Body swap

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:14 pm

I will pull some pics in the morning. I got all of the front pulled off the BII except the fender wells, seats are unbolted, and all the wiring is out. I got to call my friends in the morning to get a group together after they get off work and lift it over on to the 79 frame. I was thinking of swaping over my BII driveshaft to the 79 and setting up the rear to that because it is in good shape and it will cut some cost off the top. I don't know still tossing that idea around.

FatMan · Post by **FatMan** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:51 pm

what condition is your 79 shaft in? mine was'nt bad but it does or should be rebuilt.

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:57 am

it's ok, it has a little play in it but normal I guess. see, the one that is in my BII is a duff driveshaft. so it is stronger then the factory CV style, it accualy looks just like the FS driveshaft just shorter.

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:00 pm

here is the pic's I promissed. got my metal list together, going in the morning to get everything and start fabing the body mounts I don't think it will take that long. I'm going to do mine a little different then you did yours though. I measured out all the bodymounts on the 79 and the 86 and then marked and maped out where everything is going to go. going to use 4x4 square tubing and some angle to bolt everything on. I talked to all my friends and they are comming on mon. to drink bear and move the body over. basicly going to take the entire day tomarrow to get the 79 frame ready. including a fresh coat of under coating.

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 7:34 am

well I got all the body mount pieces cut. just got to weld them together. if it wouldn't have started raining yesterday it would have gotten done. the frame is all ready and waiting on the mounts. I will probably not get to weld untill mon. morning so I will probably post everything at one time.

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:04 pm

here is a picture of what the center body mounts look like.

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:08 pm

here is a picture of the rear bodymounts. I just left them connected so that it would help keep the frame tight like with a crossmember.

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:49 am

and here it is with the frame just about preped and ready for the body. I am hoping the the rain will hold off untill after 6pm so I can get it over today.

FatMan · Post by **FatMan** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:11 pm

cant wait to see what it look's like. nice mount's i used the round tube on the rear for a quik solution hopefully later on i can fab up something better. im leaving the space between the frame in the rear open becuz i have a idea for a frop down take. im gonna fab up a box and cut a hole in the rear floor to insert the box . the box will hold a fuel cell so i can utillize the rear bed area for tools, parts, ect. the box will fit snugg and be safe between the frame rails with access to the fuel tank from the bed.

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:24 pm

well, right before I left the house a few friends came over and I talked them into going ahead and just doing it. the 3 of us got it half way off and dropped it! after getting it back up and on the new mounts it fit perfact. now I am just waiting on the new body mounts from duff.

FatMan · Post by **FatMan** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:37 pm

is it all the way to the firewall? do you have a side shot?

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:42 pm

yeah, I made sure it is about an inch from the fire wall so I can still get the bell housing bolts off. didn't snap any shots of the side view but it is close to what you had. I would like to keep the rear where it is so I will think about that for a while.

FatMan · Post by **FatMan** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:47 pm

i understand that 104.7" wheel base would be nice to keep the only thing i did'nt like was the extra a$$ on the end and the crapy departure angle. my spare tire covers most of the extra i have now. i like the wheelbase i have now it's about 100"

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 5:07 am

well, with the coil spring set up I want to run I can pretty much chop off everything in the rear that sticks out. so I could keep the wheel base. thats kinda what I am thinking about. right now where it sets if I just put in the coils and keep the same axle location, it looks about like an 80-85 degree angle on the rear. which I like, but I don't know. it will probably come down to the last minute when the decission gets made.

I have a fuel cell in the Falcon I think I might use to set up the BII and just get another one for it when I start the other project. I still need to cut the tranny tunnel and alter the 79 tunnel cover to fit. I really want this swap to come out looking factory so I will take my time with it.

I also forgot to take off the thermoactor box when we set the body on the frame so we heard a "boom" and saw plastic flying when we noticed it. oops......

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 5:29 pm

here is a pic of the rear. you can see about where it is going to end up.