67-72 body + 79 frame

[79rustyk10]

I have always loved the 67-72 chevy trucks and was wondering if anyone has put a 67-72 body on a later frame? Im not worried about master cylinder or steering or any of that small stuff, but what about the body mounts and the overall wheelbase. Would this be a fairly easy swap or not worth the effort? In the last 5 years Ive only seen 3 or 4X4's in the 67-72 years around here, while 2 wheelers are easy to find.

Then again 73 and newer sheetmetal is so easy to find compared to the earlier stuff.

 

[dremu]

I'm thinking it would be easier to convert a 2WD truck to 4WD, and that's not easy, especially without a donor.

I know on the Blazers the wheelbase is like 6" different from 69-72 and 73+; I don't know about the pickups. Aha, wait, my Brochures page tells all:

1970 pickups (should be the same for 67-72)

115, 127, 133" wheelbases (what's the 133 -- is that the Longhorn?)

overall lengths are 188 1/2, 207 3/4, 217 3/4 respectively.


For the 73+ body style there are more choices (crewcab)

wheelbases of 117 1/2 (short bed), 131 1/2 (long bed), 159 1/2 (cab&chassis) and 164 1/2 (crewcab)

overall lengths are 191 1/2 (short bed), ~212 (long bed) and 244 1/2 (crewcab.)


So the body is not gonna line right up, no, and obviously you'd have to make new crossmembers for the body mounts.

-- A

 

[imiceman44]

I have always loved the 67-72 chevy trucks and was wondering if anyone has put a 67-72 body on a later frame? Im not worried about master cylinder or steering or any of that small stuff, but what about the body mounts and the overall wheelbase. Would this be a fairly easy swap or not worth the effort? In the last 5 years Ive only seen 3 or 4X4's in the 67-72 years around here, while 2 wheelers are easy to find.

Then again 73 and newer sheetmetal is so easy to find compared to the earlier stuff.

Depends what you want to end up with.
I have friends here that have put a 70 cab on a blazer frame, but the bed was another story, they built a flat bed very short flat bed that is because all they wanted was a smog free off road truck.
If you are looking at making a nice looking truck, you might have some more work to match the wheelbases which I know will not match, you will need to either stretch the bed or shorten the frame to match if putting a 67-72 truck cab and bed on a 73 and up truck frame.

 

[NorCalKid]

There is a guy on nor cal big dawgs with a 67-72 cab on a 79 k5 frame with dovetailed skins for a bed. It turned out pretty sweet in my opinion. It might be the same guy iceman knows

heres a link to the build thread
http://www.norcalbigdawgs.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8609

Guess he is one here too jays68yak
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166004