Two Door to Three Door Extended Cab Swap?

[Fireball5657]

Hey all, I've got a 1994 extended cab Sierra that I'm in the process of restoring. I like extended cabs, more space than a single cab, and crew cab GMT400's always look off, even the short bed ones don't look very good to me, but one thing that drives me crazy is that all of the early ECs only have the front two doors, I know three door trucks didn't exist till 96, but I'd love to do a cab swap, but I still wanna keep my 94 interior, dash, seats, and front door panels since that's what the truck originally came with.

Has anyone ever tried this swap? What will I need to salvage from the 96-98 truck? I'm gonna try to find a cab from a pull a part so the more parts I can reuse from my 94, the better. I know I'll need the third door panel, the third door handle, and the rear seat trim, but will I need anything else? Can I reuse the front doors from my 94? Will I need the headliner?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Frank Enstein]

I would not change the whole cab. I would sawsall out what you need and a little more and maybe have a body shop cut out the old and graft in the new. And you do the finish work after they make everything fit properly.

And Frank is offended by the crew cab remark and Betty is too btw.

 

[Fireball5657]

I would not change the whole cab. I would sawsall out what you need and a little more and maybe have a body shop cut out the old and graft in the new. And you do the finish work after they make everything fit properly.

And Frank is offended by the crew cab remark and Betty is too btw.

Haha sorry, I like the practicality of crew cabs, I just think there's something off about the proportions on the GMT400's, or maybe it's just that I rarely ever see them... who knows lol...

As far as cutting the cab, that seems like too much work, I do bodywork for a living and if a customer came in asking to cut the cab open, I'd probably send them right out the door! (if i owned my own shop, but that's just a dream for now) Wayyy too much work for too little reward, plus my current cab had a little too much rust for my liking, I've fixed it for now, but I know it'll be back eventually and since I'm a 3 hour drive away from a place like Texas, I know I can find a rust-free cab easily.

The cab will bolt right to the frame just fine, and if I need to cut a few holes to get the 94 interior parts in, that's not too big of a deal, I just need to know if anyone has actually done it and what parts I'll have to use from my 94 and the 96-98 truck because I've never been around a 3 door GMT400, I've just seen them and lusted after them lol.

 

[Frank Enstein]

I was concerned about dash fitment and the VIN on the dash! That might get ugly later for you.

 

[Frank Enstein]

Others have done the 95 up dash into the 94 down truck and it's pretty involved. I hate body work but I don't think it would be much worse than a quarter panel replacement. If your cab is rusted maybe a different truck rather than all the work?

BTW "Frank" is in my profile picture. Not pretty yet but someday.

 

[Fireball5657]

I was concerned about dash fitment and the VIN on the dash! That might get ugly later for you.

Huh, I had no idea that the dashes could be that much different, I figured if you stripped a 94 and a 95-98 cab down to just the metal, they'd basically be the same, bar a few mounting holes.

Didn't even think about the VIN, that could be fun...

Frank looks a bit rough around the edges, and while I'm not a fan of CC's, a CC dually is the best looking combo to me! That's a solid truck ya got there. That 86 sounds pretty cool too, a square body dually is one of my bucket list trucks, something about 'em...

As much sense as a different truck makes considering how much I like the 96-98 interiors and engines, I'm wayy too attached to this truck to get another one, it was dad's truck throughout my childhood and was my first car when I hit the sweet sixteen, I mostly left it alone, never working on it unless I had to until recently, but I know the entire history of this truck, what's been replaced, what hasn't, all the previous owners, I know pretty much everything about this truck and I'd hate to give that up.

 

[Dropped88]

If you completely stripped both cabs and changed over the big mounting bracket on driver side.

Then it would basically be just put All the 94 stuff back in.

Im just not sure on fitment of trim panels at 3rd door may have to mix match trim with later yrs so if possible find one with the same color interior

Also has to be 1500 the 2500 and 3500 never got a 3rd door

 

[someotherguy]

To put the 94-down dash in the 95-up cab, you'll be drilling the spot welds out of the steering column supports of both cabs so you can swap those, too. Not that big of a deal. You'll also need to drill the welds out of the passenger A-pillar grab handle bracket, which is a bit of a bigger deal, because the windshield is kind of in the way unless you've got a right angle drill and a steady hand.

Then...then you discover that there are just enough incompatibilities in the plastics to make you nuts. Nothing major, but you'll quickly discover the 96 cab has sliders on the front shoulder belt mount points, which requires slots in the B pillar plastics, which your 94 plastics don't have. Once you start trying to mix and match the 94 and 96 plastics you discover they don't all fit together exactly the same, and have different shades of colors even if they're the same basic color. Of course you *must* use the 96 plastics all around the area of the 3rd door since they are unique to that cab style.

So there are some hurdles to jump, to be sure..

Richard

 

[east302]

@AK49BWL has a thread somewhere where he’s putting in a 88-94 into a 98 or so model.

On the plus side, you can now at least get new dashes for that version.

 

[AK49BWL]

I haven't made an actual thread for it yet, maybe I should...

But yeah this is in my 97.

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