Unibody swap??

[TpottsThe1]

So I have a 1995 gtp but the unibody is really rough I have cut out and fixed alot but it's just a matter of time I was wondering if I could use the underneath of another 94-96 gp that was clean to swap. Yes I could just swap motor but the Vin wouldn't be a gtp andymore. Can it be done?

[jimmyfloyd]

Can it be done? Yes

 

Will it be easy? No

 

Since the Unibody is pretty much the entire frame of the car, minus the front subframe, you are looking at a body swap essentially. If you only want to replace the lower portion of the car, then you could do that, but you would need to do a lot of bracing to make sure the upper part does not cave in on itself. If you did this approach, I would probably do it in 2 stages, cutting out the rear floor and trunk and doing those first, then the front floor. 

 

You could just swap the firewall from the old and new car from the windshield down. 

 

Anyway you look at it, you'll be doing a lot of work to retain the VIN of the original car. If the VIN itself is not truely important, just look for a non-running 95 with a good body and swap everything else over to it. It'll be cheaper in the end. 

[Imp558]

it would be better to swap the car and put your VIN back on it. by the time you get done welding and bracing the vehicle is compromised and while it might be a genuine special package it's not in pristine condition.

[Schurkey]

it would be better to swap the car and put your VIN back on it.

Isn't that a felony?  I know it's against Federal law to play games with the VIN tags.  Probably against State laws, as well.

 

 

 

Swapping "the unibody" will amount to yanking the subframe, exhaust, rear suspension, some other sub-assemblies, and interior, and installing a new body--which gets you a new VIN tag.  Cutting the lower part from one unibody and grafting it to the upper part of your car is going to be near-impossible.  There will need to be a thousand welds on dozens or hundreds of individual stamped-sheetmetal panels, and good luck getting them all aligned properly beforehand.

 

If you're Jay Leno, you just write a really-big check, and your puppies work on it for six months or a year in a fantastically well-equipped shop.  For everyone else, you buy another car, or live with piecemeal rust repairs.

[Psych0matt]

Who cares if the vin isn't "gtp"? I don't think in 20 more years it'll matter to anyone. Do what you want by all means, but I would predict that since you have to ask it would get chopped up and never finished, if ever even started. Not trying to sound like a dick but this sounds about as ambitious as every "how can I make my car rwd?" Thread, 99% of which never happened. Do some swapping, enjoy the car, spend money on other stuff

[jimmyfloyd]

Who cares if the vin isn't "gtp"? I don't think in 20 more years it'll matter to anyone. Do what you want by all means, but I would predict that since you have to ask it would get chopped up and never finished, if ever even started. Not trying to sound like a dick but this sounds about as ambitious as every "how can I make my car rwd?" Thread, 99% of which never happened. Do some swapping, enjoy the car, spend money on other stuff

 

You do raise an interesting option. The amount of work would probably be hearly the same to make it RWD as it would to swap the complete bottom of the unibody. Could use a 3rd or 4th gen F-body similar to the green RWD Monte Carlo that's floating around....

[94 olds vert]

Go down South and get a rust free GTP with a blown engine or trans. Then swap your engine or trans in a rust free car.

[Imp558]

Isn't that a felony?

It's not illegal to swap a frame. Swapping a shell and using the remainder of the existing vehicle still amounts to that vehicle depending how you look at it. In this case a shell equals a frame.

[Mr.Dragster1970]

.

 

 

I know a few guys that have just pulled all the special stuff they can and the VIN tag and put them on a donor car.

I know on the old stuff, you just had to order the special rivets, not sure about something this new.

Yes it's NOT the actual special car, but if you don't try to scam anyone, it's a way to save your special car.

 

 

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[jiggity76]

When I first got my 89 Cutlass parts car I thought about saving it too but the underbody was so far gone I had to come to the hard realization that it's just not worth it to save.  It will be a good parts car and sometimes you just have to let them go.

[mfewtrail]

Swap all your parts into a donor car and register the donor cars vin. Literally nobody other than you would care that it's not a "GTP" by vin anymore. If you're adamant on retaining the GTP vin, source a GTP as your donor car.

Edited November 14, 2017 by mfewtrail

[Nas Escobar]

What made the GTP special as far as the VIN went anyways? "X" for the 3.4 and the letter next to "W"? It's not much of a big deal as it once was.

[White93z34]

Just use the VIN and Title that goes with whatever chassis you are building.

 

Its a 95' Grand Prix, not a 69' RS/SS Camaro

 

The vin won't reflect what the car is but who cares, no need to commit felonies over a 20some year old car.

 

I could go on and on about the philosophical use of the word "parts" and how it applies and the car effectively being a Ship of Theseus. But its way easier to just use a clean chassis and the title/vin attached to it

[carkhz316]

coughcough, the special VIN plate rivets can be had off of Ebay. Rosette rivets or something of that nature. If you're keeping the car, just swap the whole body and the VIN plate.