I was wondering, the frame on my 91 firebird is bent in the front. and everyone is telling me to sell it but I dont want to cause its mine and paid off. so I was wonderin is there a way to take the body off the frame and swap it with another one...and on a scale of 1-10 ...10 being the hardest to do...and has anyone here done that..any help would be great cause man I love my car

 

F-bodies have always had unitized construction, there's no seperate frame to take off. You'd be better off starting with a new car. If the damage isn't that bad, you could try having it straightened.

 

Depending on the damage, the cost of getting it straightened may be in excess of $2k...

 

If it is just minor you can usually get things straightned for less than $200. If it is going to be more I would look for another car to swap things over. These cars are a dime a dozen.

 

Help me understand something here. Remember, I'm a complete moron, so maybe I'm missing something. Wouldn't be the first time.

Your car is paid for. So you're going to buy another car, tear it apart, tear your car apart, make one good car out of the 2, and throw away the rest of the 2nd car.

How is that more sensible than just getting another car, and selling your existing one, and not tearing any cars apart at all? Or, just repairing the one you have, and not involving a 2nd car at all?

As mentioned, these cars don't have a frame. The only piece you can swap is the K-member. The rest of it is all welded together.

What exactly is bent (since it can't be the "frame", these cars don't have one)?

 

If the cost to fix his car is too great he will have to get another car. Depending on the condition of both cars would be the reasoning for swapping stuff over. It is much easier to just get a complete running car, like you mentioned, but it may be cheaper to pick up a higher mileage car and re-use some of the stuff off his old car provided it is still functional. I only suggest this because it may be easier to get the most out of his bent car this way. No one would buy it and parting it out may not be his thing. I am in a similar situation with my car. Parting it out won't give me anywhere near the money or use as if I got another shell and swapped things over.