I need help with my brain!! Too many parts

[6872xtc]

So I can't seem to get my thoughts off of doing a body swap with my '90 Jimmy. It is showing 263K, needs a tranny cause it pulls great but has ZERO hold back, it has a vibration that I am fairly confident is the torque converter when locked, the frame isn't very clean as it started life in Wisconson, but the only option that I see missing from the body is power mirrors, it even has the rear shoulder belts. The A/C works well and the interior is decent, I like the mini-quad front end and have quite a few factory parts to use to put fuel lines in the '79 frame. It also needs a timing chain in the 350.


I have a '79 blazer that has a 700R4 with a doubler, Tom Woods drivelines, ORD steering box brace and frame re-enforcement, ORD rear shackle flip and came out of Arizona. The TBI 350 is hurt badly and I would like the wiring redone if I used it. (The '90 has unmolested wiring.)
The driveshafts are made for a 6 in. lift with the front moved forward 1". All 1350 joints and CV's. It also has 2wd steering box tapped for hydro-assist. I have a set of tons with 4:56's sitting here, but would need the remainder of the crossover parts, springs, tires and wheels, brake lines, lots of time and lots of misc items.

I don't have time right now to get my self into this scale of a project, I bought the Jimmy for daily driving, but I keep going over and over all of this and wanting to mess with it, (make improvements!!) I just needed to get all of this out to others that have the same illnes as I do and get some other input.

 

[Snoozer]

Sounds like you're being tempted to keep up with 2 trucks instead of 1.

If it were me, I'd probably sell the '90 to buy a more reasonable daily driver (a low-mileage gas sipper, for example). That's what I should've done 15 years ago anyway. That way, you'll save gas money, AND you won't be tempted to start another project with your daily driver.

The '79 sounds like a great foundation! Lots of good parts already on it. All you need to do is focus the time and money into finishing it in stages. The wiring can be fixed for ~$350 (Painless universal kit), the TBI can be rebuilt for next to nothing, save up for the remaining x-over parts and slap them on. Do it in chunks, not all at once (Trust me). Save up for suspension stuff and tires, and swap that in the same time you swap the tons under it. Before you know it... Done. Voila. Finito.

 

[Snoozer]

On the other hand...

That '90 body looks pretty darn clean.

But the thing I am always having to tell myself to get my head out of the clouds is, "if I smash up these perfectly clean fenders/doors/bedsides using the truck for what I built it for in the first place, what was the point of having them perfectly clean in the first place?". SO... I sold my <relatively> clean short bed off my truck last summer. And I built a custom flatbed to smash trees and rocks with.

To each their own. Just thought I'd offer food for though.

 

[6872xtc]

Thanks for the response. The '90 looks better on the outside than underneath, that is why I think I would be fine with taking it wheeling. I had a '97 Jeep with a 4cyl. for a few months that was a gas sipper, but I didn't like it since I guess I am GM snob, so it went down the road when I found the Jimmy for $1100. I have thought about taking the rebuilt 700R4 out of this '87 K10 I have sitting here for the '90 to keep it more sensible for DD usage. The I start wondering what am I going to do with the '79??? I don't need 5 trucks! (Don't tell my wife I said that!!) With gas prices down, I could afford to go back to driving the '70 with the 462, but I would still be turning the '90 into a gas hog with all the mods. That is not a good long term solution as then I have too many toys without a practical DD. As you see, I have too many thoughts running around in my head...

 

[Deuling]

Please dont waste that nice sheet metal. Thats a beautiful looking jimmy.

 

[6872xtc]

I have never had anything that I beat up off-road, but never have I had any truck more capable than my '70. Then there is the same old skewed point of view since I don't live in the rustbelt. This one has some rust so I don't value it as much as one that is clean.

 

[Deuling]

Wheres the rust at though. U say the frame has it, but what do u mean? Like some surface rust? Holes in the frame? Theres alot of difference. Too many people ive seen on here with the "omg theres some flakes of rust on my frame! Must scrap the whole rig!" mentallity.

 

[6872xtc]

The frame has what would be normal flaking and pitting if it was a Nebraska truck. The rails are a little wavy under the front seats, where the '79 frame is pretty clean and has all those parts already mounted and I could get the chassis all done and back to complete before swapping the body. I don't have thoughts of scrapping it because of the rust, just feeling like I don't know what direction to go with the '79 and the one tons sitting here.

 

[6872xtc]

What the '79 looks like now

I guess I should post what the current condition is of the '79

 

[Snoozer]

As long as the floors aren't rotted away, and the body mount hangers are all intact, I'd focus attention on the '79. I'm partial to older iron though. Mine's a '76.

 

[6872xtc]

As long as the floors aren't rotted away, and the body mount hangers are all intact, I'd focus attention on the '79. I'm partial to older iron though. Mine's a '76.

And I think I would sort of feel bad scrapping the body off the '79 as it has very little rust since it came out of AZ. That and I do like the square nose too, I just think the mini-quad GMC front looks tough. Like you said earlier, to each his own.