Re: body swap

Posted by Hal/WA on August 14, 2002 at 14:41:38 from (208.8.194.68):

In Reply to: body swap posted by clint on August 14, 2002 at 04:11:03:

I haven't done it and I have never seen an earlier Chevy pickup body on a later chassis. But I have seen several examples of very different bodies being put on those chassis, which seem to be available a lot due to bad rust problems with the bodies. One guy had a large Cadillac sedan body on a 4x4 chassis, and he said he had driven it that way for 4 years. Another guy had a 55 Chevy body on what was probably a Blazer chassis. It looked kind of ratty, but from the mud on it, I think he was using it for an off-road toy.

Since the 66 chassis and 75 chassis are not just the same, you should not expect the 66 body to bolt on without modifications, and maybe quite a lot of them. If you have a nice 66 body, it might be a lot easier to trade it off for a nice 73 to early 80's body, or transfer the 75 mechanicals to an early 60's frame. But the 66 body can be mounted on the 75 chassis. It just might be a lot of work.

If you do decide to make the switch, make sure the combination is safe. Use the later master cylinder/power brake unit and make sure the steering collumn matches the 75 steering box exactly. The cab and fenders need to be supported more or less the same way as they were on the earlier chassis. If the wheelbases don't match exactly, it should not be too hard to adjust between the cab and pickup box. They look best to me if the wheels are properly centered in the wheel openings. It sounds like a fun project. Be careful.

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