body swap thread. gmt400 on gmt800 chassis

[96-1500]

Because I don't want to see you spend a lot of money and months of work and get boned, I will say this: even if I only had to look at front suspension components for an MVI I would instantly know it's not the frame the truck came with.

Also, any mechanic worth his salt is going to know at first glance if you have torched the body mount frame tabs off and moved them unless you get someone very, very VERY good with a welder and grinder to move them. Even then they will likely know. Robot welds and hand welds are very easy to distinguish 99% of the time.

The real question is the particular guy you get doing your mvi: if he doesn't care you'll go through. If he's actually worried about his (and/or the shops) inspection licence he'll look at it and you're done like dinner.


Personally, if we had that strict a set of mvi laws when I was doing them I would have rolled it off the lift and sent you home. You may or may not have gotten a big red rejected sticker on the windshield.

IMHO, you're gambling a lot of money on something just because you've got a good set of body panels......which you may not be able to use anyways after you've failed inspection.

I understand emotional ties to vehicles, I've had them. But there comes a point when it's just costing you more than it's giving back and it just makes no sense prolonging the inevitable.

Your frame rotted away, you're in a place that knows this happens and it sounds like they specifically look for it.

In this case it sounds like your best bet is to say a heartfelt goodbye, put it out of it's misery and move on.....

As always, a fantastic response and basically everything I wanted to add to the conversation but probably worded much better.

In my particular experience, the frame rusted and broke on my truck. I was broke, my inspection was good for another 6 months or so, so I patched it and it held up as long as I needed it to. I was about 5 grand deep into the truck at this point (already WAAAY too much). Then the motor gave up the ghost. After figuring how much a new motor would cost, I decided I should replace the frame since there's no sense in spending money on something with a bad frame. Found one and figured out a price for the swap.
Then I figured I needed new suspension and brakes since there's no sense spending money on something with a good frame but bad suspension etc.

Then I woke up and gave my head a shake and decided that I should "stop the bleeding" and let my truck go. It still owed me a lot and I never got that money I had into it out of it in use, but it could have been worse. It was a tough call, being my first truck and all. But at the end of the day...sometimes it's just time to say goodbye. These trucks aren't special, there's lots of them out there in better shape than yours.

I'm being another "downer" I guess, if you do decide to go through with it good luck to you sir and I wish you all the best and will be cheering you on all the way. I'm just throwing my 2 cents where it probably doesn't belong, but hey, take it for what it's worth.

 

[Van Gui1d3r #838]

As always, a fantastic response and basically everything I wanted to add to the conversation but probably worded much better.

In my particular experience, the frame rusted and broke on my truck. I was broke, my inspection was good for another 6 months or so, so I patched it and it held up as long as I needed it to. I was about 5 grand deep into the truck at this point (already WAAAY too much). Then the motor gave up the ghost. After figuring how much a new motor would cost, I decided I should replace the frame since there's no sense in spending money on something with a bad frame. Found one and figured out a price for the swap.
Then I figured I needed new suspension and brakes since there's no sense spending money on something with a good frame but bad suspension etc.

Then I woke up and gave my head a shake and decided that I should "stop the bleeding" and let my truck go. It still owed me a lot and I never got that money I had into it out of it in use, but it could have been worse. It was a tough call, being my first truck and all. But at the end of the day...sometimes it's just time to say goodbye. These trucks aren't special, there's lots of them out there in better shape than yours.

I'm being another "downer" I guess, if you do decide to go through with it good luck to you sir and I wish you all the best and will be cheering you on all the way. I'm just throwing my 2 cents where it probably doesn't belong, but hey, take it for what it's worth.

i agree and i understand exactly what youre saying. i guess what ill be looking to do is get another one and maybe be much more picky as to what i want this time... id like to get some pulling power hence why i liked the swap in the first place. a 5.3 or 6.0 has just got that much more ass than these old throttle body injected engines. and i know so much more about those engines, im swapping a 6.0 into my 95 formula now.... maybe ill just go the route of getting a near mint gmt400 and consider doing a powertrain swap down the road, it shouldnt be that much more different than swapping my bird over to lsx. in fact i already have the crank i need to use a lsx 5.3 or 6.0 with a tranny thats already in a gmt400 if need be.... thoughts anyone?

 

[great white]

i agree and i understand exactly what youre saying. i guess what ill be looking to do is get another one and maybe be much more picky as to what i want this time... id like to get some pulling power hence why i liked the swap in the first place. a 5.3 or 6.0 has just got that much more ass than these old throttle body injected engines. and i know so much more about those engines, im swapping a 6.0 into my 95 formula now.... maybe ill just go the route of getting a near mint gmt400 and consider doing a powertrain swap down the road, it shouldnt be that much more different than swapping my bird over to lsx. in fact i already have the crank i need to use a lsx 5.3 or 6.0 with a tranny thats already in a gmt400 if need be.... thoughts anyone?

Just one: plane ticket to arizona, texas or a similar "rust free" area. Buy it there. Drive it back. Undercoat the living bejeezus out of it when you get back.

You'll get a solid 10-15 years out of it before any serious rust concerns. Even a "beater" from places like that are 10 times better than an east coast "very little rust" vehicle.

Sure, you'll pay a little more in travel, gas, food, hotels,etc. But you'll get a truck that you only have to swap powertrains to do what you want and no frame or body work other than maybe a little wire wheel work and some paint.

Heck, make a little vacation of it and see the grand canyon or something. It will take a bit of the sting out of the plane ticket costs. Fly out and drive back. Keep some money aside for unforeseen breakdowns and have an adventure along the way home.

I despise body work.....I can do it, but I can't stand it. Not to mention: once the cutting and welding starts to amputate the rusties, it's just a downhill slide from there and the cancer will eventually win (at least on the east coast it will). Once cutting and welding starts, the rust returns twice as fast (or faster).

I bought my 98 when I was out west. I'm now back in the east. The few of these trucks left on the road here look like they spent 10 years on the bottom of the ocean floor and my 98 still has it's original cab corners (that's saying something for even the rust free areas on these trucks!). You can put a wrench on any nut or bolt on the undercarriage and it turns off with normal force, no smoke wrench required. I have at least 1 guy a month ask me if I want to sell it (they just don't want to pay what I would need to get out of it )

I'll never buy another east coast truck again. Not worth it. I'll fly out to saskatchewan or some other place where they don't rust and drive it back.

Years of work and money ahead over trying to salvage an east coast rust bucket that's damned and determined to return to mother earth....

 

[96-1500]

Agreed. There's lots of threads on 5.3/6.0 swaps here, and with a 4L80E or NV4500 if you prefer and a 14 bolt in either semi or full float fashion, the right gear ratio for your tires, and you'll have one good rugged pulling rig.

Totally agree with Great White. I drive a rust bucket. I patch it up and patch it up and patch it up. Absolutely no amount of work will make it a new truck again.

 

[LML Duramax 95 Z71]

Shouldn't it mainly just be punching new holes in the frame rails for the body mounts? These are cab on frame trucks meaning the cab and frame don't interfere with each other that much

 

[thz71]

Shouldn't it mainly just be punching new holes in the frame rails for the body mounts? These are cab on frame trucks meaning the cab and frame don't interfere with each other that much

This thread is 2 years old

 

[sewlow]

O/P hasn't posted since Sept/17/13.