GM B Body Swap

I really love my olds.  Unfortunately it is very very very rusty.  If it were not repairable, would a body swap be possible?  Should all year and model b bodies swap directly to my frame?  Just weighing my options.

I believe you could even swap 68 GTO if you wanted to it might even be a bolt-on lol. Our

frame has been used by GM since the 60s with little changes til 90 and even then only a few

mods were done. The big changes to Caprice \Impala \Olds\Buick in 1977 for ie was the body,

frame is almost the same one used on GTOs. They made almost no changes from 77 thru 90 so

anything except Cadillac (that uses a longer version frame)will be a bolt-on for the most part.

As far as the 91-96 maybe someone could answer that one my knowledge there is limited.

Myloth wrote:I believe you could even swap 68 GTO if you wanted to it might even be a bolt-on lol. Our

frame has been used by GM since the 60s with little changes til 90 and even then only a few

mods were done. The big changes to Caprice \Impala \Olds\Buick in 1977 for ie was the body,

frame is almost the same one used on GTOs. They made almost no changes from 77 thru 90 so

anything except Cadillac (that uses a longer version frame)will be a bolt-on for the most part.

As far as the 91-96 maybe someone could answer that one my knowledge there is limited.

That is great to hear. Honestly, my car's rusted body is what scared me the most about my project. I am glad to see I do have options.

That's the best thing about b bodies really is you have a lot of interchange so whether it's parts

or swaps like in your case there are a lot of options . The only problem I have has so far is the

little parts that were original like finding a wiper switch. But that goes for any vintage auto so

it should without saying but oops too late I said it.

Myloth wrote:That's the best thing about b bodies really is you have a lot of interchange so whether it's parts

or swaps like in your case there are a lot of options . The only problem I have has so far is the

little parts that were original like finding a wiper switch. But that goes for any vintage auto so

it should without saying but oops too late I said it.

I couldn't agree with you more. Finding parts has got to be the hardest part of owning an older car. If you don't mind losing the car's originality, perhaps parts from newer cars can be made to work? For example, later on, I want to convert to automatic headlights on the Delta. First thing I need to do first, is get a job

If you are talking about your 85 Delta 88, the frame is exactly the same as the Caprice from 1977 to 1990. The bumper shock absorbers might be different, but the basic frame is identical. in 1991 to 1996 the frame got three changes, but still all the body mount locations are the same. The three chnages from the 77-90 to th3 91-96 are:

1. cross member mounting brackets are different (the 94-96 is best for this since the factory dual exhaust stamped cross member makes a great dual exhaust set up without having to hack/weld the tubular cross member.

2. The bolt-on frame supports at the front near the LCA pivots became weld- on - and this makes no difference to a swap

3. The engone cross-member got a big bash on the front right side to clear the AC compress wheich was moved to the lower right front of the engine.

In fact, I used a 96 9C1 frame on my 78 coupe - and it was an easy swap - and now I have a great dual exhaust and an LT1 from the 96 in it.

Interesting post. Sorry you have all the rust issues. Can that newer cross member work on the 77 and up body's? I upgraded my trans to a 200R4 for the gas and since car is less then 200hp will hold up fine. Even Grand Nationals came with them. Just had to get a 90 or so cross member.