I put out a call for help with taking the body off my '41 Oldsmobile and setting it on the Chevy frame.  Four hard working Little Guys came over to lend a hand and a back.  Joe Walls also stopped buy with his 33 Ford sedan.

Special thanks to

Jim Gerrard

Howard Haston

Red Johnston

Frank Lewark

You can click on the photos for an enlargement

Here is the 41 Olds after I drove it home. It has had a bath and that is about all.

I didn't have enought room in the Studebaker truck, so I think this should do just fine.

Here is the donor car. It's a 73 Impala and Jim Gerrard got it for me from a friend in the Country Gents.

Body off the Chevy and starting the clean up process.

Lots of rust, but basically sound.

Jim Gerrard to the rescue again. He brought over his power washer and he knocked off all the grease and gunk after I soaked it overnight.

Nothing like having the right tool.

After it's bath and a fresh coat of Rustoleum gloss black.

Here is the power supply, 355 Chevy Blower motor and Turbo 350.

The beginning of the tear down of the 41.

Jim Jumping right in to start ripping things off the 66 year old car.

Howard sure had fun with that air chisel

Red pulling the parking brake assembly out.

Frank lifts a fender out of the way.

Red, Howard and Frank look for the mystery bolt that is still holding the fender on.

Jim's turn with the chisel.

Second fender comes off.

Red and Frank haul away their trophy.

Jim, Frank, Red and Howard thinking about what they could be doing on this nice Saturday morning.

Howard finds another bolt holding things together.

Up, up and away.

Red watches the back end as we slide the old frame out.

Out with the old.

Almost out.

Suspended with two floor jacks, three 4 x 4 treated posts and my engine hoist holding up the rear.

PLEASE don't fall down.

Let's move this out of the way.

The new chassis goes in.

Setting on some 4 x 4s and doing the alignment.

Getting close.

Here's how we held the rear end up.

UPDATE

The Impala frame was too wide and the rear hump was too high.  I thought about trying to make the Impala frame work, but it would mean a tremendous amount of modification, so I found a deal on a Camaro sub-frame.  It was free, all I had to do was go pick it up.

Here's the Impala frame after it was removed from the donor car. Note the red floor from when I painted the Studebaker.

Another shot after the removal, but before the cleanup.

Here's Jim again. I think he has done almost as much work on the Olds as I have.

Cleaning all the years of dirt off the Impala.

All cleaned up and painted.

So pretty, if it would only fit.

Here is the Camaro sub-frame. Located about 50 miles east of Julian in the exact middle of nowhere. It was a nice drive with beautiful scenery.

Bob Mooney and I dragging the sub-frame out of the pile of old car parts.

Bob and I making a path for the truck to back in to load the sub-frame

There it is, ready to load.

Some of Bob's Studebakers waiting to be restored.

Another of Bob's projects.

I said this place was in the middle of nowhere, now you get an idea of what I meant.

Beginning to load the sub-frame into the back of the Studebaker. Most of the scratches in the bed and the tailgate are from this project.

In she goes.

Starting the alignment process after cutting off the front of the Olds frame.

Lined up perfect, now out with the welder.

Progress front and rear

I installed the sub-frame and decided on a Thunderbird rear end.  The rear is fully independent with power disc brakes.  The rear has its own sub-frame that attaches to the T-bird with 4 large bolts.  I was able to make a cross member that the rear of the sub-frame bolts to and will make some small brackets for the front half to bolt to.  Only problem is that the wheels are 5 on 4.25 and the front are Chevy bolt pattern 5 on 4.75.  The solution was a set of adaptors which convert to the Chevy bolt pattern and space them out about an inch.  Everything fits perfect now and it is just a matter of welding in some support pieces and painting it up nice and pretty.

The beginning of the welding of the sub-frame to the Olds.

Tacked in place, now comes the serious welding.

Moving right along.

A peek at the other side.

My oldie but goodie Lincoln.

Another donor car comes into the project. The rear end from a 1994 Thunderbird.

Resting peacefully at Ecology. Jim Gerrard helped pull the independent rear suspension out.

Here's the view of the rear.

Tbird rear end mocked up in place. The negative offset wheels wouldn't clear the frame, but the Cragars will.

The blue paint on the frame rails is Periwinkle Blue. It is a color that Bonnie likes, but we haven't decided for sure what the final color will be.

Moving Right Along

 

The rear end is in and with the exception of the front mounts and installing the shocks is complete.  We have decided on the final color and I will pull it apart and repaint the frame Candy Apple Green.  The motor was dropped in to test the header and steering clearance and it appears to be a perfect fit.  I sure love sub-frame swaps.

Cross member installed (thanks Jerry Heiss) and rear end bolted in place.

Motor set in place for first time. Everything clears as it should and excitement is building.

Starting to look like a car again. I found the wheels on Craig's List in Orange.

Another angle, I need to break out the polish and get started on that engine.

Wow, look at that cool Studebaker in the background. Looks pretty good from a distance.

How low can you go. I need to raise it up a bit in the back. Bottoms out going over a dime.

Here is that 94 T-Bird rear end, fully independent with disc brakes. Pretty clean instal.

Here is an exemplar '41 Olds. It is very close to the color and style we are aiming for.

Front view of exemplar Olds.

Another shot of the exemplar Olds.

Tim Held came over to help clean out the garage.  He has no sentiment for my treasures and wants to throw everything in the truck to go to the dump.  I have to admit that he is right and a lot of old treasures head to the dump. 

Frank Lewark came over to finish what Tim started.  Frank donated his pass to the dump and another truck load of former treasures heads to the dump.  I actually have room to work now, so no excuses.

Slowly but surely progress is being made.  A bunch of parts to Decorative Metal Finishing for some Show Chrome.  The old Lincoln welder is retired and a gift to my brother-in-law Craig and a Miller TIG welder takes its place in the garage.  The frame had been flipped upside down and everything welded nice and strong.  It is back on its wheels now and waiting for the rear springs and shocks to be set up.  I have started filling some of the holes from the trim that was removed.  I don't plan to replace the trim and am going to give it to Rex Prescott for his Chevy project.  If I can afford it I plan to have Mark Stansell airbrush the trim on and do some cool graphics.  Building cars isn't for sissies.

Off to Decorative Metal Finishing for some chrome plating.

 More photos coming in a couple days

The chrome is back and I couldn't be happier.  DMF did a fantastic job and everything came out great.  I'll post photos when I put the front end back together. 

Special thanks to

John Wilkinson

Tim Held

Gerry Fleming

Frank Lewark

Bill Newman

 

On Saturday, November 14th, John Wilkinson, Frank Lewark, Tim Held, Gerry Fleming and my son Bill helped me put the body back on the frame.  Thankfully Cal OSHA wasn't there to observe and we got everything put back together in a couple hours time.  Then we all went to El Ranchero Mexican Restaurant for lunch. 

Getting everything lined up for the big day.

John brought his "BIG" floor jack.

All we need to do is lift the body up high enough to slide the frame under it.

The cherry picker is perfect for lifting the rear.

Better pull the rear fenders off, just in case.

Half the bolts came out, the other half broke.

Frank & Tim hold the fender while Terry gets the last bolt.

Gerry and Bill supervise the fender removal.

It's off and Terry can spit the rust out of his mouth.

Frank checks out the fender.

Terry tries to get up.

We start lifting the body up.

A little higher, very slowly.

Now raise the back end a little.

Close, but not quite yet.

Closer.

Now we are getting really close. Just a little more.

Okay, lets start rolling the frame under.

Stand back everyone.

Almost there.

Back a couple more feet.

Hey, the crossmember you installed to mount the rear end is in the way of the spare tire well.

Time to show off the new plasma cutter.

Like a hot knife through butter.

The smoke is from the burning undercoating. Take a breath, cut, stop and take another breath.

Almost out.

Still cutting out the trunk floor.

Try opening the doors to air out the smoke.

Just about finished.

Way too much fun.

Love my new toy.

If it weren't for the undercoating contaminating the torch it would be out. Still it only took a minute.

Here it comes.

Done cutting, just have to pull it out.

All clear, set her down.

There it is, I should be able to reinstall most of it.

Lining up the bolts.

Rear is lined up, set her down.

Sweet!

Front is in place.

Everything lined up perfect.

Look at the size of that hole I have to fill now.

Sitting pretty. Might need to lower the back a little.

That's what I'm talking about.

All that's left now is to put away the tools and sweep up.

Looking like a car again.

Here she is back in the garage with room to walk around now.

Thanks guys, I couldn't have done it without your help.

Frank shows off his battle scar from pushing the Olds when it still had the old flathead in it.

 

I installed the late model Chevy steering column that Howard and I found at Pomona Swap Meet.  It was blue, but is now metallic black with a black and chrome steering wheel.  Curt donated a brake swing arm assembly and with some minor modifications I was able to install it and hook it up to a chrome brake booster and master cylinder.  The motor is back in and thanks go to Jerry Lee for the cool transmission cross member he donated to the project.  Without the assistance and donations of fellow club members this project would not be anywhere near as far along as it is now.  I removed all the stainless trim and donated it to Rex's 41 Chevy project and have been filling the holes and working on getting the body prepped.  I ordered an aluminum radiator with air-conditioning condenser and transmission cooler build in. 

Here is the donated assembly after a visit to the sand blasting cabinet. A new plate was welded on the base and drilled to the right dimensions.

The brake swing arm assembly donated by Curt gets a new plate welded to the base.

The old holes didn't line up with the new chrome booster, so I built a new plate and welded it to the base.

Now the booster will bolt up nicely to the new plate.

Another view.

The new steering column and wheel mounted in place.

Very little modification required to mount to original steering column location.

The steering is hooked up to the steering box and everything works great. Thanks to Jim for the donation of some D stock to lengthen the shaft.

Motor is in, lots of room between rear of engine and firewall. Headers are tight, but clear everything.

The motor from the flip side.

Look at all that clearance. Some fear I might have to slip the motor back, but I am hoping everything will fit okay. These cars had a straight 8.

Lots of room for battery, air-conditioning, etc.

Another shot of the steering wheel and dash.

Close up of horn button. This was a key fob I picked up at the Good Guys Show last year. Cut the tab off and glued it to the horn button.

Stock glovebox door with built in clock. I plan to replace motor for clock and keep it.

Donated by Jerry Lee, this cross member fit perfect after a slight trim.

Another shot of the cross member.

Checking the tranny mounts for fit.

Master cylinder and power booster installed.

Brake swing arm assembly installed.

I will be working on getting the body straight and filling all the trim holes that will not be used.  Bonnie is still leaning toward the pearl green that she saw on a '34 Ford in Street Rodder magazine several issues back. 

 

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