<VV> Body Transplant

Bill Elliott Corvair at fnader.com
Mon Jun 27 10:56:38 EDT 2005


I have done this. I took a stripped "body only" former race car and put it back on the street using mechanicals from a running rust bucket.

I had the two cars next to each other and simply moved things over. The ONLY issues I encountered was where things had been modified on the race car 
and the stock bits wouldn't bolt right up. Cost was nearly nothing as I simply removed the parts from one vehcile and installed them in the other. I think the 
cost in doing a better job would be simply the cost of replacing the stuff that you didn't want to reuse. 

(I think I do understand your question... but  think the cost of building a bare body up using only new or purchased parts would be prohibitative... given the 
cost of extremely complete rust buckets, I think even if you didn't have a complete donor car, buying one would be the most prudent route... check out 
even Clark's "used" prices for an indication of how much the individual bits cost... on an unaltered car, many of the rusty car's bits would be reusable with a 
simple cleanup and possibly a respray)

If I had it to do over again (and had more time) I would have better cleaned up and detailed the stuff I was swapping in.  As it was I was pressed for time 
and was losing storage space, so needed to condense the best parts of both cars into a single drivable vehicle.

Had this been a "pure restoration" I think that putting the new bits on the fresh body would have been much easier than removing the old bits, repairing the 
body, then installing the new bits. Thanks to its life in the midwest (and a season of ice racing) my "driver" Corsa has rust popping out all over. While not a 
"show car" by any means, the car was in the condition that I didn't hesitate to informally show it... Even with the relatively minor (mostly cosmetic) rust I'm 
faced with, I'm seriously considering a rebody instead of redoing the current body....

Bill Elliott

>Is there anyone on the list who has taken a Corvair body (no power train, no
>brakes, no suspension, no interior) and "inhabited" it with Corvair running
>gear to create a whole Corvair?
>     If so, please raise your hand and tell us what it cost, and what you
>consider it to have been worth.
>     It sounds to me as though it could be more-difficult than repairing
>SOME rust damage, even IF you have all the right parts to completely outfit
>the new body right on hand (say, in the car whose body is being replaced).







More information about the VirtualVairs mailing list