1970 C10 body swap on a 1985 K20 4x4 suburban

[ak47paul]

Ok here is my plan, I been thinking about doing this for a while now I am going to put my 1970 chevy C10 on a 1985 suburban 4x4 chassis. I know it has been done before, but I have yet to find a detailed thread on doing the swap. There are several threads where guys say don't do it just sell what you have and go buy a 4x4. Or they say convert your original frame to 4x4. Bottomline is I really don't care what the next guy thinks I should do, I am doing it this way because it is the way I want to do it. I have weighed out my other options, And even bought a 71 K10 4X4. After stripping it down the frame was a big piece of rusted out ****. heavy rust flaking, swelling at the spring hangers Just a big waste of money. I also don't care about resell value as i plan to drive this truck for the rest of my days. Also the 1985 suburban I am using only has 82K original miles on it. Ran and drove like New. Not sure how others have done it but here is what I plan to do.

Drill and punch out all cab mount rivets. And build custom brackets to bolt back into original frame holes but index mounts for the older cab.

Drill and punch out all rivets on rear springs and move forward 2.5 inches to make wheel base 127" correct for 1970 pickup

Bob off rear frame section and move gas tank crossmember forward for a 31 gallon blazer tank.

I will be using a 2" body lift and a 2" spring lift giving me a total of 4 inches So I can run my 33" tires and have the look I want. I have to use the body lift due to the rear of the frame being about 1.25" higher than a stock pickup frame.

[ak47paul]

Also pic above is of my C20 longhorn, I am still getting the hang of posting pics on here, So sorry about that. the rusted out yellow cab is one I picked up to test fit once I get my custom mounts made. I also only paid $500.00 for the 85 4x4 suburban and $300.00 for my 1970 C10 truck without a engine. the two frame pics are a 1970 4x4 frame with drum brakes, I also picked up to measure off of. and the other one is the 85 suburban rolling chassis after the body was removed. For anyone who follows along as I do this, Please be patient, As I work alot of hours and by the time I get home there is barely 2 hours of daylight left.

[ak47paul]

Here is what I have done so far, Once I got the suburban body off and the 85 chassis and 1970 original 4x4 frame side by side I done a ton of measuring. Then I measured some more. I needed a starting reference point that would be what I index everything off of. According to GM prints the rubber axle stop is center of the front axle. after leveling my frame and dropping a plumb bob Mine is not. So that threw me off, Then after going to a frame shop and looking in there books and measuring another suburban. I realized that my axle has moved back a bit on one side (I assume the spring pin has sheared off) Frame shop says it is common. That will get fixed with new springs. The frame was checked and is straight So I am going with the center of the front axle being the center rivet on the rubber stop bracket. I have measured out everything and marked my cab mount centers and double checked everything a couple times. Everything is within a 16th of an inch or less. Then I started center punching and drilling rivets. about 64 of them...lol I removed the factory tank as it is too big for the pickup and ordered a new blazer tank and straps tonight from AM auto. I got the rear frame cut off and the rear crossmember put back in for the new tank. I also cut my plates and brackets for my new cab mounts. they have been test fit and are going to work great. I also ordered a new cab bushing set tonight as well along with New 7/16 grade 8 bolts to replace the rivets I removed from the frame. I have 10 more rivets to remove and the rear end is ready to move forward and reinstalled in its new location, But it got too dark so I had to stop there. While I am waiting on parts to come in I hope to atleast get the rearend done. But it is supposed to be cold the next few days so we will see.

[bigsky]

Looks like a lot of work, but also vary interesting. Keep the Pics coming.

[ak47paul]

I will also keep track of what I spend So when I am done I will know weather or not this was feasible. I know some of you will say labor wise definitely not. And your probably right, But I am doing this for fun and enjoyment So I do not figure my labor worth anything on this project. Anyhow here is where I am at right now in cost.

85 suburban $500.00
70 c10 $300.00
New fuel tank $108.00
cab bushings $58.00
lift blocks $27.00
hardware $68.00
metal $44.00
total $1105.00

I am parting out the suburban body and all ready sold all the doors for $600 so that brings my total down so far to $505.00 which I am pleased with. It's a lot better than when I bought the 71 4x4 for $1600.00 and stripped it down only to find a bunch of rust hiding in the frame making it unusable (for my standards anyhow) Not to mention the frame was cracked behind the gearbox. After parting it out and taking forever to sell everything I still lost money on that one. So for me lesson learned! I had wanted to do something like this then but everything I read said No just buy a original 67-72 4x4. Anyhow I am not going to dwell on past mistakes, I am going to build this truck and enjoy it. when I decided I was going to do this for sure and started looking for a donor suburban I found 4 of them all 1984-91 all in running and driving condition and all 4 of them were under $1000.00 I bought 2 of them. this 85 3/4 ton for $500.00 and a 1988 1/2 ton for 750.00.......I am going to build the 1/2 ton as well as a 1972 short bed 4x4 I will cut and shorten the frame on it and buy the wiring harness to keep it fuel injected when I put the 72 cab on it.

[72kool]

Any more progress on this project?? Been wanting to do something to swap my C20 to 4x4.