Will a late 70's body fit newer Suburban?

[wmfarmer]

Hello, I am going to start spending my time this winter in the garage fixing up a Suburban.

I figure there are two ways to get something: put in lots of work and barely any money, or put in lots of money and barely any work. Even if I had the money, there's no better way to get to know your truck better than to fix it up! So that's the idea.

I'll try to be brief. I love the late 70's Suburban, although anything around here (Alaska) is rusted and banged up. Our winters are hell to drive, and all the ice and salt all over the roads are no friend to a beautiful body with a nice paint job. So I am able to find a late 70's suburban, but they are all in terrible condition. And the work going into making one look as good as I'd like would be out of my league.

Even as rare as it still is, a newer Suburban body would naturally have a better chance to be in better condition. These I have found quite a few on Craigslist.

So my question is this: Can I take a nice 1991 Suburban body, remove the whole front and replace that with a fixed up late 70's Suburban front? Just fenders, hood, and grille would be all I need.

I'd like to know how well it would fit, if at all. I think (If I end up finding a late 70's front that needs work) I could handle JUST fixing that, instead of trying to rebuild an entire truck.

Thanks!

[wmfarmer]

Or more to the point, what are the differences between the rear section of the Suburban bodies of a '73-'78 and a '81-'91? Starting from the leading edge of the font door all the way to the back.

Anyway that would be my ideal plan.

Otherwise, I'm going to have to wait until spring (April or May, you never know up here) to be able to fly out of state and then drive one back up here. Which sounds fun, but I could not see it happening with the schedules and commitments I have. Which is too bad.

[willett]

why dont you just rob a grille, and round headlight bezels off of a seventies era chevy truck of any sort?

[xbanone]

Originally Posted by willett

why dont you just rob a grille, and round headlight bezels off of a seventies era chevy truck of any sort?

your gonna need to do alot more than that. your gonna need the entire front clip, including inner and outer fenders, hood, grille, radiator support, bumper and misc. bracktes and hardware. The early to 91 style swap is very common so I don't see any reason you can't go the other way. you can use the front clip from a truck, Blazer or Burban, good luck.

Brady

[wmfarmer]

I'm not interested in making an amateur-custom looking truck. And the whole front end is different, it's not just the headlights and grille. They wouldn't fit the fenders or the hood.

Just look at the difference here: http://www.lmctruck.com/se-grilles.htm?cid=LMC-TR .

And if I was going to compromise, I'm mostly interested in the fenders having more of a 90 degree square front than being sloped. The rest just comes with that.

It's pretty simple: I just want a Suburban from 1973-1978. That's all. The problem is I live in Alaska and I can only piece one together. And I wouldn't be asking if it didn't seem like the pieces would fit. I'm not interested in any experiments or anything.

To see some more, go here: http://brochures.slosh.com/ . Just click on a year, then on "Suburban".

I'm hoping nobody's annoyed like most of my friends on how picky I'm being. I imagined that anyone on this site would understand.

ALL I NEED TO KNOW is if anybody is certain that, regardless of the body year (as long as it's from '73-'91), would it be a clean fit to switch the front ends?

Although, since I've posted and done some research, I'm feeling like it might just be worth it to fly thousands of miles away from my isolated northern home and drive something all the way back up. That too, would be a good way to get to know my truck. I've found several in wonderful shape (no rust, no dents) for 1k to 2.5k from various places on the internet. And body condition is the only criteria for my search.

It would be a huge hassle, and it couldn't happen until the spring, but I've wanted this for years and life is just too damn short.

I'd still prefer to go for it now. So does anybody know????

[wmfarmer]

I think the best way to find this out would be to switch the forward doors from a late '70's Sub to a newer one.

That would literally be the link between the front and the rear part of the body. If they fit then I have my answer.

Although I can't just go do that. Has anyone had experience in replacing doors and could let me know if a door from a 73-91 would fit any of the bodies regardless of the year?

[xbanone]

Originally Posted by wmfarmer

ALL I NEED TO KNOW is if anybody is certain that, regardless of the body year (as long as it's from '73-'91), would it be a clean fit to switch the front ends?

Dude re-read my post. YES, get the entire front clip of the truck year you desire. you have to use everything including the inner fenders and radiator support.

[wmfarmer]

Woops, I replied to Willett before you posted and never saw either of your posts until now. Thanks for your reply.

I was pretty sure they would fit, but I wanted to know for sure before I did anything.

I hate to ask, but I need to.. could you tell me how you know for sure the parts fit?

[turbotank]

Just coming on to back up what was said. I have a newer suburban(89),and I can tell you from looking at older ones around here,the frame itself is nearly identical. It is things around the frame that are different. If you are wanting the get the truck in perfect shape,as long as the frame isn't rotted away,why don't you just buy the new parts from lmc? They sell just about everything to rebuild that clip,either on a 70's model,or on an 80-91 frame! Then it would be brand-new,at least up-front. If you are willing to put that much work and time into it. You were talking about the schedule that you have,here is the question. Do you take the time to go get one with no rust from out of state,or do you take lots of time switching the truck over???Either way,you are spending time.Now,there are some advantages to switching that front onto a newer truck,such as efi,I think the ac systems were better,and in my opinoin,nicer interiors.Also,the scotsdale models(I think,might be wrong) look sorta similar up front to the older models,so maybe you could stand to drive it for a lil bit before you switched.

[xbanone]

Originally Posted by wmfarmer

Woops, I replied to Willett before you posted and never saw either of your posts until now. Thanks for your reply.

I was pretty sure they would fit, but I wanted to know for sure before I did anything.

I hate to ask, but I need to.. could you tell me how you know for sure the parts fit?

It's a really popular swap to put a 88-91 front end on an earlier truck. On the 81-87's you only have to switch the grilles, on the 73-80's you have to switch the whole clip. knowing this you can see that the same thing would work in reverse. Like said above, the best part is you can buy everything new. I know you would have no problem selling off the 91 stuff.

Brady

[Captkaos]

It will fit no problem 100% guaranteed. You HAVE to have the early model wiper assembly for the 81-91 trucks for it to work though.

[84 400]

there was a write up on doing this on a 80's model truck. It was red. That post would give you an idea of the look. Also I think the front frame needs to be cut slightly to accommodate the older bumper.