A Body Frame Swap

[Machiatto]

Hi All -

Having been truly motivated by some of the very cool work being done by the PT members I have decided to begin working toward IRS in my '66 Skylark. My immediate thoughts are trying to mount a 2010 or later Camaro rear axle/suspension assembly. Open to all ideas, but that's gonna be my first approach. I want to keep driving my car in the meantime, and don't want to ruin my existing frame if things go badly so I have procured a donor frame and will be doing all my modification to it. But before I start, I want to do one last check - everything that I have ever read, and from what I can tell - 1964-1967 A Body frames are all the same. So I am reaching out to the people that have done this. The donor frame I will be using is from a 1964 Olds F85 four door. My car is a 1966 Buick Skylark Coupe. ALL of my front suspension will come from my Skylark cuz that's all new and I love the way it works. Is there ANYTHING I should know - subtle differences maybe - between the different years/makes/configurations of A Body cars? Anything that suggests that I should not be using this frame? Please stop me now =]

Thanks for any feedback -

- Mike

[raustinss]

As far as I know you should be good to go. I'd double check the wheelbase as the el camino and station wagons had a longer wheelbase then the "regular " a bodies

[Schwartz Performance]

The wagon and El Camino have the same wheelbase as the 2 and 4 door bodies, it's the rear section of the frame that is different.

I believe the olds and Buick frames are the same. Sometimes bumper mounts were different for certain years, and a Chevelle frame doesn't fit a GTO of the early years.
Just double check the dimension from the center of the rear wheel to the last body mount in the rear. That'd be the only potential difference.

To integrate a 2010+ Camaro IRS will take some fab work. You'll want to see how wide a Camaro is from sidewall to sidewall and compare to your car. I know Corvettes are too wide and the rear cradle needs to be narrower.

-Dale

[raustinss]

Embarrassed again by dale...yes I did know that and was going to correct my wording but by the time I realized it...was late I was going to bed,lol

Dale different years I know but was there not a difference from sedan to coupe with 68-72...or am I drunk ?

[Schwartz Performance]

Haha ;)

I don't recall offhand if the later ones have differences from 2-4 door.

[Machiatto]

Thanks for the response and answers. Using a measuring tape (not super accurate I realize) the frames have all the same dimensions when measuring from the suspension mounting points to the body mounting points. They look exactly the same - down to amazingly ugly welds on the front cross-member. Now it's time to crawl under a Camaro and start measuring !!!!

Thanks Again -

- Mike

[raustinss]

Try digging around on chevellestuff.com lots of info there too

[Randy67]

Going off memory (scary I know), the 64-67 A-body all body styles have a 115" wheelbase, wagons and El Caminos have longer "tails".

68-72 coupe and convertibles have 112" wheelbase while 4-door, wagon and El Camino have 116".