$ than all that work of upgrading factory, or getting a subframe and freshening it up. i am going to use a 8.8" rear out of a fox body mustang(79-93) for mine. will have to put spring perches for the parrellel leafs but no biggie.

 

No one thinks the OP made up his mind how to build the car snce October 2010?