Body swap with Silverado frame

[aug1516]

I have a 1984 K10 that I am looking to fix up into something a little more modern and powerful to drive. I found plenty of information about swapping in the newer LSx motors into these old trucks but was wondering if anyone had ever swapped their old truck body onto the frame of a newer truck, 1999+. The wheelbases are close enough that no frame cutting would be required for the length. This would give you the newer motor and drivetrain, 4 wheel disk brakes, IFS (to me, a good thing), etc. Any thoughts on doing this and what problems I may run into?

[Keith Seymore]

I've never done it, so just off the top of my head:

The frame on the Silverado was completely new for the GMT800 series, so I wouldn't (necessarily) expect any of the body mount/bed attachments to line up. In fact, IIRC, the rear frame rails might actually taper towards each other in the plan view rather than going straight back (...or - that might have been the GMT400 version...).

Also, I don't think any of the cab floor is common, either, so different things could hit and bump underneath, like shifters and features on the Tcase/Trans. You'd probably have to cut the ends of the frames off (both front and rear) to get the old bumpers to attach to the new frame.

As long as you moved all of the modules, powertrain controllers, etc from the Silverado to the older cab you should be ok there (except for the interfaces between old and new, like the harnesses (headlamp/taillamp, etc,) probably will not just plug right in between the old body and new chassis.

Again, this is all speculation on my part. So (in summary) - given enough elbow grease, knowledge and desire anything is possible but I wouldn't expect it to be easy.

MHO -

K

[78 Chevyrado]

the worst part will be making up new body mounts for the cab and core support and getting everything straight and true. Otherwise It should be just take creativity with mounting all the newer components to the old sheetmetal.

For a basic idea of what's involved, check out the 48-54 chevy truck section. Some of the trucks did a swap like this, but with an S-10 frame. While the measurments are different, the idea is the same.