67 - 69 Front subframe and the basic body are identical at the cowl area so you can swap a firebird front end full clip onto a camaro and vise versa. You can also swap suspension stuff pretty easily as like I said, the front subframes are Identical right down to the bolt holes. That means you can swap formula 400 stuff into your 6 banger camaro pretty easily or make an SS 396 firebird if you want.
I know there's a mullet joke here somewhere... but to answer your question, very. Some nova stuff even works on the 1st gens.
I don't think there really is a difference. I have a clip (gasp) and I'm not really sure what it is. I just ask for t/a or camaro parts at napa depending on my mood. All have fit so far.
Always good to ask other Dr.s opinions...never know what you might learn.... ie...I guess I need to go get some Foghat tapes for the truck
I think the 70-81 Camaro/Firebird and the 75-79 Nova are the same also. The only real difference I can think of is they might move the mounts around some for the Pontiac, the Chevy, the six or the Olds 403 motors.
The sheet metal will swap on the first gen and I believe the second, there may be some minor beltline differences but they can be worked around. The sub frames were almost identical if not identicle and on the first gen they also swapped with the novas, the olds omegas, and whatever the pontiac equivelent was. I was going to say something smart but what the hell if it gets you goin' then jump all over it.
x body and f body are very,very different animals. x body stuff is almost flat by comparison to an f body. -on Oh,say...A 58 Suburban, the f body clip alone is worth about 4 or 5 inches of additional drop. only difference betweet firebird and camaro clips is the actual motor stands on the frame- and they have the holes for both types. Z-28 and Trans Am have the quick boxes, great big sway bars (though the trans am bar is larger than the z28 by a 16th.) and additional gusset bars that have been removed 99 percent of the time to make room for headers...and the power wire for the amplifier, so Foghat can be played louder through the 14 6x9's.
There is some differences in the '70-'81 F-body clips, but I don't remember what it was, because it was my friend's TransCamaroBird. I think it has to do with mounting hole differences, which wouldn't matter if you welded it on. I was wondering, has anyone put a F-body clip on a '55-'57 Chevy? How did it work out?
That's a fairly common swap, in fact, No Limit Engineering sells a ridiculously cheesy, but informative video that outlines the entire process. My friend clipped his '55 and it's a nice fit. Bryan
What is it, the A-arms/spindles that are the same? I'm not remembering this right, either that or I'm remembering it from Stock Car Racing tech articles, which don't care so much about how low you can get it - but there's some interchangability or similarity there, I know I read that someplace.
year to year, for all practical purposes they are the same. But there can be some differences over the span of a couple years. The frame horns changed from year to year. The drag link from 71 to 72 is different than 73 to 75, and 76 to 81. Also the 75 to 79 x body uses the same sub as a 76 to 81 Camaro/Firebird, except for the front frame horns.
I used a 70 T/A subframe with the big sway bar and brakes under my 57 Chevy wagon (which had a terminal interaction when it T-boned a Granada)..We torched off the 57 rails at the firewall...slid in perfectly next to the tri five rails..I just had to change the pontiac towers out to chevy and now my 57 enjoys Disc brakes, power steering, a 327 and the 700R4 AOD..and a nice drop in the front...Piece of cake..
that's what you do to get a better caster angle and disc brakes on an a-body. it's a bit of a pain in the arse ( you get to re drill the mounting holes in the upper control arm perches.) but it works well when completed. after you get done with all that, stuffing the springs back into the car, and figuring out if you have to go get new tie rod ends (I beleive the f body took a larger or smaller diameter tie rod end...or the taper was different...or something like that) you have put in precisely 3 times the effort of just changing out the spindles off a disc brake a-body, and raking the caster with an additional 1/4 inch shim. suffice to say, I did it the "hard way" the first 2 times. 100 bucks for conversion spindles is the way to go.
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