Greetings! I'm new here & not even sure if this is where I should be posting this. I'm going to try to put a '94 Safari body on an '83 K5 chassis. Does anyone here have any idea what I can look forward to as far as problems or ideas on how to go about this? I haven't even begun to get into it yet & probably won't for a while. I'm just trying to make sure I get a few bases covered first. Thanks.
CK5
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Safari/ Blazer chassis swap
- Thread starter bduff509
- Start date
i belive that the vans do not have a full frame under them. I do not know about the size but you will have to move body mounts around and most likley make some custom mounting points on the body of the Van. This link has info on the size of the Blazer frame http://www.chuckschevytruckpages.com/framespecs.html
big83chevy4x4
3/4 ton status
correct, the safaris are a unibody with a subframe for the motor, tranny and front suspentions.
GMC Safari minivan. We bought it new & it served us well. After 265k mi. it still ran great...until some ass ran a stop sign & we t-boned him. It was my wife's baby. I have the Blazer but it won't pass insp. anymore so I thought it might be cool to revive the Safari on the Blazer chassis.
1979jimmy350, Thanks for the link. I know the van is a unibody. I was hoping that it wouldn't create much more problem than to make it sit a few inches higher. Actually I thought my biggest problem would be making the steering column on the van mate with the steering box on the Blazer. If I'm lucky I can swap out boxes too.
Won't work Blazer is too big. Owned an Astro and put a v8 in it, it bolts in by the way, the frame on the blazer is to long in the front spring hangers an such. You could however use the running gear and swap it that way. You can build a rear subframe and weld it to the Safari front sub. As far as just bolting the Blazer frame under the Van it is just way to long in the front. Look at how close the foot wells are in the van verses where they would be in the Blazer. Your best bet is to swap around running gear.
What do you mean "running gear"? I know there's a difference in wheel base, The van, I think, is 111" & I believe the Blazer is either 106" or 108". I don't recall. But I believe you're right. The nose on the van is very short. I can't use the frame on the van. It was totaled because it's bent. I could probably find a donor in a junk yard.
Running gear is axels and drivelines
The rear axel would fit just change leaf springs from composite to steel van is composite. Get a new frame for the safari and put leafs in the front or do a ford set up with coils in the buckets that are already there
http://www.astrosafari.com/
really good web site for van stuff, if my memory is correct there may be someone their who has done it already. Four years ago or so in the Four Wheeler Top Truck Challange an Astro van competed and did ok. It's alot of work anyway that you go, although swaping the frame and front sheetmetal is the easy part of it
The rear axel would fit just change leaf springs from composite to steel van is composite. Get a new frame for the safari and put leafs in the front or do a ford set up with coils in the buckets that are already there
http://www.astrosafari.com/
really good web site for van stuff, if my memory is correct there may be someone their who has done it already. Four years ago or so in the Four Wheeler Top Truck Challange an Astro van competed and did ok. It's alot of work anyway that you go, although swaping the frame and front sheetmetal is the easy part of it
That's kinda the point, I'm pretty sure the van you're refferring to doesn't have a traditional frame, the body and the frame are one piece. I don't think GM ever made their minivans in a traditional body on chassis construction.
