Slick 60's

Well, I have been going round and round on front ends... Cost, ease, etc....
Have a buddy who is willing to give me a 72 Pontiac Lemans (smashed in rear) front end with Disk brakes, etc... Pretty much donor car/ frame.
Has anyone went this route??? Pro's /con's, etc, would be great... Width of this frame is about 59 1/2- 60 inches on the GM, so will fit just about right. Just going to be a bit tricky to cut and weld in, as those frames extend out fairly quickly after A arms.....
Thanks all...

Those perimeter frames are weak in the area you mentioned ( and not better further back IMO). My thoughts would be to find a friendly yard who might swap the GM stuff for either a Panther (full size Ford) set-up which could be converted in it's entirety or easily spliced into your existing frame. Even an earlier Camaro clip may well prove easier and more dependable, again just IMO.
Paul

Paul,
I had a cv front end but did not like the dimensions being too wide.. I want a real tucked in low look. Trying to find a happy medium... Not afraid of fabrication and welding and boxing in, etc....
The GM frame measures in at about 35" (outer) and our uni's outside frame measures about 31 1/2" right??
Is there any front ends that are much closer than the GM other than the Camaro Paul mentioned.... I know there are Jag and cordoba, etc...
Just cannot swing a mustang II price wise....

I think you will find the earlier Panther (CV,etc.) chassis a little more agreeable, especially if you are not intimidated by a little welding. It is narrower than the '03-up, seems to be a much simpler clip installation than any other than the Camaro, and yields quite satisfactory results. I will get some pics of the installed clip when I make it back to my shop. I got home from Slickstock, dropped the trailer, and hit the road, with more coming up.
Aaron may be able to add some info as to his very similar Torino conversion.
Paul

I don't have my early frame manuals here either; the track width on the Le Mans is quite close. I'm just not sure how one would tie in the perimeter frame. Using the entire Pontiac frame might bring you somewhat close on overall dimensions, but the trimming needed on a unibody to make it fit seems quite intense. Several of our more adventurous members have utilized the Ford Panther perimeter frames in their entirety. Lance's gray/white uni pictured in the Slickstock 6 pics is a prime example of the full-frame conversion.
Paul

Paul,
I will definitely look into the early Panther front ends....
Yeah, swapping entire frame off the Lemans is daunting as the frame extends way out wide and is curved, to flat like a truck frame.....
Thanks again Paul!!
Jason

jag is WAY to easy not to do in these trucks. if someone brought me a 61-64 with motor/trans out of the way and front sheetmetal off(i know where the centerline needs to be). i could do one in a weekend. friday night pull the old and trim the jag and get it tacked in, sat weld everything up and probably get the frame boxed in, early sunday a quick blast clean up and paint, sunday evening it could go home. could probably notch into the rail like i did my uni if it was wanted even lower but the paint side might not happen in a weekend at that point.

65-66 would take longer because cutting all the stock stuff out takes ALOT longer than dropping the straight axle stuff out...