The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Swapping your frame? Look at this

For those of you looking to swap frames for a late model ride look no farther. Swapping in a frame from a wrecking yard may seem cheaper but prodjects like that you know can nickle and dime you to death.
http://www.artmorrison.com/frames/truckframes.cfm
This to me looks fike a great deal.

Sounds like a "P.T. Barnum Special" to me! (There's a sucker born every minute!) $500.00 worth of rectangular tubing, if that much, and a MIG welder, and I can make my own frame rails. That leaves me $3,000.00 left over to do the detail work before I get up to their basic price. Nope, it doesn't look like much of a bargain!
Jerry

Yea. Doesn't look like much of a bargain to me.

Like TooMany2Count suggested, buy an s10, sell the parts you strip off that you don't need, and you'll often find you've MADE money on the deal.

I guess if a person just didn't have the time to hassle with all the work, and had lots of money to **** away, one of those $3500 frame rail jobs would be alright.. but i've seen other outfits provide a lot more for just a little more money.

Art Morrison does also sell a terrific chassis set up that is more elaborate then the truck frame and is for 55-57 Chevy cars.It'll make them handle like a sports car. He is selling a bunch of them to the modified group, so maybe he thinks the truck group would be interested too.

I keep thinking about the difference between restoring the original frame, modifying and adapting a donor frame, and buying something like the Art Morrison frame or one of the competitors.

While I'm cheap and probably won't spend even $835.54 for a new S-10 frame its not really the money that drives me toward the swap approach. Afterall I paid more than that for my wirefeed setup and more than any car I've ever bought for my shop.

I want to do it myself and do it my way. I also want to do it right, but designing or modifying someone else's design, and using my own hands to do the work all appeals to me. I'm not in a real big hurry and take great satisfaction from the parts I do myself.

So buying a frame, or even Robert's S-10 kit, just isn't the way I want to do it.

I'm probably nuts, but I am having fun, and that's what matters to me. Your opinion may vary, but it won't change mine.

I'd like to think OldSub's approach to all of this is how most of us feel, that is, the whole point is that, for better or for worse, what we've got is a direct result of our effort, not somebody else's. The AM chassis' are fine for the shop that's making a top of the line turnkey custom, but I don't see much difference between commissioning a car and going to the local chevy dealer and driving something off the lot. Personally, I need to do more with my truck than put gas in it.

Well I look at it this way.. a vehicle frame isn't some complicated rocket science. If you know how to work a welder, have access to the steel stock, and can read a tape measure, you can probably put your own frame together without much trouble.. provided you have a healthy supply of common sense.

I like the idea of the donor frame mostly because they lots of times come with a whole lot of extra usable stuff.. brakes, engine, tranny, rear axle, rotors & drums, steering column, etc. pretty much the whole shootin' match.. and that way, if you end up needing parts in the future.. say new brake pads, etc.. you can just go down and ask for brake pads for an '88 s10 or whatever.

It's also not difficult to bag the whole donor vehicle for under a grand or less, then sell off the good parts you don't need to make some of your money back.

The trick is to find a donor vehicle that needs the least amount of modification to suit your purpose.

I stumbled on their site while doing a side mount install on a 261 going in a 61 half ton.

I bought the cross member and mounts for less than $100. I am very pleased with my purchase.

Would I pay $4 grand for a frame? I don't think so.

Geez's thats more than some of us paid for our trucks.

They have good service and were very helpful on the phone.

Hobert

For sure it depends on how deep you want to get into your projects. How ever I have done many builds and watched many more. It has been my experience that the cheaper rout can so easily become the most expensive. AM also supplies unwelded frame with all the bends for those who wish to do their own. Yes I have the ability to build good frame in my shop here at home but these are truly great frames with an unbelievable amount of engineering and the testing to prove it. I personally would love to have a 40s to 50s pickup truck that handles like a new C5 Corvette. AM has come as close as possible to this feat. Besides I already have an S-10 that handles like an S-10 though it handles better than any stock 56 it’s nothing special.

Well I guess if you want a truck that handles like a corvette, then a custom kind of frame from one of those outfits would be the way to go.

Maybe i'm old school.. but i'm comfortable with my 50+ year old truck handling like a 15 or 20 year old truck.

art makes nice frames and parts. low buck and building it your own way rules! having that freedom is one of the reasons why this hobby is great. i think i will apply my $3,200 bucks towards one thing you can't get around, chrome!

HevyHauler your are correct about the engineering and testing. I've got a very nice 56 F100 that I won a complete chassis at the F100 Nationals from No Limit Engineering. It's set up with a mustang II in front, 4 bar in the rear and power rack and pinion. It also has front and rear swaybars with adjustable shocks. This chassis does not twist or flex like the OEM. The truck handles like a slot car and rides like a dream. Rolling down the highway close to 100 MPH there is no vibration and truck tracks straight as can be. There is no way to describe other than phenominal.

I must admit it's a high end chasis and I'm very fortunate to have won it. Probably if I had to pay myself it would be hard to swallow the cost of this particular chassis but wanted to tell you that a custom chassis will bring your truck up to a whole new level of technology.

Hey Phoneman! That sounds like a hell of a prize to win!

Best I ever got at such an event was like a t-shirt or maybe a little after dark action from one of the gals workin' the beer tent!

Most of the vehicles i've owned in the last 20 years.. the ones that actually could get up to 100MPH, anyway.. had no vibration and tracked straight at those speeds.

Get going about 45mph and yank a sharp left, and that's where you start separating the men from the boys.

But with that said, speed limit around here tops out at 65mph.. and I don't guess i'd need to go any faster than that with a load of hay or plywood in the back of the truck.

In selecting a frame for your truck, it all boils down to what you want your truck to be when it's done, and what kind of budget you have, and how much time do you want to spend monkeying with it.

I'm perfectly content having my 57 year old truck ride and handle like a 19 year old truck, and sit up off the ground like a truck should. and i'm perfectly content with a humble 4.3L V6.

For guys like me, on a low (or no) budget, bagging an old s10 with a shot to hell body but otherwise running decent for around $500 is a perfect donor chassis.

For dudes into high performance, or interested in lowering/airbags or that sort of stuff, a fresh chassis engineered specifically for those applications in mind would be the better choice.

Provided they could afford it.

That's a pretty cool old phone truck you got there! I don't suppose he left his butt set under the seat, did he?

I mostly agree. It does boil down to some compromise between what you really want and what you can put into getting there, whether that be time and skill or money.

My stated target for my 52 year-old truck is that it ride and handle as well as my 35 year-old truck. I think I'll manage to hit that target without breaking the bank.

My target for my 53 year-old truck is a little more ambitious. Handling as well as my Corvette would be great, but I'm not willing to cut that car up so I'm working with a less expensive donor car that has good potential for great handling. I've scaled my expectations to fit what I'm willing to invest.

I still have a dream of a GMC six powered truck with Corvette handling. Don't know that I'll ever build that one, but if I could...

What I'm really trying to say is that my goals and the constraints on my resources aren't the same as the next guys, and I want that guy to feel free to do his best to achieve his goals.

And while I'll often welcome that other guy's suggestions when they help me achieve my objectives, I'm going to push back if this other guy thinks he can TELL me how do go mine.

Hey guys I am not trying to tell anyone how to go about their project. I am merely trying to give suggestions. I have put together vehicles that became huge cost overruns trying to save money. I have also watched others go the same rout. It is a lot of fun to create a hotrod from wrecking yard finds and some times works out well. But the reality of it is most of the time it winds up costing more in the long run, usually way more than we may have originally thought. Some where, in all of this, one of you maid mention that this may be the good way for the high dollar rod builders to go but not for us little foke. Well I agree the high dollar builder are using this stuff because they are in the business, and a quality product at their lowest coast is the bottom line. The good builders are in business because of wise decisions not from throwing money to the wind. Ok Art is a friend and I am plugging his product. I have never bought a complete frame from him although he has back halved a couple of cars for me. I have nothing to gain by plugging his stuff I just believe that there is none better any where at any price. Any way that you may decide to go a good plane is essential. So good luck happy building and remember all that really counts is that you enjoy what you do.

Gotta agree with Heavyhauler.It depends on what you want to end up with.When I built my 55 I installed a new M2 frontend complete with power R&P steering from TCI.Yeah I could have went the Camaro route and got a frontend from a junkyard.But then it would have to be rebuilt,sanblasted and painted.In the long run it didnt cost much more to go first class,and a lot less headaches.

The right answer for you may not be the right answer for me or someone else.

If you are hiring the work done and ask my opinion, I'm going to tell you it will cost less and likely end up better if you use a Mustang II based kit or a full frame.

But for me working in my home shop I've decided I'd rather not go that way.

If you are paying to have the work done I doubt you can save any money doing it my way. If you go out and buy the tools to do it yourself, and don't enjoy the tools on additional projects you've probably spent more money doing it yourself.

But if you already own the tools and have the skills to do the work yourself, and you shop carefully, I think you can save money doing a clip or frame swap. If money is short and time isn't, then it becomes a good choice. Not the easiest, but with effort a good way to get it done.

I can't claim to know Art Morrison, but I see his stuff at local car shows and I always admire the quality of the work. (I keep wondering if they will ever finish that Cadillac they display.) But his work insprires me to work harder, not to buy his stuff.

I have somewhere past $30,000 of my own money invested in building a shop and buying tools and I'm not done. Sometimes I make choices based on spending the least money. This isn't one of those situations. Doing it myself if the way I want to do it.

Time is money....and I don't have a lot of time to sit around for weeks trying to clean up an old frame not worth it...just buy new...make the old truck come back to life...I grew up around drag boats all my life with a father who didn't have the money to do it right the first time but second time decided to spend twice as much to correct the problem....$3500.00 dollars of time priceless...just my opinion..

I absolutely agree, and that's why I pay people to do things I don't want to spend my time on.

My main point here is that doing the frame myself is something I want to enjoy doing MYSELF.

I reroofed my own house once to save money. I hated every minute of that project. These days I much prefer paying people to do the stuff I don't want to, or the stuff that must be done, but which keeps me from playing.

I have my reasons and if someone else has other reasons for doing the same or doing different then I think they should go for it.

It also boils down to the actual work.

I really enjoy working on my old trucks.. it's a huge thrill for me to hear 'em pop over and run for the first time.. and when I sit in the drivers seat and let that clutch out for the first time and she rolls forward.. darn, man.. I get butterflies every single time.

I don't have the kind of money to shell out for new frames and stuff.. but to be honest, if I had an unlimited budget for my project trucks, i'd still be out there bustin' my knuckles on old iron.

For me.. putting the thing together.. learning how it comes apart and how to get it going again is a huge part of the fun.

But as OldSub says, everybody has their own personal reasons for messing with these old beasts, and their own approach.

Nothing wrong with that.

And so I QUOTE my self and most all of us for that matter.So good luck happy building and remember all that really counts is that you enjoy what you do.

The end justifies the means. If you can weld and setup a chassis more power to you.If you cant(I cant) ill pay to have it done or get a kit and bolt it in myself. The end result was I got it done (right) and am enjoying my rig. I wish I could do a car or truck from start to finish myself but I cant. So I stick to the mechanics. Teardown rebuild and reassemble.I have a friend that can do everything from chassis work,body and paint, wiring even glass. The only thing doesnt do is chrome and interior. Interior he hasnt tried yet. Enjoy them and drive them!

As should be clear from my posts in this thread I like doing things myself. But I think most of us have limits and will be using someone else's work for at least part of our projects.

For myself, I used to toy with building my own motor. I don't mean rebuildng or modifying one, I mean starting with billet and creating a motor of my own design. Somewhere along the line I accepted that such an endeavor is beyond me. I won't be bulding my own transmission or winding my own alternator either.

And blowing my own headlights doesn't even interest me.

I don't understand why
Thanx Old Sub I got a good chucle from that oue