73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Body, Glass & Paint => Topic started by: belair215 on April 08, 2008, 09:31:31 pm
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I have a 89 bed I am putting on my 73. Has anyone done this before? Any tips on what to do?
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Just have to drill the holes.... It's gonna look goofy though.
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I like the style better. I think it looks good. The middle support under the bed hits the frame.
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On a 73? or on an 89?
Someone had a post on this a long time ago.... did you use the search yet?
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I have the 89 bed sitting on the 73 frame. The middle support under the 89 bed is on top off the frame and wont let the bed sit down. Not sure if I should cut the brace out. The 73 bed does not have one there. I tried a few ways of search and did not find anything. Suggestions ?
Ken
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Is it 2wd or 4wd?
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I know a guy that did that. It looks horrid!
His brother is a body man. They cut the bed and reshaped the front of the step area to match the older cab corner.
The fact that it was an all original Chevy Sport, brown with yellow, and orange stripes. All the factory goodies still on it. they took the wheels off, put stockies on with hub caps. Tossed the push, and roll bar into the dumpster too. When I saw what they did to it I wanted to smack them both!
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lol... I couldn't agree more about the looks... I hate the look myself but the reason I was asking if it's 2 or 4wd is you can always put in a body lift to compensate so no hacking up will be required.
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2 wheel. Sorry I like it. Will work it out
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Sounds like you'll have to do some cutting then... Good luck with it. Maybe someone who's done one will chime in.
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Not to be rude but putting a 89 bed on a 73 truck is like putting a elevator in a outhouse.But good luck with the project.
thanks
pat
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If you like it then go for it! I don't remember him saying he had to cut anything but he might have. This was several years ago. Also like I said the curve in the area below the bed doesn't match the older cab corner. It has more of a round shape to it. The older cab corners are more of an oval shape.
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Thank you everyone for your replys. If everyone did their truck the same it would be a dull world. I like the look so I will do it.
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I see your user name is belair, you have a belair???
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I see alot of 67-72 trucks with the 88 up stepsides on them but I have never seen a 73-87 with that bed. Its your truck go for it. Post some pics when you get it done.
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If I figure out how to post pictures I will. Thanks for the good words
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I use belair because I have a 1964 Belair also. 2dr Sedan but it is on a 1986 Monte Carlo frame. drives like a late model but looks stock
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Good luck on the conversion. you can find out how to post pictures here if you want to upload them from your computer:
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=6428.0
If you have them hosted on the internet just use the image button at the top of the replay field. It looks like this: (http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/Themes/default/images/bbc/img.gif)
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Nice I have a 55 Chevy. Not a Belair a 210, original chassis. I have toyed with the idea of dropping the body onto a newer chassis.
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Theres an old farmer nearby that has a 57 belair 2 door sitting in his barn. Its been just sitting there as long as I can remember and probably much longer than that. He wont sell it for anything but it has a carbed smallblock and 4 on the floor.
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Yeah I know where ther are a 57 150 2 door sedan, a 56 2 door BelAir, a 56 4 door 210, a 55, & a 57 Sedan delivery both 210s, and a 55 Nomad wagon. All in a barn you can see them from the road, have been able to since I was 4 or 5 years old. They were there before that I am positive. The guy wont sell them, from what I hear his father never would either.
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I've done this to my '75 4x4 and all I did was set the bed on the frame so it sat on that center brace. Leveled the box to the rest of the truck and made some measurements front and rear where the newer box sets up off the frame and made some aluminum "pucks" to fill the space and then drilled holes down from the top of the new box to bolt it on like the older box with carridge bolts.
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I am going to notch the center brace. The original bed with a wood floor did not have a brace there. That way the bed will sit in the correct place
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I have a good friend that has a pristine 57 Belair 350, 4 speed. Complete frame off restoration, every square inch is painted, powdercoated, or polished. He's selling it to build a bigger shop. $45,000
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that should work as well. i wanted to keep mine that extra little bit higher so I could run the pipe across the frame for my dual tank on the passenger side and leave myself the extra room. that and it seemed to sit nicer (in my opinion) to the back window. good luck and hope it turns out for ya.
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can anyone post some pictures os the truck with the newer bed in place.. ???
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(http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff123/lopezbbc26/Bretts_1979_C102.jpg)
I think this looks sweet. But I would like to see this swap in person or at least a real pic to be sure.
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This is where Chris pops on and says..."you know this post is almost a year old?" lol
Since it's up, i'm curious if it's done.
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could be 2 years old but still is a good topic to follow up on ....... post some pics /carshows/
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Dang, that looks sweet! I'm not usually a fan of swapping later model sheetmetal onto an early model truck/car, but that design rendering makes that stepside '73 look like a hot rod! ;D
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I know it is an old thread, but I came across that rendering and it got me thinking about doing this swap to my 73. My google search for pics and info led me to this site and this thread.
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The pic looks good. I like the paint scheme too but it hides how the step turned out. I would love to see one done and how they modified the step. I'm sure it wasn't the same contour. I can dig the new look though! ;D
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Project renderings always look better than the actual finished product. I have seen a couple of 73-87 trucks done this way and even though they don't look that bad I still perfer the looks of an original stepside bed. If I were going to use one of the 88-98 beds I would shave the rear steps and try to give it a little bit of the look of a 73-87 bed.
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Here is a picture I found with this setup on it. I still like the original bed better.
(http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr299/69byrd/200790825PM65241.jpg)
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None of the body lines will line up and the bottom portion is the biggest difference. The newer truck curl under faster than ours which are flat and then turn suddenly. I also agree most renderings don't look like the finished product, they only resemble it.
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I'm not a fan of the newer bed on a 73-87 or a 67-72 truck, id just clean up the original bed some if it was me, but its your truck, if you like it, do what you want.
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To me it just doesnt look right.Keep the 88-98 parts with the 88-98 trucks.I think the lines and curves of the 73-87 truck look better on our years. IMHO
thanks
pat
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A couple of days ago I seen a 88-98 Chevy 1 ton with a 07-up dually bed on it, very unique!! I immediatly thought of this posting when I seen it.
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Did you immediately think it looked dumb too? I saw that swap down here, I almost wrecked the 74 rubber necking it. Fugly. That's all I can say about it.
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Yes, it definitly was a ugly ugly sight, almost attempted a PIT manuver on an 18 wheeler looking at that thing.
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Here is a picture I found with this setup on it. I still like the original bed better.
(http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr299/69byrd/200790825PM65241.jpg)
wow, that also has a spoiler on it.
uh.. fugly. i really don't see anyone doing this right and making it look clean unless they're good with body work. so if it's not something u have experience in, i'd leave it alone or risk making mistakes and hacking up a bed that doesn't look right on that truck anyway. or maybe buy a newer one?