Body swap or interior swap

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packetstormin

packetstormin

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Sep 29, 2009
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Okay gents here is the story. I bought a rolled 97 collectors edition that is low milage and locked.

Initially I was just going to swap the axles in to my 94 and be done with it. Well I started thinking Maybe I would just buy a good body and swap a body on to my 97 and be done with it.

So I guess my question is how hard would that be to do? I am a decent shade tree mechanic so I feel that I could probably do this myself.

Second question is how hard would it be to swap the interior to my 94 if the body swap did not pan out. I know the dash is different but I would be willing to put some time in and fabrication if nessicary.
 
I took the body and bed of a 67 chevy truck to move to another frame and i thought it was a pain. I hate imagining moving an 80 body. It vote swap the interior.
 
That's a fair enough answer.

The major payoff in my mind is having a lower mileage 80 in the end. The tcase, transmission, and axles only have 127k miles on them. Also the interior on the 97 is pristine. So that's kind of my thought process on doing a body swap and then swapping the interior in.
 
Body swap is best with a hoist that can lift the body off the frame by the pinch welds. No Damage this way. You can leave the hole body together and just undo the frame mounts, Rad hoses, breathers,. electrical harness, tranny shifter etc. Once its in the air roll the new frame under and do your hook ups.

I did a frame and rolling chassis replacement of my 60 this way. My level of picky was pretty high so the new frame etc got painted and the body was seam sealed from underneath

Hook ups took the majority of time. Make sure you take reference measurements to stuff equipment around the hoist as you will need to true up the body in relation to the frame. I used a ratchet strap to drag the nose over when I did this.

It took us 54 hours time x2 guys (My buddy's a master Toyota tech as well). Then we got to the hook up part

The time without hook up included refreshing lines, bolts, and and and.... I took the new chassis and swapped my suspension and other desirable items like new brakes from my old chassis. It would be less effort for sure if its just roll out the old and roll in the new chassis.
 
gofast said:
Body swap is best with a hoist that can lift the body off the frame by the pinch welds. No Damage this way. You can leave the hole body together and just undo the frame mounts, Rad hoses, breathers,. electrical harness, tranny shifter etc. Once its in the air roll the new frame under and do your hook ups.

I did a frame and rolling chassis replacement of my 60 this way. My level of picky was pretty high so the new frame etc got painted and the body was seam sealed from underneath

Hook ups took the majority of time. Make sure you take reference measurements to stuff equipment around the hoist as you will need to true up the body in relation to the frame. I used a ratchet strap to drag the nose over when I did this.

It took us 54 hours time x2 guys (My buddy's a master Toyota tech as well). Then we got to the hook up part

The time without hook up included refreshing lines, bolts, and and and.... I took the new chassis and swapped my suspension and other desirable items like new brakes from my old chassis. It would be less effort for sure if its just roll out the old and roll in the new chassis.
Click to expand...

Wow that is a lot of work. So basically 54 hours to pull the old body off and refresh ?

How long do you think it takes to hook everything back up?

Did you have to pull the entire dash apart?

How did you deal with the fuel system? Did you just disconnect the filler neck from the body?
 
Well, the interior swap is not as easy as you think!

The dash on the 2 different year 80's is a nightmare - I've done a complete interior and body swap on the same vehicle....and then I rolled it wheelin just 2 days after it drove out of the garage! Long story......resulted in a pissed off wife = bad day! Ask Isotel, he was there :)

Anyways, the body swap is easier and almost as time consuming but takes a lot more mechanical and muscle! Better have a 2 post lift and some really dependable help - because it's gonna take you a few days. It's gonna cost ya a bunch of beers either way you decide!

The interior swap is a s*** ton of work, slow going and extremely detailed, but you can do it on your own. The later 80's have some different wiring, ABS, clusters, Airbags etc....so plan on salvaging that from the other rig. You'll be swapping a lot of stuff!

Warning, if you rush thru the dash and interior stuff, it's gonna rattle and drive you absolutely crazy! Oh, and don't forget to wire up the antenna BEFORE you put the dash on - just a little advice. Been there, done that!

Post up pics....this is gonna get good!
 
Easiest way--take the seats/belts/carpet over if your 94 has the same seatbelt mounting (not sure when that changed). Take any little trim pieces that are the same and look nicer.

Keep the dash from your old one, move whatever from the powertrain over from the rolled one.

You might have to get a little creative to move the center console/shifter stuff over, but maybe not too much.
 
Yeah if you have access to a lift, then its a whole new story. But it took like 8 guys to pick up my chevy cab and move it over to the other frame. The bed took 4. Lifting the 80 would need a lot of muscle. Interior sounds like a pain as well. Good luck and post pics. haha
 
ColoCruiserJeff said:
Well, the interior swap is not as easy as you think!

The dash on the 2 different year 80's is a nightmare - I've done a complete interior and body swap on the same vehicle....and then I rolled it wheelin just 2 days after it drove out of the garage! Long story......resulted in a pissed off wife = bad day! Ask Isotel, he was there :)

Anyways, the body swap is easier and almost as time consuming but takes a lot more mechanical and muscle! Better have a 2 post lift and some really dependable help - because it's gonna take you a few days. It's gonna cost ya a bunch of beers either way you decide!

The interior swap is a s*** ton of work, slow going and extremely detailed, but you can do it on your own. The later 80's have some different wiring, ABS, clusters, Airbags etc....so plan on salvaging that from the other rig. You'll be swapping a lot of stuff!

Warning, if you rush thru the dash and interior stuff, it's gonna rattle and drive you absolutely crazy! Oh, and don't forget to wire up the antenna BEFORE you put the dash on - just a little advice. Been there, done that!

Post up pics....this is gonna get good!
Click to expand...

What kind of issues did you run in to?

The body that would be swapping to the 97 frame is a 93. I would want to swap the entire interior from the 97 to the 93. What were the main issues with the dash swap?

The entire 97 wiring harness would be going in to the body of the 93 do that should cut down on some issues. The other thing is I don't really care in the air bags work.
 
Buy a locked 97, scrap the wrecked one, transfer the best parts to the good one. Sell the rest and the 94. It'll be a hell of a lot less work and prolly cheaper.
 
picture.php


Use a tree:p
 
Ingenuity at its best
 
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