Currently i have an 82 K10, sbc400, th350, np208, stock axles and it's body has seen better days (much better) and it's sitting on a couple inch suspension lift (blocks). this truck sat for 5 years untill i bought it about a month ago, one of the back glass was broken out and it got water and leaves and snow inside, didnt help the interior any.

I'll be buying a 79 C10, toast 350, th400, body in decent shape.

What I'm trying to decide is whether i should put the motor, tcase, and front end of the k10 into the c10 or just put the body of the c10 onto the k10 frame. I havn't gotten under the C10 yet to see what shape the frame is in compared to my truck, but if it's like the body, it should be in tons better shape than my truck.

If i have the k10 as a donor, how much work is it converting the front ends of the trucks? I figure that while i was at it I'd do the crossover steering. are the crossmembers or anything different on the frame, where the tranny and tcase mount up? Right now the K10 is my only transportation to work other than the Wal-mart special bike sittin' in the garage, so nothing major will be done to it for a while, at least after next spring. so right now i'm in the planning / theoretical stages. It's pretty likely that some of the C10's body parts will be on the K10 well before then, the bed mounts are gone from about halfway back on the driver side and it has QUITE a bit of bounce to it, and from what I'm told I need at least something over the wheels to maintain street legality. I wouldnt care about running completely bedless, make the truck so much quieter when i hit bumps haha.

I guess that the best thing I could do right now is actually conjure up the cash to buy the C10 and set 'em side by side, crawl under them and take some pics and start makin notes of what's different. but if anyone had any experience on the topic, I'd really appreciate your input. Oh, and one last thing... this will be on a lower-middle class budget, so i'll be trying to keep spending to a minimum, I like to eat.

you have two choices.

1. go to the newbie forum and ask this question there.

2. Learn to search.

This topic has been covered before.

I did search, but didnt find anything useful pertaining to these trucks. maybe i just suck with search terms.

edit: sorry i didnt even see the newbie forum, i scrolled down till i saw the chevy tech and thought it would be appropriate here. my bad.

I did a swap on a 87 suburban. did a body swap. the only difference I found was the trans hump was shorter on the 2wd. I just cut the floor around the hump of the 4wd, and used household calking and screws to attatch it to the 2wd floor. It was easy to swap, just a lot of bolts, wires etc.

If the 4X4 frame you have is in good condition then use it. Swapping the body is alot faster and easier than swapping a drivetrain. Probably wouldnt hurt to keep the 2X4 frame for down the road either, they can be easily swapped to 4X4 if needed.

thanks woodchuck and 455. I'm just concerned with the rust on that spot of the frame. it looks like there were a few holes there to begin with, and the rust spread between them. I would like to box and plate either frame I use, but that's at a later date. I'm planning on doing more bogging than crawling, but dont know where my ventures might lead me. gonna be tryin to keep up with a buddy's willies.

Go with the body swap. By far less of a headache.

just make sure that you cut out the floor hump before droping the body on, it wont clear the 4wd gear and doesnt have the removable hump since it was a auto trans.

I confer, the body swap is tons easier, I did the suspension swap on my 85 C30 auto 6.2 diesel..... 3.5 months later, we had the bugs worked out. 1. the trans hump is way lower in the 2wd autos... and not removable.. I sawzalled one out of a donor manual 4x4 truck, 2. the frames are alot different btwn 2wd and 4x4... primarily with the lack there of of placement of the front spring hangers and the rear hangers for the front axle... total crap shoot with measurements, and scratching your head and ass while alternating hands every half hour. 3rd, the frame is much differant where the engine mounts are. the 4x4 frame is taller height wise than the 2wd, thus you will have to take the 4x4 frame mounts and cut approx an inch off the top and re weld the top plate back on.... ( I have a pair off my K30 already modified, as I just got done installing a 24v Cummins.) Now you will have to drill the holes for the 4x4 crossmember, the front spring mounts and rad support cups, the rear/front spring hangers, (very tender placement) and the bump stops and shock hangers. Now you will have to lift the rear to compensate for the negative rake the truck will have, and be asking yourself why you are cupping tires for about a year when it dawns on you to lift the rear to level your frankenstien truck,,,, However you should go to the junk yard and find a set of rear 4x4 spring hangers to replace your 2wd rear spring hangers other wise your drive shaft angles will be funky and you will be stacking stuff under a carrier bearing or shimming the driveline to take the angle out of the driveshaft and pinion joints..... trust me I just spent the last 2 years dealing with this stuff.... FIND A 4X4 FRAME TO START WITH!!!!!!