the sacrificial limo

Rocky Fluegge

Rocky Fluegge

PCS Member
I have been buying and acquiring parts for my 56 olds coach. I have been really up in the air on what to do on the drive line and frame. The frame on the car is soft, the motor is tite ect. I know I can fix or rebuild it all, but does it make sense. Well as I have been driving my 92 eagle, I keep thinking if my 56 could ride half as nice I would be so happy. That got me to think and start measuring cars on width and wheel base. My 92 was about 1 1/2 inches wider on width. I even thought about cutting my eagle up for a donor. But as nice of a car as it is I talked my self out of that. And my 56 is about 15" longer on wheel base the my eagle.

So that got me to think about if I could find a limo from about that era, I could be closer to wheel base. I could get a fuel injected small block chevy motor and overdrive trans, and even abs brakes also.

Here is the 91 limo I bought to cut apart and make my olds live again. The frame and floors on this car is nice. It drives great. interior little rough and it has a cooked paint on the outside. So this will be able to donate a few parts for my eagle. and give up its bones to the 56. The wheel base is about 3' longer then my 56. So that will be a easy one to shorten up.
 

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Rocky, hope this helps.

I'm presently doing a frame swap on a 55 Buick Special. Your Olds looks to be based on a 88 series cowl, so the two cars should be similiar. Frame design is also similar.

My car is on a 78 Buick LeSabre frame. And while I had to lengthen it as the wheelbase was five inches shorter than the 55. The 78 frame sits on the 55's body mounting bolts instead of the "outriggers" used to mount the frame to the body as original. I had to reconfigure the frame after the rear axle as the 55's frame was angled to the rear crossmember instead of the almost vertical drop after the axle to a horizontal rear rail. Also, the rear frame crossmember above the axle contacts the body, so I cut and am reconfiguring the floor pan in that area. Again, this is a passenger car, not a coach, your results will probably vary.

We did have to cut and notch the frame in a couple of places (the extension) as the body did not sit correctly. That was not a big deal.

For the steering column, I used one from IDIDIT in Tecumseh Michigan. With the couplings and shaft the biggest figureout was how to mount the column to the dash support. A muffler clamp u-bolt did the trick.

Some minot rework of the front frame horns was necessary, I have not tackled the front clip mounting yet but that should not be a big deal either.

If you need to, PM me and I will give you my phone number. I can also send you some photos if necessary.
 
Joe Rackov said:
Rocky, hope this helps.

I'm presently doing a frame swap on a 55 Buick Special. Your Olds looks to be based on a 88 series cowl, so the two cars should be similiar. Frame design is also similar.

My car is on a 78 Buick LeSabre frame. And while I had to lengthen it as the wheelbase was five inches shorter than the 55. The 78 frame sits on the 55's body mounting bolts instead of the "outriggers" used to mount the frame to the body as original. I had to reconfigure the frame after the rear axle as the 55's frame was angled to the rear crossmember instead of the almost vertical drop after the axle to a horizontal rear rail. Also, the rear frame crossmember above the axle contacts the body, so I cut and am reconfiguring the floor pan in that area. Again, this is a passenger car, not a coach, your results will probably vary.

We did have to cut and notch the frame in a couple of places (the extension) as the body did not sit correctly. That was not a big deal.

For the steering column, I used one from IDIDIT in Tecumseh Michigan. With the couplings and shaft the biggest figureout was how to mount the column to the dash support. A muffler clamp u-bolt did the trick.

Some minot rework of the front frame horns was necessary, I have not tackled the front clip mounting yet but that should not be a big deal either.

If you need to, PM me and I will give you my phone number. I can also send you some photos if necessary.
Click to expand...
Joe.
Sounds like a great project. What I was figuring and measuring. I'm going to cut the limo off at the rockers, and keep the inner and outer rockers on the olds. Then planning on slipping the whole outer body of the olds over the limo frame and floor pan.I figured I will mount the front and rear olds cross members to the limo frame, to mount the bumpers. At least that's the plan so far. I would love to see your project.
 
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