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Going to do a body swap, looking for advice

mofugly13

mofugly13

1 ton bucket of rust
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Hey all. My '73 K5 is so rusty that it's beyond repair. I found a great '74 body on Craigslist and if everything goes according to plan, I will pick it up this Sunday. The body I am getting is strictly sheet metal, no trim, dash, anything. Just the tub. So I am going to have to strip my existing body, get it off the frame, put the new body on, and begin reassembling EVERYTHING. At the same time, I am going to install a painless wiring harness I've had on the shelf for 7 years.

What I would like is some advice from those who have done this before. I have no hoist other than an engine hoist, so the actual removal of the old and install of the new is going to be using muscles, levers, rollers, whatever it takes to pull one off and install the other.

It seems, ideally, I would just remove everything from my K5 that ties the body to the rest of the truck, ie. wiring, steering and shift linkages, gas filler tube, heater hose, etc., then remove the body. Put the new one on and start swapping parts from the old to the new. However, in the interest of removing as much weight as possible, to make moving the body's easier, I think I will need to completely strip the old body, before I get it off the frame. Then, hopefully with the help of a multitude of 8x10 color glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, remember how all that stuff goes back together once I've got the new body on the old frame.

I live four blocks from the ocean, which is why my K5 has slowly disintegrated into small piles of rust in my driveway and on my floorboards. The body was in bad shape to begin with when I got it 12 years ago, but all the bad crap had been cleverly hidden by judicious application of bondo and a fresh-ish coat of paint, by the PO, or PPO....who knows..

What can I do with my new body to keep the rust from taking hold. According to the guy I'm buying it from, the only rust he can find is at the bottom of the pillars where the tailgate attaches. I want to make sure I stop this infection, and protect the body from additional rust infection. Would a coat of rhinoline or something similar on the floor from the bed up to the firewall be a good idea?

Has anyone done this before? Where did you start? Should I go in any particular order?

Some pics to show how bad my poor K5 is looking...

P3210416_zpsomccsbuu.jpg


P3210421_zpsipghpdz4.jpg



P3210424_zpst5m7ynkc.jpg
 
Never done a body swap but it's easier to support the bodies with a couple 4x4s that rest on some sturdy saw horse like structures so you can roll the chassis out from under it and the new one in. Obviously remove the doghouse and topper to make it lighter.
 
There was a thread not too long ago that showed someone making a "crane" of sorts using a wooden framework. (edit. I cannot find this thread. Even had pictures of the setup)

If the front clip is removed and you pull the body off the rear, you still have to get the lowest part of the body over the tires. It may not be THAT tall, but it's probably approaching the max height of an engine hoists lift.

I've moved a body to put on a rolling frame before with no tools other than floor jack and wood, and it sucked. They are very heavy, there are not that many places that you can put a 4x4 or the like all the way across to support it, and they tend to be tippy.

I would think in your case, building a crane/hoist support to use on the front of the body, with a 4x4 through the rear wheelwells would allow you to get the old body off fairly easy. I figured using pallets to support a 4x4 on either side will provide stability and allow you to work slowly to get it high enough.

If you have the choice, I'd get the new body next to the other, and swap most everything over as you take one apart. IMO the heavy parts of the body are the tailgate, the top, and any of the sound deadening/carpet. The seats are a no-brainer to pull and reinstall, the rest of the stuff doesn't weigh that much and probably wouldn't concern me as much as to contributing a bunch of weight.
 
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Another thing to be aware of, is VIN plates. THe VIN plates are attached to the body with special rivets. If you plan on registering and insuring it, be careful. Here in MI, they made me get an assembled vehicle title, which f$#@'d me with insurance companies. Cali might have a better procedure, who knows. I'd try to get the title of the tub with the tub from whomever your buying it from in any case.
Could I have swapped the plates, yes, you can even buy the special rivets if you know where to look, but I thought...ahh..worst case, lets say I hit someone and they are killed, the insurance company will go looking for excuses, problems, issues, and a swapped vin is easy to spot, if your looking. I dunno, mabey I made more of it than most. Just worried me.

As far as protecting your new tub, the full vert's have some problematic areas, typical is the rockers and the big reinforcement areas under the driver/passenger floors. Get in there best you can, sandblast it, paint, coat with rustproof/undercoating, something. Another problem area is the lower a-pillars, find a way to get in there. It was plain steel back then for any "inner" panel, it will rust.
 
The tub comes with a title....so WOOOT! However, it doesn't come with a frame, and from what I understand, the frame has a vin matched to the body. I'm not going to worry about that, though.
 
dyeager535 said:
There was a thread not too long ago that showed someone making a "crane" of sorts using a wooden framework. (edit. I cannot find this thread. Even had pictures of the setup)
Click to expand...

Shady's 72 build thread
 
Here in the salt belt oil undercoating is the best defense from mother nature reclaiming vehicles.
 
mofugly13 said:
The tub comes with a title....so WOOOT! However, it doesn't come with a frame, and from what I understand, the frame has a vin matched to the body. I'm not going to worry about that, though.
Click to expand...

It's a partial VIN, or at least that's all I was able to find. It's also hidden behind the rocker boxes, IIRC, so it requires a contortionist with a telescoping inspection mirror to find. I had my '74 K5 inspected @ the DMV once for VIN issues (the paperwork had a "B" instead of an "8", something like this) and they didn't look at the frame. They wanted two matching VIN's and went with the door jamb and the glove box, as there's no VIN on the dashboard for these early trucks.

-- A
 
dremu said:
It's a partial VIN, or at least that's all I was able to find. It's also hidden behind the rocker boxes, IIRC, so it requires a contortionist with a telescoping inspection mirror to find. I had my '74 K5 inspected @ the DMV once for VIN issues (the paperwork had a "B" instead of an "8", something like this) and they didn't look at the frame. They wanted two matching VIN's and went with the door jamb and the glove box, as there's no VIN on the dashboard for these early trucks.

-- A
Click to expand...

this.

they don't look at the frame, it's the tub that carries the VIN and the title.
 
I did a body swap but put a pickup cab onto the k5 chassis. I have some pics of the process in the beginning of my build thread (link in my sig). I got 3 friends and we lifted the new cab onto the frame once all the old junk was cut off. Since the old body was junk anyways, we unbolted all the doors, tailgate, front clip. Then carefully removed the windshield since the new cab didn't have one. The rest we chopped up with a sawzall while it was on the frame.

We kept the firewall all in one piece with as much stuff left attached to it as possible. Once the new cab was all bolted up, I dragged the old firewall next to the truck & started swapping things over 1 at a time.
 
76k5blazerr said:
Where is the vin at on the glovebox?? I never knew they had one there.
Click to expand...

It was on a sticker stuck in the glove box that listed all the trucks options via RPO codes.
Many peeled off, or people reomved the glove box or replaced it because it cracked or whatevre.

It would look like this on a 73-76 truck.
iu
 
mofugly13 said:
Right?? Now I gotta go run down to my K5 and look! Why would they do that?
Click to expand...

As the sticker says, it was for service parts ID. It wasn't really a VIN for the car ID (like they do today where they stamp full or partial VIN's all over the car), it was simply and aid to techs to ensure the right parts were put on a vehicle. It was just a simple sticker after all.

Back then, the ID for the car, as in cops were checking for stolen or something, the VIN was on the frame somewhere, or at least the last 6 of the VIN on the frame (in the case of early 70's chevy trucks that place is usually somewhere around the steering box) and the VIN plate on the door jamb with the special, felony to posses, rosette rivets.
 
The frames were also stamped on the passenger side rail about mid-way ,either on the face or the top lip...we had some visits at the junkyard by detectives a few times,looking for stolen parts & vehicles...they showed us a lot of things we never knew about--like those Plymouth Duster fenders that always rotted out and Chrysler decided to make good on--they had punch marks up under the top side that identified them and which vehicle they belonged on..

I've seen that stick on VIN tag on many 73-up trucks on the drivers side inner fender also,not all trucks had them in the glove box...my '82 GMC only has a "camper loading info" sticker on the glove box door,and I never have found the other VIN sticker,it must have come off or been removed before I got the truck..the drivers door has a VIN tag with tire sizes and GVW info though,which is peeling off and cant be read any more..
 
Well my first obstacle is going to be getting it home. I am planning on renting a U-Haul trailer for the drive from San Jose to San Francisco, about 45 miles. I don't think I need a car hauler since it is only a body. I am thinking that a 6' wide utility trailer should work. The plan would be to span the rails of the trailer with 4x4 lumber, and have the body sitting on top of the lumber. This way, when I back it into my driveway, I can jack up the ends of the 4x4's and get supports underneath them, then pull the trailer out from under the raised body. That way I might be able to roll my chassis out from under the old body, and roll it back underneath the new one.

Does this sound like a good idea?
 
only concern I would have is making sure the rails on the utility trailer are strong enough to carry the weight of the body.
 
mofugly13 said:
Well my first obstacle is going to be getting it home. I am planning on renting a U-Haul trailer for the drive from San Jose to San Francisco, about 45 miles. I don't think I need a car hauler since it is only a body. I am thinking that a 6' wide utility trailer should work. The plan would be to span the rails of the trailer with 4x4 lumber, and have the body sitting on top of the lumber. This way, when I back it into my driveway, I can jack up the ends of the 4x4's and get supports underneath them, then pull the trailer out from under the raised body. That way I might be able to roll my chassis out from under the old body, and roll it back underneath the new one.

Does this sound like a good idea?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a fun idea, anyway, but then I enjoy crazy stuff like this. :D

More usefully, gonna need you some loooong ratcheting straps to hold that thing down.

How stripped is the carcass, i.e. is it just the tub, tub with top, any of the interior in there, stuff attached to the firewall or not?

-- A
 
dremu said:
More usefully, gonna need you some loooong ratcheting straps to hold that thing down.

-- A
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Four strategically placed holes in the 4x4s and the proper size bolts and you could use the body mounts to bolt the wood to. Then use regular straps to secure the 4x4s to the trailer.
 
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