Body swap or not?

[mac907]

I've run into a bit of a pickle. The 78' Blazer that I dumped 1000's into has turned out to be waaaaay more rusted out than I ever detected. It's on the verge of being structurally unsound. From the tires to the frame it's almost all new parts (quite a bit of the mods are permanently welded to the frame making me want to avoid swapping everything to the Jimmy). This leads me to wonder if it would be worth taking the much nicer body off my 78' Jimmy and putting it on my 78' blazer frame.

What I'd like to know is... What would I be getting myself into?

From my limited experience it looks fairly simple with merely 8 or 10 body mounts, a very basic wiring harness, heater hoses, and a steering column in the way of pulling the body.

Any major difficulties, or long drawn out processes I'm not seeing?

 

[K85 Octane]

I doubt there's much more than what you mentioned.

Tailgate assist springs are hooked to the bumper.
Trans linkage and your 205 stuff
Tail light wiring runs along the frame

How do you plan on lifting it? Can you get it high enough to clear the engine? Otherwise you'll be pulling the front end apart.

 

[Upstate]

You don't clear the engine, you remove the frame/ drivetrain forward. Just take the front clip off. Fairly easy task. I used engine hoist to lift the truck.

 

[neverdone]

Same year to same year is best possible way to go. Go for it.

 

[Upstate]

Don't forget about:
Fuel tank filler tube
Parking brake
Vent lines for axles (normally frame but the last truck was body)
Exhaust can connected to body also
Rear lights, gate wire harness
Transfer and transmission linkage
Ground straps
Power steering lines
Brake line from master - just pull the master off
Steering linkage
Of course main harness
Neutral safety switch wire
Take your bumpers off, much, much simpler then

 

[Deuling]

Sounds like a no brainer to me seeing they are the same year.

If i were to do this id make sure to undercoat the body while its in the air with no frame. And also clean up and paint/undercoat the hard to get parts of the frame.

 

[mac907]

Thanks for the responses. The plan is to remove everything mentioned above plus the fenders, hood, top, doors, tailgate, and seats. Then see if I can separate the remaining body with my 2 ton hoist chained up to what is remaining of the body mount holes. Not sure how much it'll all weigh so hopefully I won't have to extend the boom much and lose any lifting capacity.

 

[paratrooper307]

Thanks for the responses. The plan is to remove everything mentioned above plus the fenders, hood, top, doors, tailgate, and seats. Then see if I can separate the remaining body with my 2 ton hoist chained up to what is remaining of the body mount holes. Not sure how much it'll all weigh so hopefully I won't have to extend the boom much and lose any lifting capacity.

The only problem you might run into there (I'm assuming you're talking an engine hoist) is balancing may be tricky. You may want to look at an overhead hoist, and use a lifting harness or tow straps to support the body evenly. This assumes you have a garage where you can mount it though. I just got a solid pipe, put it between two beams, and hooked the hoist to it.