Okay, now the real fun can start! I moved the Dodge back into the work shop and proceeded to cut the frame just in front of the body mounts.
Removing the Dodge Front Suspension

After I had removed the Dodge front clip, I moved the Olds front clip into to place and did the inital fit up using the laser level and the measurements that I had taken from the Olds prior to removing it.
Initial Fit Up of the Olds Front Clip

With the new front suspension located and checked and re-checked, it was time to begin welding everything back together. I had the good fortune to have a good friend and master fabricator drop by about the time I was begining to tack things together. He has done many of these swaps and was kind enough to check over my work. After we had agreed that everything was ready to weld, he gave me some great tips on how the welds should be made. I had assumed that since the frame material and the fish plates that I had made were heavy 11 gauge steel that I could just weld everything together. My friend explained that even though the material was rather thick, that you needed to stitch weld like you would lighter gauge sheet metal i.e. like a body patch panel. After tacking the Olds frame to the Dodge frame I checked the front to back and diagonal measurements to make sure that everything was square I stitched welded everything together working from side to side and front to back to make sure that I didnt overheat and warp the frame. As the welding progressed, I kept checking the frame measurements to make sure that everthing remained straight.
Attaching the ’82 Olds Front Clip to the ’56 Dodge Frame

After every thing was welded I did a final check for squareness and was pleased to see that there was less than 1/8″ difference in the front to back and diagonal measurements. I did set the front height about 2″ higher than I really wanted it so that I would not have to excessively cut up the floor to be able to fit the 545RFE transmission. This is a truck transmission that was designed by Damiler Benz and it is very big. I will get the 2″ back by using dropped spindles from a 1979-81 Camero.