New Project 82 front clip on 78

[C-10FREK]

Hi all Its been a while life caught up to me for a while, bought house, and that stuff . Anyhow I built an 82 2wd ,bagged, big block fun truck. well Its gone now I got hit in the passenger rear boxside (because someone didnt know that red means stop). Bent the frame rails and wrecked my homemade 4 link that took for ever to make, blew a bag, broke 3 of my valves a mess. needless to say I have to make another.
I recently bought a 78 c-10 got it for 25$ less engine and trans so I figured that is my new project. my problem is that I want to use my 82 front clip but I have some concerns, one what do I do with the rear hood hinges? and second the wiper couling?. It looks like everything else will be a bolt on kinda. I m sure I am missing something. Sorry this might be run in to the ground already, but thanks all

[old Rusty C10]

ive done this swap.. you have to remove the cowl on your 78.. and the wiper arms swap it all over and cut the holes for the newer hinges... youre going to have to use the 82 radiator support too and the mounts from the 78
you can search and find more than a couple threads on this subject

[84 400]

from what bob is saying it seems to me like putting an 82 clip on a 78 is easyer then putting a 78 front on an 82 cab. Cool project. I am guessing your reusing the drive train from the 82 and going to bag and 4 link the 78?

Neat project. Do you have any pictures? we sure love pics.

[Captkaos]

Originally Posted by 84 400

from what bob is saying it seems to me like putting an 82 clip on a 78 is easyer then putting a 78 front on an 82 cab.

Negative. Short of the bumper, the 73-80 doghouse is a bolt on for a 81-87.

[84 400]

Originally Posted by Captkaos

Negative. Short of the bumper, the 73-80 doghouse is a bolt on for a 81-87.

really? that is something to think about then. But I thought with the different style hood/cowl section a good bit of fabrication was needed to accommodate the change in hood hingment.

[Fer79]

I am going to install a suburban 90 front in my C/10 1980 and I have decided to change the cab to avoid having so many problems

my project --->> http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=301785


check out this thread ---> http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...suburban+front

[C-10FREK]

yes the plan is to use the all the drivetrain , and bags and link setup. I will get pics of before and after fof the front end swap. I plan on starting this weekend.

[Captkaos]

Nope, The 73-87 cabs are virtually identical as far as fender mounting goes. I just helped a friend fix his rusted out 75 by replacing the 75 cab and bed with one from an 81-87, and he bought 73-80 fenders, core support from me and got a 79 hood and re-used his hinges, and inner fenders. It was all put on his 75 frame.

73-80 hood hinges bolt to the fender unlike the 81-87's which are bolted to the fender and HINGED on the cab cowl.

Wipers assemblies have to be swapped and a new hole drilled as the 73-80 wipers are covered by the longer hood and are shorter.

The framerails on the 81-87 are angle cut unlike the 73-80 which are rounded on the end, so you have to make a mount for the bolts to work on the center mountng.

Here is the post of his truck with some pics.
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/sm...p?topic=9396.0