'55 Body onto a 1999+ 4x4 Frame

[Berg]

On a sad note, I cannot find a kit for the 55-59 cabs to make it a less complicated swap however there is a guy on another forum I saw a while back who used a Trailblazer SS with a 6.0 LS engine and I believe it was airbagged with AWD. It put out a good amount of power and he used spare wheels off a Dodge pickup that were like 18" or 20" diameter with a set of center caps he found for it. For the life of me I can't find it but he went through a lot of the same stuff you'd be in for. I vote for a 2500 platform but you'd probably have to shorten the frame up a good amount and move the axle where you wanted it but I couldn't see why you couldn't use the stock spring perches and re fasten them to the frame and get the driveshaft shortened. I know in most swaps the LS engines seem to sit a lot closer to the firewall so that is something else to take into consideration.

[rgunlock]

When I looked into mounting my 59 on a 92 2500 4wd frame, I had these challenges. The 2500 was ext. cab longbed so I'd have to cut several feet out of the frame. There was about 8.5 inch kickup behind cab so I'd have to do body lift and/or lose a lot of bed depth. Frame was wider so my stepside bed would not fit over it. Front wheel track is wider than the rear so front tires (on stock 92 wheels) would stick out while rear would fit reasonably well. To get front fender opening centered over front tire, I had to move cab back to where there was over 2 inches between firewall and valve covers and looked very tight for radiator and fan. Would also have to fabricate new cab and core support mounts.

I decided to go back to plan "a" and use my extended 76 4wd Blazer chassis. Still had to fab mounts for everything, but the 59 fits on it MUCH better.