Roadmaster sedan swap

Been thinking about doing a roadmaster sedan doghouse on my wagon. Looked through all the local yards and can't find a good front end. Found one for $300, seems a little high to me but it's in nice shape. Bad part is its a 75 mile drive to get it. Guess what I'm asking is your opinion on the matter should I do it? Is the price too high? Will I run into any unknown problems with the swap?

The wiring for the headlights, turn signals, and markers is different. How much of the front of the car are you getting? You need the grille, grille support, bumper cover and reinforcement, both fenders and wheelhouses, wheelhouse extensions, the hood, and any trim. You may be able to use your front beltline trim from the sedan. The core support is the same. You will not have an antenna on the front. All of the parts will fit into the wagon. Just protect the paint. Disassemble the fenders and wheelhouses. Remove the grille and support. If you are putting 91-93s on a 94-96 the wheelhouses are different. They can be made to work. The differences are the mounting holes/studs for the accessories. Vice versa has the same issues, only reversed.

He's going to unbolt the doghouse an assembly, and the front bumper with reinforcement and the bumper shocks. Getting grille, lights, everything

Oh also it's a 95

The bumper shocks are not necessary. The ones on his car will fit. $300 is not a bad price. If you went to a pick and pull the cost would be more than $300.

If it's complete (including the light and horn harnesses) that is not a bad deal.   It's plug and play (if you are doing a 95-95)



  Chris

It will fit 94-96 except for the 96 beltline trim. The only difference between 92-93 and 94-96 is the wheelhouses. You may be able to use the RMW wheelhouses if you reshape them a little for the wheel opening.

My wagon is a 94, and the sedan is a 95. Will all the wiring still be plug and play? I just talked to him again I'm getting the wiring and inner fenders basically everything firewall forward.

zach.skinner510 wrote:

My wagon is a 94, and the sedan is a 95. Will all the wiring still be plug and play? I just talked to him again I'm getting the wiring and inner fenders basically everything firewall forward.

You will want the light harness and horn harness (it simply unplugs from a connector up by the PCM if I remember correctly)

The light harness is specific to the sedan (all those extra little parking light bulbs under the headlights) but it literally is plug and play.

You have 4 horns on the sedan (so you want the extra wiring for the sedan horns) It splices in to the main horn harness (green wire).

Feel free to look through my old thread... (I think I do the lights around page 18 or 19?)

https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t481-my-96-rmw-project

The sedan nose went on fine...but the wagon was a piece...so I gutted it and put everything in my current wagon (literally)

Chris

Thanks for the link, should be useful. Just gotta figure out what to do about an antenna.

You can get small antennas for interior mounting. They have been placed under the trim around the vista window, or behind the A pillar.

Ok so I bought the full front end, not as nice as it looked in the pics but after driving 2 hours I wasn't going to say no. Now my predicament is the trim for the woodgrain, I really like the woodgrain and I think that's what really makes a wagon cool in my opinion. Any one got any ideas what to do for trim?

you should check with pat. he did it tohis blue woody

You are going to have to hand make the trim for above the woodgrain. The wagon trim does not fit the sedan fender.

Here's what I came up with last night, let me know what you think.


Here I'm going to add some material to the edge of the fender to fill the gap and make it fit right

Ya gotta run wha' cha brung.

Yeah a little tweaking of the original is way easier than making new. Plus a lot faster too

Get ahold of Pat (BuickEstate). He did this on his wagon and it looked amazing!!

It simple enough to make new trim for the front fender then it would be to mod the fender.



















I started with this

Is the trim aluminum or stainless? How did you weld it and get it to blend so nicely I wanna either polish or do a brushed finish on it.

Aluminum

Although aluminium can be welded, what the wagon trim is made of would be too thin to weld easily.

I just used a 3/8th plate of aluminium and cut out the new trim from that, hand shaped it with simple tools then buffed it to match the rest of the buffed trim on my wagon.

if you know how to use a band saw, a jig saw, a metal file, and are patient anything can be made

Well I've got all those tools that don't get enough use, might give it a shot. How did you make the bends, use heat or just muscle?

no bending to make the shape, I used a a flat plate and cut both front trim from one plate of 3/8's aluminium there are no seams or welding. the plate I got was like 20" X 24". there is some bending to make contour the fenders once they are rough cut from the plate.

Oh great idea, I'm going to give it a shot just find some aluminum plate

buickestate wrote:

It simple enough to make new trim for the front fender then it would be to mod the fender.



















I started with this

Someday Pat,I am going to have a set of those 18" OZ racing wheels.

While i appreciate all the hard work that goes into converting a roady wagon nose to a roady sedan nose,.
For me personally its like putting a halloween mask on,..
I,ve always thought roadmaster sedans had the ugliest front end , the down turned mouth like grille etc,..and is the main reason i have passed on many nice and sometimes cheap roady sedans,.
JMHO,..

Nick

Nick and I are in agreement on something.

It's either fact, or the sky is falling.

50:50 shot.

I would say the sky must be falling, or at least that's my opinion. But hey to each his own, I like and think they look great on the wagons.

I like the sedan front end. Makes it look like a BUICK, and not a Caprice with a bigger grill. If I was going for a sporty look, then the Caprice front is fine, but to look more fancy, the sedan front wins in my book.

Love these projects!

-Mike

Yeah that's how I feel, caprice front end is sporty and aggressive. The sedan front end is understated, and classy.