Transplant and a chop cost
Discussion
Without wanting to give too much away (and getting laughed at)
I was wondering, how hard is it to transplant a body o one car onto the chassis of another?
Basically, there is a very old car which i really like the look of, I would like to see transplanted onto a more modern chassis (say a bmw 740 or an aud S8).
Is my main worry going to be finding someone who can shape, cut and extend the various body panels, or is it the wiring?
basically I have no idea what a project like this involves, how likely it is to be completed and what are the rough costs of it?
I was wondering, how hard is it to transplant a body o one car onto the chassis of another?
Basically, there is a very old car which i really like the look of, I would like to see transplanted onto a more modern chassis (say a bmw 740 or an aud S8).
Is my main worry going to be finding someone who can shape, cut and extend the various body panels, or is it the wiring?
basically I have no idea what a project like this involves, how likely it is to be completed and what are the rough costs of it?
You do know that all modern cars use integral bodies? So it's not like swapping a body, it's more like building a custom car using bits and bobs from two donors. The cost obviously depends on what you're trying to crossbreed with what, but it will be tens of thousands to do it right if you're not doing it yourself 
dmitry said:
You do know that all modern cars use integral bodies? So it's not like swapping a body, it's more like building a custom car using bits and bobs from two donors. The cost obviously depends on what you're trying to crossbreed with what, but it will be tens of thousands to do it right if you're not doing it yourself
Well that's the thing, what I wanted to see married up are two cars from a totally different era and totally different countries and well apart from sharing the amount of wheels and rough dimensions they are nothing alike.Oh well was a nice fantasy
there was a chap on here that was mixing evo's with fto's can't remember his name though
as said above, most car bodies since the 60's are monocoque, i.e. the whole strength of the body is in the object as a whole - cut a pillar or part of the floor out etc. and you introduce weaknessess. it can be done, as the chap above, but it needs to be done well nad you need to know what you're doing in order to keep the structural rigidity. that said, you can make the shell stronger overall but probably do a lot worse in a crash test compared with a stock shell as designed by the manufacturer.
if you have enough wedge though, sure, anything can be done, go for it!
as said above, most car bodies since the 60's are monocoque, i.e. the whole strength of the body is in the object as a whole - cut a pillar or part of the floor out etc. and you introduce weaknessess. it can be done, as the chap above, but it needs to be done well nad you need to know what you're doing in order to keep the structural rigidity. that said, you can make the shell stronger overall but probably do a lot worse in a crash test compared with a stock shell as designed by the manufacturer.
if you have enough wedge though, sure, anything can be done, go for it!
TommyBuoy said:
They wouldn't be an MR2 and a Ferrari 355 would they, as I hear you can get some great looking body kits already.
Nah it was a 60s car married to a bmw 740 or something similar, but the 60s car would need to be squashed a little and possibly elongated I guess. Yes it is a joke and no, not a very funny one
Like i said it's something i might get to order once the euromillions comes up or something.
CraigW said:
there was a jensen interceptor built on a bmw 740 chassis, looked a bit wrong in some ways but was a nice car, what do you intend to do?
alright... don't laugh (too hard)I wanna see this http://www.ladaparts.ru/hotrods/volga-11.jpg
but retianing the original four door look.
Basically i love the look of the original (especially those rear clusters, they are just hot!) and i love the spirit and aura of the covnersion, but the conversion is looking slightly unsure as to what it wants to be, is it a fast coupe? is it a heavy cold war era car? Is it a grand tourer? is it to ferry gangsters in with room for 5 kalashnikovs?
I think it would look a lot more comfortable in a sedan version (and with suicide doors
)I don't think it particularly needs to be a V12 sports car either, just a potent barge type chassis.
would be more of a case of cutting the front and rear of the car off and fitting custom made tubular steel replacements to accept the more up to date drivetrain and suspension set up.
Then integral rollcage in the older part of the chassis to increase its torsional strength.
Massive undertaking but I am sure its been done before.
But you wouldn't get a old car with new car underneath, it would be a total hybrid.
ETA
It would cost a fortune
Then integral rollcage in the older part of the chassis to increase its torsional strength.
Massive undertaking but I am sure its been done before.
But you wouldn't get a old car with new car underneath, it would be a total hybrid.
ETA
It would cost a fortune
Edited by roverspeed on Tuesday 19th October 11:07
I remember a good few years ago, A company Taking Write off Sierra Cosworths and Cut and Shutting a Mk1 Escort or Mark 1 Escort Body on top. tried Googling but Can't find any details, It was in one of the old Custom Car or Street Machine mags, Early 90's. So I guess it's possible, But got to be a big undertaking.
Also there is an american company, Can't remember the name that takes new FTO (monaro) and puts a 60's FTO body on.
Also there is an american company, Can't remember the name that takes new FTO (monaro) and puts a 60's FTO body on.
CraigW said:
blimey ok, sounds quite an undertaking! could be quite cool in the end i suppose.
Are you doing the work yourself?
Well no this is more like day dreaming. though I won't shy away from getting my hands dirty and I still remember changing the cylinders and pistons on my moped when I was 11, so am techinically minded enough. And if I get my dad involved then it will be a sure fire success, but alas not really in a position for such an undertaking right now. maybe a year or two from now things will change though.Are you doing the work yourself?
djt100 said:
Also there is an american company, Can't remember the name that takes new FTO (monaro) and puts a 60's FTO body on.
West Coast Customs did it with the GTO (I assume that's what you meant?)Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_gdSax4gFU
They did the same thing with a 68 Charger body and late model chassis/floorpan.
A more realistic way of doing that may be taking a base car (7-series for example) and making one-off body panels. Here some russian guys made it with a 6-series. Basically you make cover plates for rear quarters and custom front wings, bonnet etc plus all the smaller stuff. I reckon this won't be tragically expensive especially considering how accessible composite technologies are nowadays.
Its surprisingly common in the good ol' US of A
One of my mates imports a few Yanks, and one of them was a '50s pick up with a '90s chassis, engine and running gear.
His latest project is a '50s Buick with '90s Merc 500 SEL running gear.
The wheelbase is near enough identical, the merc has separate front and rear subframes for the engine/box/suspension and rear axle/suspension.
He is planning on fitting everything, full interior, wiring harness, the lot.
Should be pretty good when complete!
One of my mates imports a few Yanks, and one of them was a '50s pick up with a '90s chassis, engine and running gear.
His latest project is a '50s Buick with '90s Merc 500 SEL running gear.
The wheelbase is near enough identical, the merc has separate front and rear subframes for the engine/box/suspension and rear axle/suspension.
He is planning on fitting everything, full interior, wiring harness, the lot.
Should be pretty good when complete!
isee said:
TommyBuoy said:
They wouldn't be an MR2 and a Ferrari 355 would they, as I hear you can get some great looking body kits already.
Nah it was a 60s car married to a bmw 740 or something similar, but the 60s car would need to be squashed a little and possibly elongated I guess. Yes it is a joke and no, not a very funny one
Like i said it's something i might get to order once the euromillions comes up or something.
But cars are built differently.
Older cars and many 4x4's like a Land Rover Defender use a ladder chassis. Which is as it sounds, some big bits of metal with all the bits bolted to it.
The body is then pretty much just a shell which bolts on top.
Kit cars and some specialist cars like TVR's use a spaceframe chassis. Similar idea to a ladder chassis but made up of smaller lengths to form a shape and more of the interior structure. A lightweight body, often fiberclass is bolted on top.
Unibody cars are what most modern cars are. With these the floorpan and other body panels all form part of the chassis and structure. So there is no way to "remove" the body from the chassis as they simply don't exist on their own.
In short you can't realistically put a 60's ladder chassis body shell onto a modern BMW unibody.
You main options would be to modernise the original and add newer technology to it. Or to build a custom spaceframe chassis and have a copy fibreglass body made to look like the original.
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