55 big truck on 2003 Tahoe?

[Phyberoptic]

I love my 2000 tahoe and it's fuel injected vortec engine. So when I had the chance to pick up a 2003 that had most of the body panels destroyed in a fight with a deer and bouncing off trees I jumped on it. The 4x4 suspension, chassis, and all the modern electronics are in tac including the leather electric seats.

But I don't need another SUV, I need a truck. And there is a '55 6300 without a bed but otherwise complete that I can pick up for $1500 down the road a bit. It's not running and has the 216, manual trans, and two speed dually rear end.

So looking for some insight as to what the best route to a marriage of these two resulting in a '55 4x4 truck with the FI vortec and modern electronics from the Tahoe.

Do I migrate the engine, trans. wiring harness and rear end from the Tahoe to the 6300, or move the cab and sheet metal over to the stripped Tahoe?


Searching the forum I don't see where this has been done (hopefully not for a good reason).

-=Steve

[47 Fasttoys]

The Tahoe/Envoy/Yukon swap has been done on the AD series and on the TF series. Their are 2 builds in progress on the builds section now. Now neither of those are on a larger truck body. The cabs are the same as far as I know but the front clips are about 5 to 6 inches wider. The track issue could be solved with wheels as the SUVs have a large inset to the wheels. The wheel base would also be a concern, to make the proportions look correct you would want to add a bit to the wheel base. Now for the good news, having a modern drive train on a classic is a blast. Driving it daily is a pleasure EFI, OD, 4WD yeah, all these things would be nice. All drive train parts readily available.
This type of swap is not for a first timer to say the least, if you are new to the hobby be cautious. For time I can tell you mine took 752 hours to turn it into a solid daily driver. If you cannot do all the welding and wiring yourself or if your looking for bodywork and paint your looking at at least 20K. Good luck post up if you take it on, we are always here for advice. The pics are what I started with and what I drive now.
Rob

[tmoble]

Wow is all I can say. So this COE is on the frame of the pickup in the second pic?

do you really track all hours working on your project? That would be more frightening than counting the actual money. I try to avoid that..... My wife OTOH seems to be very interested in the money going out.

[47 Fasttoys]

Yeah, I was kind excessive of my planning and record keeping on my build. Money wise I had just under $15K in the build. After I got it on the road I stopped keeping records, any work from that point are just upgrades or regular maintenance. Oh and yes it's on the late model chassis, if you click on the build thread below you can all the details.
Rob

[Phyberoptic]

Originally Posted by 47 Fasttoys

The Tahoe/Envoy/Yukon swap has been done on the AD series and on the TF series. Their are 2 builds in progress on the builds section now. Now neither of those are on a larger truck body........
This type of swap is not for a first timer to say the least, if you are new to the hobby be cautious.

Thanks for the info Rob. That's exactly the kind of pointers I was looking for.

I guess you could call me a first timer for this effort, but I put a bunch of race cars on the streets of Whittier California back in the day and have chopped and customized many motorcycles as a side business before moving to New Jersey. I do know enough to ask those that have gone before me. I don't want to put the kind of effort needed for your COE project, but I think fitting the body works of the '55 to the Tahoe chassis is a much lesser undertaking.

-=Phyber

[Phyberoptic]

Doner. I'll have to look for another Cab (and bed for that matter) as the one down the way sold...

[Smashmetal]

Some one over on the projects page put a 49-50, 3100 truck onto a 2001 Tahoe frame a while back. The bodies on the AD trucks are a lot smaller. I think it will be a successful merger with a 55.
This summer I purchased a rough 53 3100 truck with a clean title, as well as a 2001 suburban. I'm still stripping down the suburban however both rigs cost me around $2K. I figure that alone is worth attempting the swap for the parts I have.
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