muuhahahahahaha

It begins.......

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...olov544017.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...olov544030.jpg
This will need some welding....
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...olov544031.jpg
This was box one of three stacked in the car
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...olov544040.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...olov544033.jpg
back seat in good shape (upside down though i think)
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...olov544055.jpg
The hotness.....
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...olov544053.jpg

So far I've got $40 invested, I traded a free 80's van that I hauled off for someone and put about $40 into to get running. The seller did a straight trade and payed for the towing of both cars. I will need to get a new title but i have a few options and should be ok.

The plan:

1. I have an 86 volvo that i wanted to shorten and use the frame on but it's about six inches wider then this car so that is out. I'm going to sell that and find something with a full frame, 4 wheel disc's, and power steering rack that is about the same size of this car. Any suggestions? It's 59 1/2" wide from wheel to wheel apprx.

2. Channel and drop on frame

3. Slap in 472 cubic inches of cadillac terror

4. Drive it everywhere as a rat-rod until I get enough money to make it beautiful.

I won't really be able to start until my tax refund comes in so I can buy a welder but i've got plenty of planning to do. Any suggestions or comments? I know this won't be easy but I think it will be worth the effort. Thanks for inspiring me guys! :D

it looks like you have decent car to work with, always a big plus. as far as a good donar car, as long as you have a welder and a source to cut steel. you can pretty much do anything to build up your ride, thats a great deal of wieght with the caddy motor make sure you build it to handle all that meat!

I don't know what the track is on the little S-10 Chevys and S-15 GMC's, but I think I would try to find one to measure. I like the Cadillac idea, but just be aware that there are parts to bolt in a 350/383/400 inch small block Chevy to the S-10/S-15 frame. With the Cad, you're on your own.

Are you sure you would have to change frames? I've never seen one, but it could possibly be a whole lot less time intensive to use the existing frame (if it's stout enough) and swap in some updated suspension. Sure does look like a good candidate to start on. Have fun with your new project....

I've seen those fat-fendered Swedes with hot small-blocks in 'em, and stock frames and suspension, with no problems. Your Caddy is lighter than a big block Chevy, I would think it would work in there without a frame swap. Unless, of course, yours is just toast. The body doesn't look that bad, the chassis should be rebuildable.
S10 frames have a huge "kick" behind the cab, car floors are flat back there. You can put in a new floor, but the back seat footroom disappears.
Gotta love the "Fat-Fender Ford" look of that body!

Got that right, Pope!!!! Sweden's version of a '40 Ford!!!!

thanks for the comments, my concern is that it's a unibody with a frame bolted on the front for the motor (i haven't actually looked yet though but this is what my research says, i'll look before i make any decisions), i'm afarid the first time it gets traction with 300 lbs of torque the back half of the car is going to pretzel on me. Looking at it last night though, i might be able to weld in some frame on the inside and have it pass through the interior, there is quite a bit of room for this i think. Then i can hang whatever rear end i want from that frame as it comes to the back of the car. will this work? can i build a frame like that and have it support all the power to the ground or am i asking for more trouble? I don't want to stick a big motor in but never be able to floor it, that would be lame.....

so that's what around a '66? P544 model. I was looking at 1 that was in Ok shape for $1k, drivable in all but it was just too far away. was a '66 P544

i was told it was a 59, not sure though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joehalford01

i was told it was a 59, not sure though.

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could be. they kept that style for a while. mid 50's-mid 60's

Your right---the car will totally pretzel on you with any kind of power and a good sticky set of rear tires. You will have to fabricate a full frame that runs from front to rear, to make a serviceable hotrod from it.

does it makes sense to run one through the inside on the floor, welded to the exsisting bolted on frame in the front or am i better off channeling it? I'm thinking any smaller import car from the 80's should do the trick if i need to channel instead, like an rx-7 or something. What do you think?

I don't think any car made after the 1960's came with full frames. No---it doesn't make sense to try and run a frame inside on top of the floor. You will have to build a full frame similar to what people do on 1930-s era hotrods. It would look absolutely horrible to have the car setting on top of the frame rails, as there are no body panels to extend down past the top of the framerails to hide them on that car. I would suggest building a frame from 4" deep x 2" wide x minimum of 1/8" wall rectangular tubing, and channel the car by the depth of the framerails.

ok, some good old fashion honesty is what i needed. Thanks, I think i'm going to start this project by getting the motor already there to run (if it can be done cheaply enough) and securing a title, that'll give me some time to hit the area junkyards with a measuring tape to figure out what i should do for a frame. I think building one is out of my league at this point but modifying an exsisting one is doable (i think :HMMM: ).

Brian, as far as I know, Corvettes did and still use complete frames, not unibodies. I know a guy who works at a bodyshop that says some corvettes he sees are driven completely without bodies. They are built this way because their bodies are made of plastic (fiberglass).