I spent the weekend after Labor Day driving to Poughkeepsie, NY to pickup another frame for the car. I made the decision after all of the work that has gone into the car to replace the body panels that I really wasn't too keen to cut it up again. The frame came from a 1966 Oldsmobile so in the end there's going to be some work to do but overall it was in good shape. I had to take about 3 1/4 inches from the rear and I've got to replace the front horns on the frame due to the different style used for the Olds.
However, I was able to use the 10-bolt rearend for the control arm brackets so started by cutting off the spring brackets and control arm brackets. Then began to remove the ladder bar and coilover brackets from the 12 bolt.
Here you can see the before picture. Probably the only good thing the previous owner did with the suspension was not to cut-up the original rearend. I was able to get the brackets off fairly easy so it made the switch quite easily.
This is the finished product in the car. The original Olds 10-bolt was about 1 inch wider so fitment wasn't a problem. I welded the brackets on with my welder but I'm going to have to get them burned in with a much heavier welder after I get the rearend sandblasted. This project went quite well and I was able to complete the swap in a weekend. The hardest part was actually cutting them off the original 10-bolt without mangling the brackets. A torch would have made the job much easier.
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