Body/chassis swap. But not the dumb (for a dime) kind

[TheBirdistheWord]

No no no, I don't want to cut up a dime to try to unsuccessfully marry it to some random chassis...

 

I have a dime that I want the entire drive line and all of the suspension from and I have a different dime that I want to put it into that has its own complete drive line and suspension. As I am prioritizing tasks for this rather large project I have come to realize something and wanted to see if anyone can lend some insight.  

 

First I am going to speak as if it's implied that I will be disconnecting/removing everything under the hood like any engine swap short of the engine mounts.  Theoretically it seems I could unbolt the front x member from the chassis,  front upper and suspension, idler, pitman, exhaust, driveshaft, brake plumbing and cables and lift the front of the car from the driveline with the rear suspension in tact and roll it away on the rear wheels. Prior to this I'd have swapped the rear suspension the same way using the rear cross member Then do the same thing with the new chassis and bring it over to the desired driveline and suspension. 

 

What am I missing?!?

 

I know there will be plenty of knick knacks to swap and tighten down afterwards but since I will be swapping driveline parts going into the outgoing chassis it seems it will give me access to the undesired driveline to swap what's needed without needing a hoist. 

[paradime]

You make it should far simpler then it would be, but yes, theoretically you could do that. It's a question of practicality. Would it actually save time and effort without damaging the suspension parts? No, I think not.

 

I've used the bottom up method on 510s by lifting the front of the body and wheeling in the engine mounted to the X member that's riding on a creeper, then lowering the car onto the X member. Trying to do that with all the suspension parts hanging off it would be totally impractical, if not impossible. My advice would be to swap one assembly at a time.

[TheBirdistheWord]

1 hour ago, paradime said:

You make it should far simpler then it would be, but yes, theoretically you could do that. It's a question of practicality. Would it actually save time and effort without damaging the suspension parts? No, I think not.

 

I've used the bottom up method on 510s by lifting the front of the body and wheeling in the engine mounted to the X member that's riding on a creeper, then lowering the car onto the X member. Trying to do that with all the suspension parts hanging off it would be totally impractical, if not impossible. My advice would be to swap one assembly at a time.

I hear you 💯. It's likely as much work as swapping every part individually, by no means am I ignorant to the over simplification.  A bit of context would help address your advise, I will be doing the work on a gravel surface that has a grade.  Last time I used a hoist for a simple L series swap was frustrating to say the least. So I'm open to some growing pains during the project as long as I don't damage anything too expensive. 

 

With that said, what if the wheels stay on and or the suspension is blocked? The only thing I can think of that would need bracing at that point is the transmission at the disconnected trans X member. With the weight of the engine disconnected and the proper contact points disassembled 2 or 3 people should be able to leverage it up in the air after being jacked off of the front subframe assembly. Simply put, disconnecting things until it separates

 

I suppose I need to figure out how much I can lift the front end and not damage anything on the rear X member/suspension.  However I could do a combination of both, lift the car high enough to roll the front member and tranny out from the front and the lower the car(s) to roll them on the rear two wheels to their respective drivlines

Edited April 9, 2023 by TheBirdistheWord

[Icehouse]

I always do it that way.  One thing to remember is if you mess with the brake line union on the firewall I always remember to dangle the struts hook up all the brakes and bleed them.  Gotta make sure that union doesn't leak.  I've had to pull a motor because of that fitting.  So learn from my mistake.  Also verify your drive train in the other rig.  If it needs any seals do it while it's out.  This is one of my cars, I bought a beat down 2 door me and my buddy did an SR swap on and swapped everything over to my rig.  It was a great daily driver for years.  It's under the knife again.  Well if I can ever finish up the current 510 project.  

 

[TheBirdistheWord]

1 hour ago, Icehouse said:

I always do it that way.  One thing to remember is if you mess with the brake line union on the firewall I always remember to dangle the struts hook up all the brakes and bleed them.  Gotta make sure that union doesn't leak.  I've had to pull a motor because of that fitting.  So learn from my mistake.  Also verify your drive train in the other rig.  If it needs any seals do it while it's out.  This is one of my cars, I bought a beat down 2 door me and my buddy did an SR swap on and swapped everything over to my rig.  It was a great daily driver for years.  It's under the knife again.  Well if I can ever finish up the current 510 project.  

 

Are you talking about the hardline junction?  Can you expand on this?  I've bleed completely dry systems with no issues, I was going to disconnect the plumbing at the clutch slave, and the top of the soft lines at the brake calipers on all 4 corners.  When would this union even be relevant?  Even if it is, why wouldn't a standard bleed get the job done vs removing engine to address the issue as you said you have done?

 

It seems getting it as high as possible on stands in the rear is preferable to lifting the front while on the rear suspension for a number of different reasons. How does the sheet metal do rocking on the rear stands? Does it take the weight okay?

 

Thank you for your input. 

[paradime]

Sounds sketch on a slanted gravel surface. 

[Icehouse]

This guy.  

[TheBirdistheWord]

On 4/9/2023 at 4:34 PM, Icehouse said:

This guy.  

 

I knew what you were referring to but why did you need to remove it?  And why couldn't you bleed it normally?

[Icehouse]

If the goodie shell needed it.  I just make sure to bleed the system before I install the motor if I mess with that guy.  

[TheBirdistheWord]

2 hours ago, Icehouse said:

If the goodie shell needed it.  I just make sure to bleed the system before I install the motor if I mess with that guy.  

Got it, thank you for the tip!  

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

X2 on the individual parts. Removing them one at a time and reinstalling them one at a time will allow you to put hands on each part to verify that it's in good shape.  Clean and lubricate as you go. You'll have more time involved, but the results will be better.

 

If you wanted to do the entire suspension in one shot, having a lift, a large wheeled table and a couple guys around would make it easy.